Short Life in a Strange World, Toby Ferris
Short Life in a Strange World, Toby Ferris
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Short Life in a Strange World
Birth to Death in 42 Panels

Author: Toby Ferris

Narrator: Jot Davies

Unabridged: 9 hr 52 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: HarperAudio

Published: 02/25/2020

Includes: Bonus Material Bonus Material Included

Synopsis

Sure to be hailed alongside H is for Hawk and The Hare with Amber Eyes, an exceptional work that is at once an astonishing journey across countries and continents, an immersive examination of a great artist’s work, and a moving and intimate memoir.In 2012, facing the death of his father and impending fatherhood, Toby Ferris set off on a seemingly quixotic mission to track down and look at—in situ—every painting still in existence by Pieter Bruegel the Elder, the most influential and important artist of Northern Renaissance painting.The result of that pursuit is a remarkable journey through major European cities and across continents. As Ferris takes a keen analytical eye to the paintings, each piece brings new revelations about Bruegel’s art, and gives way to meditations on mortality, fatherhood, and life. Ferris conjures a whole world to which most of us have probably lost the key, and in the process teaches us how to look, patiently and curiously, at the world.Short Life in a Strange World is a dazzlingly original and assured debut—a strange and bewitching hybrid of art criticism, philosophical reflection, and poignant memoir that subtly alters the way we see the world and ourselves.Supplemental enhancement PDF accompanies the audiobook.

About Toby Ferris

Toby Ferris is the creator of “Anatomy of Norbiton,” a web-based series of essays on suburban life and universal failure, as seen through the lens of the art of the Renaissance. He lives and works in Cambridge. Short Life in a Strange World is his first book. http://anatomyofnorbiton.org/

Reviews

Goodreads review by Miguel on March 12, 2020

I was eagerly waiting to read this not knowing anything more than it was a book about Bruegel. I vaguely recall an art teacher showing our 8th grade class (probably “Hunters in the Snow) and being bored stiff. That all turned around in old age in having the opportunity of seeing several of his works......more

Goodreads review by Magnus on September 23, 2023

This is the first book I’ve taken out from the library in a long time. A character flaw of mine is buying way too many used books, so I’m definitely never lacking something to read. Something about Short Life in a Strange World though really lit a fire under my ass. I came across a copy at The Stran......more

Goodreads review by Chris on May 02, 2021

This was an enjoyable an interesting read, particularly as a fan of Bruegel's art (which is what drew me, and I guess would draw most people, to the book in the first place.) Discussions about the paintings and Breugel's life are interweaved with a travelogue and the autobiographical musings. By and......more

Goodreads review by Micki on July 02, 2022

This is an unusual book. The author has made it his mission to visit every Pieter Bruegel the Elder painting in the world.and each chapter takes us to a new one. There are lots of full color illustrations with paintings and details of paintings. But Bruegel packed lots of figures into his paintings......more

Goodreads review by Jeff on March 15, 2021

Put me in mind of William Least Heat-Moon's "Blue Highways." Brueghel through a Ferris filter (the ghost of Ferris's father hovering over all). Ferris is a gifted writer. Occasionally slow going. Maybe appropriate given the subject matter: the passage of time, winter, Breughel, grief, isolation, eva......more

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