- Paperback: 352 pages
- Publisher: Picador; New edition edition (11 Aug 1989)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0330308882
- ISBN-13: 978-0330308885
- Product Dimensions: 18.8 x 12.8 x 2.4 cm
- Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 1,015,434 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
Did you know you can trade in your old books for an Amazon.co.uk Gift Card to spend on the things you want? Plus, get an extra £5 Gift Certificate when you trade in books worth £10 or more before June 30, 2012. Visit the Books Trade-In Store for more details. |
Product details |
More About the Author
Product Description
Review
"San Francisco Chronicle" The author of the outrageous classic "Catch-22" once again comments on all of society and history with this whirlwind tour through the minds of Aristotle and Rembrandt. Their vastly different worlds are not so very different from each other, or for that matter, from our own world. History as told by Heller is so comic and heartbreaking that you wonder why anyone would want to live there.
--This text refers to an alternate
Paperback
edition.
Product Description
Written by the author of "Something Happened" and "Catch-22", this book tells about great events, great minds, great political leaders of the past, and all of a sudden you seem to recognize the people you voted for in the last four or five elections and will be voting for in elections to come.
Inside This Book
(Learn More)
Browse and search another edition of this book.
Browse and search another edition of this book.
First Sentence
ARISTOTLE CONTEMPLATING the bust of Homer thought often of Socrates while Rembrandt dressed him with paint in a white Renaissance surplice and a medieval black robe and encased him in shadows. Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Excerpt | Back Cover
ARISTOTLE CONTEMPLATING the bust of Homer thought often of Socrates while Rembrandt dressed him with paint in a white Renaissance surplice and a medieval black robe and encased him in shadows. Read the first page
Explore More
Concordance
Browse Sample PagesConcordance
Front Cover | Copyright | Excerpt | Back Cover
Suggested Tags from Similar Products(What's this?)Be the first one to add a relevant tag (keyword that's strongly related to this product)
|
Sell a Digital Version of This Book in the Kindle Store
If you are a publisher or author and hold the digital rights to a book, you can sell a digital version of it in our Kindle Store.
Learn more
What Other Items Do Customers Buy After Viewing This Item?
Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
11 of 13 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Picture This is, for me, one of a triumverate of great novels penned by Heller (Catch-22 and Something Happened being the others), but also shows why many consider him a one novel wonder. It is a wry look at the 20th century western world, which is examined by implicit contrast to the warmongering of pre-Hellenic Greece and the rampant capitalism of Rembrandt's Holland. The focal 'action' is Rembrandt's attempts to paint his 'Aristotle contemplating a bust of Plato' (or something similarly titled - I can't quite remember) and Heller uses this as a tableaux to examine these distant yet not too different worlds. And that is about it.
Those who appreciate Heller's humour can hear him chuckling away in the background as he deconstructs modern America. The wit is acerbic, dark and dry and there are no 'laugh out loud' moments. He views ancient Greece and renaissance Holland not as historical entities but as contemporaries, alive and well in the twentieth century. For him the past is most certainly not another country, and this book is, for me, a beautiful exposition of our modern way of government and society. As in his other books, Heller manages to be both poignant and funny. Despite being a very clever work, it is not immensely scholarly and is very readable and accessible to anyone, I think, prepared to put up with Heller's usual slow and relentless pace.
These are both the joys and, for many, the problems with Heller. There is no plot to speak of, a humour that could easily bypass people not familiar with him, a very pedestrian pace, a potentially disorientating jumping between scenarios and periods, and repetition of material. Fans of Heller's other work will be familiar with this and know that this is where his strength lies. People less familiar (or perhaps those who have only read Catch-22)can quickly get annoyed with it.
I would recommend this book to anyone, but with caution. It is not 'a good laugh' and it is not 'a good story' and if you have struggled with Heller in the past I don't think that this is the one to convert you. For His fans it is a must.
1 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
There are those who might suggest that this novel is lacking in certain things that could be deemed necessary to a novel - a significant plot, for example. I say, and it's robbed from Heller himself, that the object of debate is not debate - that is to say that the object of a novel is not necessarily to be a typical novel. This could be seen to be a didactic novel, a exercise in politics, in philosophy, in humanity. And it's damn funny! For those in the know, those with a keen sense of the absurd, and those with a sense of humour, not depressaholic to be sure, this is packed, loaded and bursting with inimitable Heller magic. Rembrandt is genuinely pathetic and cringeworthy, Socrates is one of the most admirable boobs ever portrayed, and Aristotle stands apart as a commentator of the sharpest intellect.
If you love Heller, hate Heller, or have never heard of him, this is a very funny and clever novel. If you want to learn about Rembrandt, screw Sarah Emily Miano, Tracy Chevalier or even Simon Schama - read this instead.
If you love Heller, hate Heller, or have never heard of him, this is a very funny and clever novel. If you want to learn about Rembrandt, screw Sarah Emily Miano, Tracy Chevalier or even Simon Schama - read this instead.
1 of 4 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
As the reviews before mine have already stated more accurately then i could the premise of this book i wont deal with that aspect. I will however tell you that this book is a far reach (intentionally of course) from Catch 22 so do not expect even a similar style of writing, this book is only periodically satirical and is more about the author humorous insight into a set of histories so in depth and long that for most people would have no starting point. This is a highly enjoyable book but is not as easy to read as Catch 22, its a tougher subject but in the end is worth every moment. It would be easy and obvious for me to recommend this book only to Heller fans who understand his writing or history buffs who understand the subject but i will however recommend it to everyone as its a hidden gem that anyone with even a passing interest in industrial, hellenic or artistic history should give a go.
Enjoy.
Enjoy.
Would you like to see more reviews about this item?
Were these reviews helpful?
Let us know
Customer Discussions
|
This product's forum
Active discussions in related forums
Search Customer Discussions
|
Related forums
|
Listmania!
Look for similar items by category
Look for similar items by subject
Feedback
- Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
- I am the Author, and I want to comment on my book.
- I am the Publisher, and I want to comment on this book.
