A History of the World in 10½ Chapters

This is a rich Barnesian marinade of musings, analyses and witty, idiosyncratic re-workings of myths and stories. The narrative voice in ‘Stowaway’ is a savvy rodent, who reveals Noah as a drunk preying on his cargo. The account of the terrorist hijacking of a cruise ship told by the guest lecturer in ‘Visitors’ is a tangle of chilling mishandlings and misunderstandings. ‘Shipwreck’ is an account of the sufferings on the raft from the wrecked Medusa, followed by a jaunty analysis of Gericault’s painting. And that’s just three of the ten [and a half] chapters. The narration is polished and vigorous, but unintrusive so that the exuberance of the narratives and ideas take centre stage.

Rachel Redford, The Observer

Fact, fiction, myth, opinion – Barnes’s series of disjointed narratives about Noah’s Ark, terrorist hijackers, shipwreck, woodworm, love and more is all of these. It leaves you torn between thinking that its sum is greater than its parts and that, then again, some of the parts are pretty damned good too, especially the half-chapter titled ‘Parenthesis’. Somehow this pithy new Alex Jennings recording perfectly succeeds in combining the various ‘history is bunk’ and ‘love conquers all’ strands.

Sue Arnold, The Guardian

And when you’re fed up with conventional linear narratives, Barnes’s clever, funny, intriguing and, yes, all right, tricksy 1989 collection of stories both true and fictitious, about ships, shipwrecks and associated maritime incidents, will give you something to ponder. I’ve been mulling fitfully over what it tells us about survival, history, art, love and woodworm ever since I first heard it umpteen years ago on cassette, which is probably why this latest version, read by my all-time favourite audio voice, came up to Scotland with me. I’m still happily pondering.

Sue Arnold, the Guardian