Product Description

A stowaway aboard Noah’s Ark gives us his account of the Voyage – a surprising, subversive one, quite unlike the official version – that explains a lot about how the human race has subsequently developed. A guest lecturer on a cruise ship in the Aegean has his work interrupted by a group of mysterious visitors who place him in a cruel dilemma. An ecclesiastical court in medieval France hears a bizarre case . . . Julian Barnes creates a kaleidoscope of narrative voices – from fiction and fact, painting and snatches of autobiography – that comes slowly and compellingly into focus.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #20242 in Books
• Published on: 1990-07-27
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 384 pages

Salman Rushdie, Observer
‘Frequently brilliant, funny, thoughtful, iconoclastic, and a delight to read’

Anne Smith, Literary Review
‘You will want to read it again and again, and why not? – there’s nothing around to touch it’

About the Author
Julian Barnes has eight other novels published by Picador, Metroland, Before She Met Me, Flaubert's Parrot, Staring at the Sun, Talking It Over, The Porcupine, England, England and Love, etc; two books of short stories, Cross Channel and The Lemon Table; and also two collections of essays, Letters from London and Something to Declare. His work has been translated into more than thirty languages. In France he is the only writer to have won both the Prix Midicis (for Flaubert's Parrot) and the Prix Fimina (for Talking It Over). In 1993 he was awarded the Shakespeare Prize by the FVS Foundation of Hamburg. He lives in London.

Customer Reviews

about Love
I found Barnes` take on Love very interesting. it`s changed the way I approach love...

100% recommend reading this book. its absolutely terrific!!!

Yup.
An honestly brilliant book. There's a section toward the end where the author slips into a first person narrative and talks about his wife subconsciously 'baring the nape of her neck for him'. It very nearly brought me to tears on the train whilst I read it. Utterly human, empthatic and masterly. This fictional biography of the earth is somehow completely ridiculous at the same time as being very believable. I don't read as much as I used to but I'm delighted that I picked this up last year.

Believe the hype, this book is fabulous
Subverting history should not be this much fun. But somewhere in the midst of stowaways aboard Noah's Ark, an absurd trial in Medieval France, and a visit to heaven, we come to realise just what a ridiculous species Human Beings are. Absolutely ridiculous. Even the Earthworms think so. 10 ½ stories, 10 ½ narrative voices covering the entire scope of humanity. This is a secular history more divine and inspirational than any dogmatic text could ever be. I believe in Julian Barnes, he has earned my praise.