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City Of Glass
 
 

City Of Glass (Paperback)

by Paul Auster (Author) "IT was a wrong number that started it, the telephone ringing three times in the dead of night, and the voice on the other end..." (more)
4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (32 customer reviews)
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Product Details


Product Description

From Publishers Weekly

When a stranger calls on Daniel Quinn's phone asking to speak to Paul Auster (supposedly a detective), Quinn claims to be Auster and soon is drawn into a case involving a man who fears his father is trying to kill him. "An impressive if not major work," PW concluded.
Copyright 1987 Reed Business Information, Inc.


From Library Journal

Daniel Quinn, author of a series of de tective pot-boilers, accepts an assign ment as a real private investigator from a man who dials his phone number by mistake. His mission: to keep an eye on the man's father, a former linguistics professor who has spent time in jail for bizarre childrearing experiments. Quinn quickly loses track of both his client and the suspect, as well as his own apartment and belongings, and fi nally his identity. This metafictional mystery, reminiscent of Robbe-Gril let's anti-novel The Erasers, challenges conventional notions of character and plot. However, unless the remaining volumes of this projected trilogy pro vide more depth and substance, Aus ter's previous book, The Invention of Solitude, will probably remain the best introduction to his work. Edward B. St. John, Loyola Marymount Univ. Lib., Los Angeles
Copyright 1985 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Inside This Book (Learn More)
First Sentence
IT was a wrong number that started it, the telephone ringing three times in the dead of night, and the voice on the other end asking for someone he was not. Read the first page
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City Of Glass
59% buy the item featured on this page:
City Of Glass 4.1 out of 5 stars (32)
CDN$ 12.05
City of Glass: The Graphic Novel
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City of Glass: The Graphic Novel
CDN$ 11.78
Invention Of Solitude
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Invention Of Solitude 4.8 out of 5 stars (10)
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Customer Reviews

32 Reviews
5 star:
 (17)
4 star:
 (5)
3 star:
 (7)
2 star:
 (1)
1 star:
 (2)
 
 
 
 
 
Average Customer Review
4.1 out of 5 stars (32 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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Most helpful customer reviews

 
4.0 out of 5 stars trying to keep the reader confused, May 3 2004
By "alexstorm" (Berlin, Germany) - See all my reviews
"City of Glass" is Austers first book of his "New York Trilogy". He keeps his themes so it is also about poverty, hunger and chance. "City of Glass" is about the writer Daniel Quinn who pretends to be the detective Paul Auster. Quinn observes a man who locked in his son for years in the dark in order to teach him god's language. Quinns client fears his father who will be set free from jail. Daniel Quinn is like the other protagonists by Paul Auster. At the beginning "City of Glass" is a very trilling novel. If you read something else by Auster before you read this book you may know what will happen. In the end your expectations won't be fullfilled. For me it is too strange because I don't like Austers theories of chance.
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3.0 out of 5 stars ANOTHER FICTIONAL RORSCHACH TEST, Mar 2 2003
By John D. Burlinson "whoa_boy" (Austin, TX United States) - See all my reviews
I place this item on a none-too-tiny list of literary Rorschach tests. Unconvinced? Please sample any ten of my fellow reviewer's estimates of the "meaning" of this book.
The best parts of this book are the hero's various meetings with the two Peter Stillmans, father & son. The dialogs between Quinn and these two grotesques are very amusing.
Interesting use of the author as character in his own fiction -- though not as entertaining as other still-living masters of this specialty: Roth (P.), Vidal, Mailer.
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4.0 out of 5 stars I didn't get it at first, Dec 18 2002
By C. D. Murphy (Natick, MA United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   
I put the book down and had thought well of it, but not worthy of a review let alone a good one, but as I went to sleep that night, it hit me. At the point that I understood what the main character represented, which was a Campbellian march through the four phases of life, I became quite impressed with what Auster had done. I need to read it again to see all the details that I missed not understanding the parallels with life, but look for this as you read it: from his birth as Auster, to understanding language with Stillman, the identity crisis with the father, the mid-life crisis after meeting his namesake, the question of paths during this, the isolation of late life and finally the fading away. On this level, the story is absolutely stunning.

I think there are other levels that smarter people than myself have figured out and maybe with the next reading I will see some of them.

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Most recent customer reviews

3.0 out of 5 stars not a real detective story
We were suposed to read "City of Glass" out of Auster's NEW YORK TRILOGY in our English advanced class. Read more
Published on May 2 2004 by Michael Gade

1.0 out of 5 stars Dry, boring and unrewarding
Paul Auster's City of Glass is perhaps the worst read I've experienced. The story moves at a pace that would make a snail envious; the murder mystery plot is as thin as air and... Read more
Published on Nov 10 2003 by Robert W. Macdowell

5.0 out of 5 stars Better Than Kafka...Auster's BEST!
A writer, through an odd phone call, investigates a possible future murder, meets doubles, investigates the origins of language and the tower of Babel, and meets an eccentric... Read more
Published on Oct 17 2002 by S. Henkels

4.0 out of 5 stars The definition of thought provoking
After reading several of the reviews on City of Glass, I felt a need to give my own opinion. This is a book of perception. Read more
Published on Oct 10 2002 by Elia

5.0 out of 5 stars You are incorrect sir.
Mesmerizing. Paul Auster throws a tale at me the likes of which I have never seen. This book was given to me by my father, who in turn had been recommended it by a college... Read more
Published on Jan 19 2002 by Jacob Malewitz

3.0 out of 5 stars great start; ending fizzles (3 and a half stars)
I was very intrigued through about three fourths of this book. I loved the ideas presented about language and identity. But, towards the end, I found myself a little... Read more
Published on Jun 28 2001 by lady detective

3.0 out of 5 stars Impressive narrative skills, but...
...the point is not astounding enough, i think.
IMHO, books like "the neglected spring" (Hans Scherfig) does a much better job in showing the fatal flaws in humans... Read more
Published on May 15 2001 by Niels Sørensen

4.0 out of 5 stars A metaphysical mystery
It seems this is a post-modern book. It has elements of a conventional mystery story, but in the end it's a study of personality, reality and so on. Read more
Published on Dec 7 2000 by Niko Peltonen

5.0 out of 5 stars It's the Process, Not the Ending
From the first page, you're just sucked into the world of the main character, the detective Quinn. One of the best American writer today, Paul Auster's works are mainly based on... Read more
Published on May 7 2000 by Chiang Hai Tat

5.0 out of 5 stars An intriguing and engrossing post-modern whodunnit
The wonderful thing about "City of Glass" is that as a post-modern work, it is open to a number of different interpretations. Read more
Published on Nov 18 1999

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