Customer Reviews
Best book on death I've ever read - By: Nullius, 04 Jan 2009 
Until now Julian Barnes has always been opaque - his writing has been brilliant but you never felt you knew much about the man, except that he is clearly a person of exceptional observational skill & insight. Now we have something of him, & my admiration has only grown.
This book may not be a memoir, but it is beautifully revealing. Barnes talks us through the various ways death has been, & can be, approached, & is by turns darkly hilarious & darkly terrifying - his gallows humour is about the best you'll ever read. But always, always, he is sure-footed & ferociously honest.
See []
a mixed meandering - By: palace pier, 09 Jun 2008 
No,not an autobiography but the thoughts on parents,grandparents & photograph of never to be known personin ravaged photograph were fascinating. His brother features greatlyin his meanderings althought I sensed a degree of frustration that brother's thoughts did not tally with his at most times.
Thoughts of pre death anticipation & death itself,along with a possible afterlife & existence,or non existence of God were approached from many angles,leaving the reader to make up his/her mind on the subject. Also one or two unique views on the perception of a God..thought provoking.
Not an easy book to read,and you could easily give upin trying to follow his thoughts......"what the hell is he trying to say now?" You may even find your mind is only picking out the fairly straitforward sections & skimming the convolutions,of which there are many.
At the end of the book I found myself thinking that I had been used as Julian's psychiatrist & sat through many hours of expensive consultations.
Style Battles Content - By: Ethan Cooper, 21 Apr 2008 
In NOTHING TO BE FRIGHTENED OF, Julian Barnes uses the history of his immediate family & the comments of many writers--who he considers his "true bloodline"--to examine death, as well as its connection to God. Rest assured that this book, like A HISTORY OF THE WORLD IN 10½ CHAPTERS, is a primarily an essayist's intellectual journey. The book is never morbid or creepy.
For me, NtbFo was best when Barnes was writing about his biological family. When writing about the death of his parents, for example, he conveyed the weakness & humiliation & rage of the dying, as well as the complex feelings of anger, pity, & responsibilityin survivors. Likewise, the book was strong when Barnes wrote about his grandfather. Then, he pondered how little a person leaves after death, with mystery & a few random artifacts all that's left after, say, 50 years pass. These family-based musings are thoughtful & tender. And Barnes's brother, a philosopher who does not allow slack thinking, adds rigor to Julian's thoughts.
On the other hand, the results are mixed when Barnes uses the comments of numerous writers to explore his subjects. Here, the ideas & anecdotes he presents are always interesting, ranging from consoling to depressed, from accepting death to dread. And, his work with this material is a pleasure to read when an essay--few are longer than five pages--starts with the adroit presentation of a concept, moves to a supporting or contrasting idea, & then finishes with revelation or connection.
But occasionally, his short essays developin an inscrutable & arbitrary fashion, with this reviewer finishing an essayin confusion, not insight. (How the heck did I get here?, was my not infrequent reaction.) Even after rereading, these particular essays struck me as brilliant babbling, not the achievement of sparkling or new connections. This has unfortunate consequences for NtbFo, since Barnes frequently circles back to ideas he has already explored, returning to them to layer or enrich meaning. But, this strategy doesn't work when an idea's original presentation, or new context, lacks clarity.
Nonetheless, Barnes has a very interesting mind. He writes fine prose & this book renewed my interestin his work. Next: ARTHUR & GEORGE.
Barnes sheds light on Death - By: Mike French, 07 Apr 2008 "I may be dead by the time you are reading this sentence."
Julian Barnes gets all his thoughts on death down on paper before his doctor gets to himin the future to deliver the, Mr Barnes - I'm afraid it's not good news.
So the book is like a will drawn upin preparation for his inevitable death, by whatever form it takes. Although by all accounts Barnes isin good health & has many more years before him, he's written this book now as insurance against a rushed job as his draws his final breath.
So instead of a thinned narrative of a dying man, we get the literary genius of Barnes sayingin full health ...
"Let's get this death thing straight."
And for us this is good news.
The book is thought provoking & demonstrates the ability of Barnes to intelligently consider a taboo subject. And far from being macabre, you feel like you are being invited to chat with Julian over an after dinner cigar. It's all very english:
"My fear of death is low-level, reasonable, practical."
Some would run around screaming, "We are all going to die!"in the face of death. Julianin effect says, calm down stop running around like a headless chicken, or worse still sticking your headin the sand like an ostrich & let's talk about it calmly over port & cheese.
He brings death out into the light, where it is less frightening.
Leaving itin the dark, is never a good idea - it's far scary. Julian flicks the light on for us & attempts to dispel the lurking beast from under the bed.
Julian also brings a good dose of humourin to wash down the bitter pill.
"Sometimes (I) find life an overrated way of passing the time."
Into the mix then are thrown God, Barnes' brother, French writer Jules Renard & some Barnes family memoir ( although he says "this is not my autobiography." )
So, for example, we get Barnes giving account as to how he let go of a possibility of religion as an adolescent,
"hunched over some book or magazinein the family bathroom, I used to tell myself that God couldn't possibly exist because the notion that He might be watching me while I masturbated was absurd."
and
"I don't believein God, but I miss him."
Hmm - so God was therein the bathroom, until Julian couldn't bear the thought & banished him?!
Barnes' stance now? An agnostic -
"How can we be sure that we know enough to know?"
One of Barnes' recent books was called The lemon Table - a collection of short stories - The lemon being the Chinese symbol for death.
What Barnes doesin Nothing to be Frightened of, is invite usin around his own lemon table & opens the discussion.
It feels like he really hopes he won't have the last word.
Superbly constructed discourse on life and death - By: M. Davey, 31 Mar 2008 I have long been a fan of Julian Barnes & purchased this new volume without reading reviews, as I now tend to do with favourite authors. I took it for granted that the writing would be excellent & it was. However, I was amazed at the feat that he has brought off here. The discourse on life & death, interwoven with autobiographical detail, passages about Jules Renard [and you don't need to know anything about him to enjoy the writing - to me he was only a name],combine to produce a stunning & thought-provoking book. It is one of the best he has written, for sheer content & style. Although death figures large, the result is never morbid. To me it is a celebration of life by one of the most literary of all writers. Where another author might have written separate chapters or disappeared down cul de sacs, Barnes has produced a masterpiece of constrained, fluid writing, integrating all the elements brilliantly.
