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Barney's Version

By Mordecai Richler

(113)

| Paperback | 9780671028466

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Book Description

When a sixty-seven-year-old Canadian rascal named Bernard Panofsky decides to write "the true story of my wasted life." the result is Barney's Version, Mordecai Richler's wickedly funny blend of satire, social commentary, and brilliant introspection on the state of contemporary life.

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When a sixty-seven-year-old Canadian rascal named Bernard Panofsky decides to write "the true story of my wasted life." the result is Barney's Version, Mordecai Richler's wickedly funny blend of satire, social commentary, and brilliant introspection on the state of contemporary life.

Hoping to rebut the charges about him made in a rival's autobiography Barney feels compelled to pen his account of events. From his bohemian misadventures during the 1950s in Paris to the fortune he amassed through his trashy TV company Totally Unnecessary Productions and the three women he married, he quickly proves that his memory may be slipping, but his bile isn't. He skewers feminists, politicians, the bourgeoisie, fads, social movements, and most of all himself. And when it comes to being charged with the murder of his own best friend -- caught in bed with the second Mrs. Panofsky -- Barney's version is as contradictory and slippery as real life right up to its astonishing end.

Wildly vulgar, superbly ironic, and brilliantly manic, Barney's Version is Mordecai Richler's comic masterpiece, the great work of a satirist at the top of his game.

Critics

  • Book Review: Barney's Version by Mordecai Richler Share

    What disturbs me most about Mordecai Richler's 1997 novel, Barney's Version, now available in a new paperback edition as well as a major motion picture with Paul Giamatti, is that it took me almost 15 years to get around to reading it. Back in the 19 ... (read full critics)

    blogcritics published on Thu, 27 Jan 2011

4 Reviews

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  • 2 people find this helpful

    Damn damn damn

    Go past the first part, which is often a bit too political and didascalic. Know your English and your American culture: you'll need it.

    But I cannot help loving a book that makes me wanna try cognac.

    Culturally voracious, adamant about his shortcomings, generous and uncompromising, if somewhat unb ... (continue)

    Go past the first part, which is often a bit too political and didascalic. Know your English and your American culture: you'll need it.

    But I cannot help loving a book that makes me wanna try cognac.

    Culturally voracious, adamant about his shortcomings, generous and uncompromising, if somewhat unbearable. "Now I know. The monster was me"

    Splendid - but still inferior to the very similar "Till we have faces" and "L'età dell'oro".

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    Yggdrasil said on Nov 10, 2010 | Add your feedback

  • Qualcuno mi spieghi come convincermi ad iniziare questo libro.Ho iniziato tante volte, non credo di essere riuscita ad andare oltre a pagina 5..

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    Allestern said on Feb 4, 2012 | Add your feedback

  • Barney thinks different

    This Book is a pearl.
    Where else can you see a book in which original ideas are expressed?
    Where else can you find a book who's main character has the ability to make fun of everything is politically correct, without getting bitter?
    This book is a must read.

    Is this helpful?

    Giacomo said on Jun 30, 2010 | Add your feedback

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9780671028466 Paperback $21.95 $19.75 bn.com
$23.95 -- The Book Depository
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