Barney's Version by Morddecai Richler ****1/2

Barney’s version traces the comic, sometimes bizarre but consistently entertaining, reflections of an aging Barney Panofsky. His reflections travel through his childhood, free spiritied youthfulnes in Europe, three marriages, and a criminal charge of murder which keeps reoccurring throughout the book. His total irrevertness combined with visions blurred by alcohol result in a combination of wanton humor, comical chagrin, human pathos, uplifting optimism, social commentary and dispite the disagreeablness of his character ultimately a sense of compassion for the medical circumstances the result in the deterioration of his spirit.

The book is laced with both French and Jewish words but they add to the realism of the manuscript and do not detract from the story.

The author, Mordecai Richler, is a brilliant, imaginative, creative writer with a remarkable vocabular and a profound knowledge of literature and the political scene in Quebec