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4.0 out of 5 stars
Paul Auster does it Again, Jan 3 2010
Paul Auster has done it again. Short novel, but brilliantly written. Made me go back and read his previous novels, and purchase his most recent one.
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4.0 out of 5 stars
An Enjoyable Read, Nov 29 2008
I just finished reading Paul Auster's latest book Man in the Dark. The book focuses on August Brill, a 72 year old man who is suffering from insomnia. To help himself get over the insomnia, as he lies away in bed a night he begins to tell himself stories. The stories are made up and done as a way of distracting himself from a) the fact he cannot sleep and b) his own mind rehashing the life Brill has lead.
While I don't think this is Auster's best novel, I did find it entertaining all the same. Auster does a good job of drafting up an alternate reality where the events of September 11th never took place and instead something else just as tragic took place. He also does a good job of drawing in the actual events taking place in Iraqwith one of the lesser characters in the book.
So what did I like about the book? I liked the writing style. Auster's tell-tale method of character delivery adn development is still there. Fans of The New York Trilogy will undoubtedly find some parallels between how the characters are described in that novelwith how they are described here. And of course the book is set in New York which I always get a kick out of.
So what didn't I like about it? Well I thought the book was too political. What makes Auster, in my opinion, a great novelist is his ability to rise above politics. But by sinking in to the political arena, he cheapens his art. Auster should have been able to avoid it. There are plenty of other topics to write about.
If you're an Auster fan, you will likely read this book. If you're looking for your first introduction to the man though, try checking out the Booklyn Follies or Leviathan instead.
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4.0 out of 5 stars
DARKNESS SURROUNDS HIM, Aug 26 2008
Loneliness takes many forms. For some it is a feeling of intense isolation even in a crowd or a room full of friends. If it is dark, nighttime, one may feel almost disabled by desolation. You truly are alone save for your thoughts, memories, unanswered questions that prevent sleep and only summon remorse. That is the condition in which August Brill finds himself in Paul Auster's brilliantly challenging latest novel "Man In The Dark."
At 72 years of age Brill finds himself in his daughter's Vermont home where he is trying to recover from an automobile accident. Sleep eludes him as he recalls past tragedies - the death of his wife, the desertion of his daughter's husband, the death in Iraq of Titus, his granddaughter's fiancé. A retired book critic Brill has a fertile imagination, and sees in his mind's eye quite a different America, and it is a haunting scene - a place where there has not been a terrorist attack, our country is not at war save for within itself when New York and 16 other states secede from the Union.
He flagellates himself for these thoughts, saying, "Why am I doing this? Why do I persist in traveling down these old, tired paths; why this compulsion to pick at old wounds and make myself bleed again?"
Auster, as is his wont, challenges us to consider the world in which we live. He underscores the atrocities of war by relating the horrible death of Titus that is posted on the Internet and seen by Brill and his granddaughter.
Brilliant, shocking? Yes. It is also unforgettable, undeniably the work of one of the most creative minds of our generation.
Auster's narration of his work brings an added depth to the story. For this listener there is a greater understanding of the author's intention when the inflections, phrasings, and emphases are his own.
- Gail Cooke
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by Paul Auster
by Paul Auster
by Paul Auster
by Paul Auster
by Thomas Pynchon
