Barney's Version [Abridged] [Audio CD]

Mordecai Richler (Author, Producer), Gregory J. Sinclair (Producer)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 2003

Even Barney Penofsky's friends tend to agree that he is a wife-abuser, an intellectual fraud, a purveyor of pap, a violent drunk, and probably a murderer. But when his sworn enemy threatens to publish this calumny, Barney is driven to write his own memoirs, selecting and plagiarizing his life.

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Barney Panofsky smokes too many cigars, drinks too much whiskey, and is obsessed with two things: the Montreal Canadiens hockey team and his ex-wife Miriam. An acquaintance from his youthful years in Paris, Terry McIver, is about to publish his autobiography. In its pages he accuses Barney of an assortment of sins, including murder. It's time, Barney decides, to present the world with his own version of events. Barney's Version is his memoir, a rambling, digressive rant, full of revisions and factual errors (corrected in footnotes written by his son) and enough insults for everyone, particularly vegetarians and Quebec separatists.

But Barney does get around to telling his life story, a desperately funny but sad series of bungled relationships. His first wife, an artist and poet, commits suicide and becomes--à la Sylvia Plath--a feminist icon, and Barney is widely reviled for goading her toward death, if not actually murdering her. He marries the second Mrs. Panofsky, whom he calls a "Jewish-Canadian Princess," as an antidote to the first; it turns out to be a horrible mistake. The third, "Miriam, my heart's desire," is quite possibly his soul mate, but Barney botches this one, too. It's painful to watch him ruin everything, and even more painful to bear witness to his deteriorating memory. The mystery at the heart of Barney's story--did he or did he not kill his friend Boogie?--provides enough forward momentum to propel the reader through endless digressions, all three wives, and every one of Barney's nearly heartbreaking episodes of forgetfulness. Barney's Version, winner of Canada's 1997 Giller Prize, is Richler's 10th novel, and a dense, energetic, and ultimately poignant read. --R. Ellis --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

From Library Journal

You have to like a narrator who can ask about libel after being accused "in print, of being a wife-abuser, an intellectual fraud, a purveyor of pap, a drunk with a penchant for violence, and probably a murderer as well" only to have his lawyer answer "Sounds like [the writer] got things just about right." Richler is in top form with this first-person voice of Barney Panovsky, 67-year-old TV producer at Totally Useless Productions, thrice-married (the third being the one that matters, and she's gone; the second, after being found in bed with Barney's best friend, Boogie, is the catalyst for the putative murder), fretting over liver spots and mental slippage. The book is always hilarious, but the humor is sharpened by the psychological accuracy/honesty and the richness of detail; in short, this is one well-written book. There are even footnotes to help out when Barney gets something wrong. Absolutely for all collections, this is what Barney calls his third wife: "a keeper."?Robert E. Brown, Onondaga Cty. P.L., Syracuse, N.Y.
Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

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Product Details

• Audio CD
• Publisher: Mordecail Richler; Abridged edition (November 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0660190443
• ISBN-13: 978-0660190440
• Product Dimensions: 7.6 x 6.2 x 1.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (51 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #6,847,410 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

14 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A rich, engaging read., December 7, 1999

By 

Will Rado (Toronto, Ontario, Canada) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Barney's Version (Hardcover)

This book is an intelligent, tremendously entertaining read. Mr. Richler assumes the reader is well-read, and this is challenging for some (me). Barney deserves everything he gets in life, except perhaps the final cruelty imposed upon him, as it unfolds in relation to Boogie. Still, I finished this last night, and now find myself missing Barney's perverse dissertations. Damn, Damn, Damn . . . I'm off today to buy "St. Urbain's Horseman"!

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Real characters in a hyper-realistic story, March 17, 2002

By 

Paolo Tramannoni (Porto Recanati, MC Italy) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Barney's Version (Hardcover)

I just finished reading the (very good) Italian translation of Barney's Version. It was a long time, since I found a novel written so cleverly and with so strongly, all-round depicted characters (maybe from Bellow's Herzog?). You can't ignore Barney--you must love him, or hate him. No half-measures.

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars something Joseph Heller fans will love..., April 27, 2002

By 

lazza (Fort Lauderdale, Florida) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Barney's Version (Hardcover)

Barney's Version is really an incredible novel. While it reads like the memoirs of a cranky, elderly Jewish Canadian who seems to hate most everything (except his last wife and their three kids), it also serves as an interesting analysis of life in Montreal over the last fifty years for the English-speaking minority, especially the enclave of its (once harassed) Jewish residents.

While the characterizations of Barney and his friends/family are top notch it is Richler's flair for biting satire and sarcastic wit which leaves the most lasting impression of Barney's Version. Joseph (Catch-22) Heller wrote novels with similar style and humour. Yet Richler's Barney has a more worldly, franēais feel about him compared to Heller's Brooklyn-based characters.

Bottom line: Richler presents a character that is larger than life; it's hard to believe Barney doesn't really exist. Strongly recommended.