Customer Reviews

The Hundred Brothers

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Most reviewers seem to focus on whether or not this book exemplifies post-modernism and whether or not that's good or bad. Unfortunately, I've never been able to figure out what postmodernism is, so I can't help ya there.

All I know is Pynchon and Delillo just confuse me, Vollman makes me laugh but I can't figure out what the hell he's driving at, but Antrim just makes me feel good all over.

Maybe it's the way he introduces all 100 brothers, in order, in about 5 pages, and then blithely writes the rest of the book as if you're going to remember who they all are. Which is a good hook, because, who hasn't been to a social function where you get introduced to a few dozen people within 5 minutes, after which you're supposed to remember everybody?

Maybe I just identify with the hapless, socially retarded dope of a narrator who just wants everyone to get along but ends up, well, no spoilers, in a unique and singularly undignified situation.

But it's not simplistic comedy - it's a bit like one of those Borges stories where you think, "ok, this is gonna be a quick read, only 12 pages" and then you find it takes a good 2 hours to make a bit of sense of it.

Well, you could compare it to a lot of things, but that wouldn't do it justice, because the best part is, it just ain't quite like anything you've read before.

Donald Antrim is perhaps the most unique and brilliant voice in surreal tragi-humor (if such a category does indeed exist). With The Hundred Brothers, a ridiculous premise is set; a family of a hundred brothers, but wholly acceptable through the rational eyes of our narrarator. But then ensues a masterful literary roller coaster ride through bizarre and surreal landscapes. And Antrim never leaves one room! Brilliant! In his novels, Antrim has a way of establishing a simple and rational universe, then subtly and ironically, disseminating it bit by bit, gradually revealing an entirely new surreal and ridiculous world that lay beneath its original carapace. Antrim's writing indeed can twist one's mind and warp any sense of reality that may have managed to linger a few pages into the novel. His allegories are both ellusive and mischevious. His humor is deep. It is infectuous and possesive. It may not make you snicker or giggle on the spot, but it will take seed and infest your thought processes, and cause episodes of deep pondering on the depth and subtext of Mr. Antrim's subtle hillarities. It is the type of Monty Pythonesque multi-textual humor that can quite possibly change your life. The short length of Antrim's mono-chapteric novels fit his narrative perfectly; sprawling, circuituous, seguatious, a uniform current of brilliance that blends vignettes and episodes like an early Pink Floyd album. Still, at the close of an Antrim, novel, one can only thrist for more. The solution to this problem is only obvious: MORE NOVELS BY DONALD ANTRIM!

"A collision between 'The Brothers Karamazov' and the Brothers Marx," as the publisher suggests? I think it is an episode of "Seinfeld" written by Edgar Allan Poe! We have a collection of neurotic people, repulsive yet oddly attractive, who overdo everything. We also have a gradual crescendo of horror. Every brother, including the narrator, has glaring faults in which we recognize our own, or at least our neighbors' lesser faults and self-deceptions. The setting, obeying the Aristotelian unities of time and place, seems to grow and evolve in nightmare fashion. The love and hatred between the brothers is searing. All brothers fight, in my experience, except for one pair because of the saintly character of the elder brother. Many years ago, the two shared a bedroom, and the younger brother had a drum set. No harsh word ever passed between them. I believe a hair from the elder brother's beard has already cured several persons of leprosy.

People throw around the term 'comic-nightmare' so much that it's lost it's meaning. "The Hundred Brothers" is, without question, a comedy of nightmarish proportions. The writing is taut. The tone absolutely consistent and brilliant. The evening (besides the premise of a hundred brothers) begins simply enough. By the end, however, you have a house in shambles,legs of furniture for weapons and bodies strewn pell-mell around the landscape. "The Hundred Brothers" is like nothing I've ever read. True, it shares similarities with Barthleme. But on it's own this book is a testament to erudite, bizarre and satirical literature.


With all his concerns for family themes, I would LOVE to see Wes Anderson tackle this novel as a film.

Donald Antrim?s ability to capture the many facets of the human psyche is astounding. Every character comes complete with something of a synopsis of his experience or a tale of a major life event, which defines the character. Beyond the authors? genius the book is a cynically well-written story about the complications of life, and coping mechanisms. ?I crouched down and the dog came to me. It was a shame, really, that I had no doggy treats along with the morphine in my pockets. I said, like a true master, ?That?ll do, boy.? This book is funny as hell, read it, think and laugh, only if you like laughing though. If not, this book isn?t for you.

The Hundred Brothers by Donald Antrim is nothing like I have ever read before, and neither would you have if you ever get the chance to read this book. This book is strange - it is not even weird strange and it takes time to get your teeth into this one, however once you do, it will be very difficult to get yourself away from it, till you have finished it. What is the book about? Well, here goes:

The story is about one hundred brothers (literally, minus one though) who come together for dinner one night. The objective is to possibly find the urn which contains their fathers' ashes. One of the brothers is our narrator. He quickly descends from trustworthy and seemingly normal to crazy. But why and what happens to him, is something you have to read and find out for yourself, or else that would be a spoiler and I would not want to do that to you.

The Hundred Brothers quite literally speaking is a stream of consciousness - while a lot is happening, nothing really does happen. Donald Antrim has touched on almost every masculine behavior and thought pattern that there is to cater to for the reader - from pornography to homosexual references to sports to hunting to bullying - all the male archetypes (almost) are mentioned and that's what to me made the writing fascinating.

A lot of times "The Brothers Karamazov" flashed before my eyes while I was reading the book and why not? They both are about brothers and a crazy family. There is the gradual crescendo of horror from humour and every brother, including the narrator has glaring faults in which we also recognize our own. The setting, obeying the Aristotelian unities of time and place, seems to grow and evolve in a nightmarish fashion. The love and hatred between the brothers is searing.

Antrim has a way of establishing a rational and simple universe, and then subtly and ironically, disseminating it bit by bit, gradually to show us what lies beneath the surface. His writing is twisted to the point that the reader does not want to move on and yet is compelled to do so. His allegories are mischievous and mysterious at the same time.

There are no chapters in the book - it goes on, the premise is huge, magnanimous almost - making the reader wonder, how did he ever get this idea? What propelled him? And then there are the dynamics between the brothers - the way the writer intended it to be portrayed. I do not want to classify the book or the writing to any form. It is best left untouched, however make note of one thing: Read this book and read it one sitting. Let it play with your head. Let it take you on a very strange rollercoaster and by the end of it, you would be wondering why it ever ended. It is that good.

The dynamics between many of the quirky (to put it mildly) characters are hilarious. Everything happens over the course of a night in a lurid, decaying library in which they have occasional reunions. Two dogs, one a Doberman, also are brought along. The POV of the narrator is intriguing, insightful almost to a fault, he's a bit of a weirdo (which naturally intrigues me) like many of his kin. He's also into making family trees to try to "figure out" certain things about the current generation and perhaps humanity in general. People, especially with big families who occasionally gather in small places, should read The Hundred Brothers by Donald Antrim. However, I think anyone who is human with a family will be able to relate to this book in some way or find meaning in it. Weird, funny, deep. I haven't even quite finished yet but am already reviewing and recommending this book, and I don't ever review or recommend books on Amazon.

Donald Antrim is profoundly original, as he continues to take the novel to a new place in literature. Not always a easy read but always fun and full of insights. I do like 'The Verificationist' and 'The Elect Mr. Robinson' better, but as in all his books it is unlike any book one has ever read.Each brother gave me thoughts on myself my family and the world.I love his dark humor. I'm looking forward to his next book.

What do you do when you can not write in depth about a subject or at least you can not depend on language to carry your work? You write a postmodern mess that carries the reader along on a wild joyride, and leaves the reader in the end with nothing but good entertainment.

This work exemplifies tendancies in contemporary fiction to not write literature as much as write anything that mocks it. If you can not write Literature, then take the necessary elements of literature(in this case plot and character) and stretch it to the extreme producing an original but utterly empty postmodern cartoon.

I give Mr. Antrim three stars for entertainment. Its a fun book. But not much else is there.

Of fraternity, perhaps familial goings-on, is theme of book, of "The Hundred Brothers," two possible thematic streams exploding from literary epicenter of Antrim's wor(l)ds, one with narrator most first person, Doug: brother, and son, and arguable drunk, and Corn King -- eventually. Truest question, one most unknowable, to me at least, is end, finale where Doug stares, body pockmark'd with gashes sanguinary to T (nicht cells), watching flames of hearth on wood with bros. bros. & more bros. standing over, wonderment of death, there, in setting, in book, in present tense, and

Book ends.

Is Douglas cadaver, rigor mortis and all, or is Douglas alive, and well, and go(o)d-spirited? Novel is Adventure of rate with adjectivial first. Read. See.