Nothing to Be Frightened Of cover art

Nothing to Be Frightened Of

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Nothing to Be Frightened Of

By: Julian Barnes
Narrated by: Julian Barnes
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About this listen

 Selected as one of the Telegraph's 50 Best Summer Reads, 2009.

Julian Barnes' new book is, among many things, a family memoir, an exchange with his brother (a philosopher), a meditation on morality and the fear of death, a celebration of art, an argument with and about God, and homage to the French writer Jules Renard.

Though he warns us that 'this is not my autobiography', the result is a tour of the mind of one of our most brilliant writers.

©2008 Julian Barnes (P)2014 Audible, Inc. Art & Literature Authors Death & Dying Religious Studies Sociology Morality

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All stars
Most relevant
Interesting ramble through the vagaries of memory, and the thoughts assorted writers have had about death, along with the author's experience of his own family. An unusual, chatty, book to play as background to mundane tasks.

Interesting

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The content is in discord with the title. When audible said "before you go" at the end seeking my a rating I thought, for a moment that they were talking about death. It was a bit rambling but made me think.

10 hours about DEATH!

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I always enjoy Julian Barnes. A complicated soul. Interestingly the more complicated ppl become the further they move from the simplicity of faith & spend so much time in search of something to believe in.

A grief observed?

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I haven’t read any Julian Barnes for over twenty years. I don’t know why. My mum died recently so I turned to this book. I love the way JB thinks here. Very therapeutic. Thought provoking and made my laugh out loud! Not an easy feat with this topic!

Fabulous

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A heavily laden listen-almost always consisting of fine ingredients for a banquet. There is no time throughout this listen that the close reader does not feel compelled to reply, to react, to smile or to laugh. Most times, quite uninvited, my mind would respond with a memory, a thought, a difference of opinion.
How consistently a fine writer can stimulate a reader to reflect on such deeply held views...marvelous.
Most insensitively, I kept wondering how this gentleman might have reconsidered this memoir? this fiction? in the light of the sad death of a much loved partner.
Guess I will have to re-listen to "Levels of Life," and be moved again ( as I remember so doing) by the fierce compassion and truth this author evokes from himself-and us.

Not to be avoided

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