Non il miglior Auster: una storia nella storia troncata un po' bruscamente, una serie di rimandi a verità/caso tipicamente austeriani, le vicende familiari e il rimando all'attualità della guerra. Il tutto si tiene insieme così così (e si svolge in maniera fin troppo breve). ( )

This book has a very unusual structure where a man with insomnia relates stories to help him fall asleep. Tone was dark and a bit depressing. Very quick read. ( )

This is a work with layers; a wonderful meditation on fiction and family. And a great book for picking up when something's keeping you up at night. ( )

Giờ mới nhận ra mình đọc NTBT vào đúng hôm sinh nhật Auster, phát hiện ấy khiến việc mình rất không thích quyển này đáng buồn thêm một bậc. ( )

sigh

i have only read a few of paul auster's books, and one of them turned out to be an annoying inside joke (travels in the scriptorum featured a slew of characters from his previous novels, none of which i had read at the time. it was annoying.) the other was actually a graphic novel adaptation of one of his novels.

that said, i started this book with no expectations, and quickly found myself enthralled. there is an old man unable to sleep, lying in the dark, making up stories in his head to keep himself from thinking about all of the horrible things that have happened in life. he lives with two very sad women who are probably also awake. and he chooses to create a story in which his hero is sent on a mission to destroy the man who has started the war he's found himself embroiled in; i.e. the man making up the story; i.e. himself.

whoah. seems like it could be contrived, and the great thing is that it isn't. at first. the story being created mimics, in many ways, the pain that the old man is feeling, mimics the war that has entered his life in many different ways, despite the fact that he rests peacefully in a house in a calm new england night. i was really drawn into the way these things complemented and completed each other. at first.

and then, without warning, this successful paralleling ended, with a crash. the rest was exposition, boring, uninteresting exposition. i don't see why auster decided to change gears so drastically, but the story grinds down in painful yet boring despair.

i guess i would be interested in giving him another chance, if anyone has any suggestions, because i really enjoyed the beginning.

(footnote: as i was beginning this book, i was sitting outside the bookstore, and sarolta came up and gave me hugs and asked what i was reading. "oh," she said when i told her,"he annoys me." i asked her why, and she explained, but she needn't have bothered, as now he annoys me, too.) ( )