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Mr Vertigo
 
 
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Mr Vertigo (Paperback)

by Paul Auster (Author) "I was twelve years old the first time I walked on water ..." (more)
3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (27 customer reviews)
List Price: CDN$ 18.50
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Product Description

From Publishers Weekly

It will come as no surprise to the gifted Auster's ( Moon Palace ; The Music of Chance ) many fans that walking on air, the implausible premise of his marvelously whimsical seventh novel, is treated with convincing gravity. Walt Rawley recounts his life: an orphan born in 1924 with "the gift," he was seized by his master, Mr. Yehudi, a Hungarian Jew who taught him to levitate. Yehudi takes the boy from St. Louis to his own Kansas menage, which consists of Mother Sioux and Aesop, a young black genius. (Also influencing Walt's life is classy, henna-headed Marion Witherspoon, a seductive mom figure from Wichita.) After harsh training, Walt tours with his mentor as "the Wonder Boy," aka Mr. Vertigo. Crammed into this road saga is the potent Americana of myth: the 1920s carnival circuit, Lindbergh's solo, the motorcar, the ethnic mix, the Ku Klux Klan and the Mob, baseball and Kansas, "land of Oz." Diverse mishaps descend, but eventually Walt glides into old age and writing. The characters speak a lusty lingo peppered with vintage slang, while a postmodern authorial irony tugs their innocence askew. The prose grows particularly electric when demystifying "loft and locomotion." Implicit is an analogy between levitation and the construct of fiction: both require fierce discipline to maintain a fleeting illusion.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Library Journal

Rescued from the streets of St. Louis and taught to fly by Master Yehudi, Walter Rawley soon becomes a national sensation. The boy wonder foils a kidnapping by his evil uncle, but his powers of levitation suddenly wane with the onset of puberty, and he declines from miracle worker to Depression-era mobster. Auster provides a dazzling display of narrative power, but his story remains a metaphysical muddle. Fluctuating between the fabulous and the mundane, it establishes no firm foundation in either realm. If Yehudi's mysterious powers are real, why must his wards die in a Klan lynching and why must Yehudi himself resort to suicide? If the alleged powers are spurious and Auster's aging narrator is unreliable, the extent of his unreliability needs sharper definition. Auster's previous novel, Leviathan (LJ 7/92), is a much more absorbing study of the elusiveness of truth.
Albert E. Wilhelm, Tennessee Technological Univ., Cookeville
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
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I was twelve years old the first time I walked on water. Read the first page
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Mr Vertigo
69% buy the item featured on this page:
Mr Vertigo 3.9 out of 5 stars (27)
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Customer Reviews

27 Reviews
5 star:
 (9)
4 star:
 (10)
3 star:
 (5)
2 star:
 (3)
1 star:    (0)
 
 
 
 
 
Average Customer Review
3.9 out of 5 stars (27 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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4.0 out of 5 stars A good light read. I liked it., Feb 23 2009
By NorthVan Dave (North Vancouver, British Columbia Canada) - See all my reviews
(TOP 100 REVIEWER)   
I picked this book up not entirely convinced that I was going to like it. The book felt like a HUGE departure from the standard fare Auster had been writing about and I didnt think Id enjoy this book. However Im happy to report that I was wrong. I quite enjoyed this novel.

The book focuses on the story of Walt the Wonderboy who is able to fly. The book is written from Walts perspective, as he is the one telling the story, and it is Walt who tells the reader all about his life going from street urchin to national hero. Once I picked up the book, I found myself getting quite wrapped up in the story. So much so that at times I as able to suspend my disbelief and actually think that there really was a Walt the Wonderboy who was able to fly. This however is much more a credit to Austers writing ability and my ability to separate fact from fiction.

Mr. Vertigo is probably one of Austers lighter novels. The novel has a nice up-beat feel to it and at no point while I was reading the story did I ever feel down or sad or confused. If anything the book left me with one of those warm fuzzy feelings inside. Which, having read quite a few of Austers novels, certainly cannot be said of the vast majority of his books.

Was this my favourite Auster novel? No. That book is still The Brooklyn Follies. But I did find myself enjoying this novel much more than I thought I would. And I wouldnt hesitate to recommend the book to anyone looking for a nice light read. If youre looking for a book to read, you could to much worse than pick this one up.
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4.0 out of 5 stars A good light read. I liked it., Feb 19 2009
By NorthVan Dave (North Vancouver, British Columbia Canada) - See all my reviews
(TOP 100 REVIEWER)   
I picked this book up not entirely convinced that I was going to like it. The book felt like a HUGE departure from the standard fare Auster had been writing about and I didn't think I'd like it. However I'm happy to report that I was wrong. I quite enjoyed this novel.

The book focuses on the story of Walt the Wonderboy who is able to fly. The book is written from Walt's perspective, as he is the one telling the story, and it Walt tells the reader all about his life going from street urchin to national hero. Once I picked up the book, I found myself getting quite wrapped up in the story. So much so that at times I as able to suspend my disbelief and actually think that there really was a Walt the Wonderboy who was able to fly. This however is much more a credit to Auster's writing ability and my ability to separate fact from fiction!

Seriously though, Mr. Vertigo is probably one of Auster's lighter novels. The novel has a nice up-beat feel to it and at no point while I was reading the story did I ever feel down or sad or confused. If anything the book left me with one of those warm fuzzy feelings inside. Which, having read quite a few of Auster's novels, certainly cannot be said of the vast majority of his books.

Was this my favourite Auster novel? No. That book is still The Brooklyn Follies. But I did find myself enjoying this novel much more than I thought I would. And I wouldn't hesitate to recommend the book to anyone looking for a nice light read.
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3.0 out of 5 stars I was *so* along for the ride..., Oct 7 2008
By Schmadrian - See all my reviews
(TOP 100 REVIEWER)   
This is the second Auster novel I've read. (Not true; 'Scriptorium' was unable to hold me past 40 pages.) And while there was a ton here to potentially captivate me, it didn't. Which, as a writer who loves a good premise made into an intoxicating reading experience, was disappointing.

I think that what most fudged things for me was the narrator's voice. That of someone looking back on his childhood. The words that ended up coming out of his 9 year old mouth were, often, painfully ill-chosen. That is, if he'd written it all as narrative, how he'd chosen to express things would have been fine. But on so many occasions, he has the words of a fifty year old man coming out of a child. Clearly, what's being presented is authentic in terms of how the narrator in his head remembers things...but that doesn't make for a good tale.

In fact, Auster took a very good tale...one that might have been as good as 'Kavalier and Clay' or 'Carter Beats the Devil'...and torpedoed it. That's not to say that there isn't a lot to like about this book. But a first-person narrator has to be a very good storyteller/writer in order for this 'effect' to work. And in this novel, he isn't. I believe the story would have been so much better told another way.

Never mind the fact that this isn't just one story, that in the end, it's the memoirs of a life. And so the effectiveness of the main thrust of the story...a boy who can fly...is reduced. Especially reduced by the narrator's voice.

Still, it had potential.
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 		 Most recent customer reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars It Really Surprised Me!
I am a little ashamed that I have not previously read any of Paul Auster's work. He is best known for Leviathan, but Mr. Read more
Published on May 12 2005 by Carol Atkins

5.0 out of 5 stars An Alleghory For Human Life
In his book "Mr. Vertigo" Auster once again reveals an incredible talent. A talent for painting a picture with the same clarity with which he writes. Read more
Published on May 25 2004 by Jon Linden

2.0 out of 5 stars Mr. Vertigo
I wanted so much to like this book.

The premise is awesome: A crazy old Hungarian called Master Yehudi picks up a mostly homeless boy from St Louis with the promise of teaching... Read more

Published on Feb 17 2004 by Damian Kelleher

5.0 out of 5 stars magic
This book is magical, it soars.
I never wanted to finish reading it!
Weeks later I am still thinking about the characters, old Master Yehudi and little Walt.
Published on Jan 19 2004 by monicachavez60

5.0 out of 5 stars Another interesting Auster book
Mr. Vertigo, an interesting and quirky story about a young orphan and his journey through an incredible life. Read more
Published on Oct 11 2003

4.0 out of 5 stars Entertaining Tale from the Master!
Mr. Vertigo is a wonderful picaresque tale of the rise to fame - and the subsequent decline - of Walt Rawley, "ragamuffin from honky-tonk row", unwanted by his charge, Uncle Slim... Read more
Published on Aug 28 2003 by Michael Murphy

4.0 out of 5 stars Ingenius
Origianl. Ingenius. Fun. And oh so catchy. A quick and delightful read. As enjoyable, if not more, than Harry Potter.
Published on Jun 13 2002 by mr_mark

4.0 out of 5 stars Auster's Fable
Paul Auster is usually a steadfastly metaphysical writer, procuring post-modern ideas from his books with the regularity of an oil derrick. Read more
Published on Jun 11 2002 by Mike Stone

5.0 out of 5 stars A wonderful tale
I think I heard someone once refer to MR. VERTIGO as Auster-lite. And on a first reading, sure, it does seem like he's pulled back and gone for a lighter touch with this one. Read more
Published on Nov 3 2001 by Kent Gowran

4.0 out of 5 stars Unique...
Mr. Vertigo was very well written, the story was unique and the characters are colorful. The build up of the story was very well put together, but at the end I did have to wonder... Read more
Published on Mar 9 2001 by tommy2405

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