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Whatever It Is, I Don’t Like It (2011)

by Howard Jacobson(Favorite Author)

3.53 of 5 Votes: 1

ISBN

1408819422 (ISBN13: 9781408819425)

languge

English

genre

Nonfiction

publisher

Bloomsbury UK

review 1: "Whatever it is" is a collection of Jacobson's columns for the Independent newspaper.This was a joy to read – Jacobson has a beautiful way with words – mellifluous if you like. His topics are wide ranging - from menacing cyclists to porn for the Prince,from popular culture to politics - he almost comes across as a bit of a curmudgeon but this is thoroughly tempered by his beautifully humorous turn of phrase. Very funny
review 2: I'm completely charmed. And edified. And enlightened. And admiring. Jacobsen's voice strikes a delightful mix of humor, erudition, insight, and reflection. He only touches on current events enough to ground each essay in topicality. He's not capable of belligerence--he is an Englishman after all. But he's also somehow managed to div... moreest all snootiness, if he ever had any. And his wit is so dry, you'll want a lozenges, lotion, steamers--yet it doesn't chafe.Don't let the title fool you: these are not curmudgeonly rants. As he addresses straight off in the introduction, the title "suggests a querulousness I don't honestly lay claim to." Instead, at the heart of his aesthetic is the warmest, most generous understanding of humanity and an open-eyed view of creation. Not to say he is drippily opinionless. Not at all. He's quite outspoken on the fatuousness of Ralph Lauren naming a garment The Chatfield Pant, for example. A trip to Australia to see an Aboriginal musical, a visit to an Edinburgh graveyard, going to the opera--each sets off a short riposte on economics, expression in the arts, our legacy as employees, etc. Of the first dozen or so, the most sublime is the report of meeting a pelican on foot in a park. In trying to quote it, I find I cannot remove just one line.I'm especially in favor of the form; no essay is longer than four pages (owing to their original form, no doubt, as columns in The Independent). Makes for great reading. Try it. less

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