The Hundred Brothers

by Donald Antrim

Book Overview

With a New Introduction by Jonathan Franzen There's Rob, Bob, Tom, Paul, Ralph, and Noah; Nick, Dennis, Bertram, Russell, and Virgil. The doctor, the documentary filmmaker, and the sculptor in burning... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0517703106
• ISBN13: 9780517703106
• Release Date: January 1997
• Publisher: Crown Publishing Group (NY)
• Length: 206 Pages
• Weight: 0.38 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 5.6" x 7.3"

Customer Reviews

Why isn't this novel required reading? Oh yeah, it's too brilliant.

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.

Antrim's best, so far

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.

Original

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.

Antrimites of World, Unite.

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, andBook 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.

A New Star is Born.

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!