By: Paul Auster Publisher: Henry Holt and Co. Average Rating: Binding: Hardcover Label: Henry Holt and Co. Number of Items: 1 Number of Pages: 192 Publication Date: August 19, 2008 Release Date: August 19, 2008
A new novel with a dark political twist from “one of America’s greats.”*
Man in the Dark is Paul Auster’s brilliant, devastating novel about the many realities we inhabit as wars flame all around us.
Seventy-two-year-old August Brill is recovering from a car accident in his daughter’s house in Vermont. When sleep refuses to come, he lies in bed and tells himself stories, struggling to push back thoughts about things he would prefer to forget—his wife’s recent death and the horrific murder of his granddaughter’s boyfriend, Titus. The retired book critic imagines a parallel world in which America is not at war with Iraq but with itself. In this other America the twin towers did not fall and the 2000 election results led to secession, as state after state pulled away from the union and a bloody civil war ensued. As the night progresses, Brill’s story grows increasingly intense, and what he is so desperately trying to avoid insists on being told. Joined in the early hours by his granddaughter, he gradually opens up to her and recounts the story of his marriage. After she falls asleep, he at last finds the courage to revisit the trauma of Titus’s death.
Passionate and shocking, Man in the Dark is a novel of our moment, a book that forces us to confront the blackness of night even as it celebrates the existence of ordinary joys in a world capable of the most grotesque violence.
why fiction? In this novel Paul Auster continues his exploration of the writing process, and why it is vital to the writer. Once again he presents us with a story within a story, but this time he sheds light on the urge to create fiction. the story within the story presents a parallel universe where the characters are manipulated by their creator, Brill. That narrative is summarily interrupted when the protagonists are killed off, the author taking care to ensure they got a dignified funeral. That story was about the ravages of war and the relationships between a man and the two women in his life. As we read on, we realize that Brill himself is living with the repercussions of war, and is dealing with the consequences of his entanglement with two women. An insomniac, he creates stories in order to while away the hours of the night. As he negotiates his pain and that of his daughter and grand-daughter, he gradually frees himself from his solitude. The ending of the story within the story coincides with his ability to confront the demons that possess him and his loved ones. His storytelling was an integral part of his grieving and helped him reach a point where the healing can begin.
The Beautiful Man in the Dark Paul Auster's Man in the Dark is perfect, a genuine communication from the heart. Auster is always a good writer but in this book he is great. The writing is sincere and true, even the parts that are grim fantasy (the United States torn apart in a secessionist war). The story of a man, his daughter, and his granddaughter, all facing their own heartbreaks -- "life is disappointing, isn't it?" -- and yet "the weird world rolls on." What joy there is in that knowledge that it does roll on, that with all the unkindness, and worse, brutality and evil, the generations go on and there are moments of connection that are so beautiful that they can be understood as proof of God (as one character believes, for a while anyway) or just wonderful, passing luck.
Joy, connection, peace, responsibility: Auster takes all these themes, really big themes that have been written about for hundreds and hundreds of years, and he writes a book that is utterly fresh, a book that is ancient and new. A truly beautiful accomplishment. I will read this book again, I know, and find even more there, more sentences and visuals and hints at both misery and joy. Auster is a natural writer, and so gifted; with this book, he has given us something wonderful.
Almost, but not quite Although beautifully written and immediately intriguing, it just sort of flopped in the last third of the book. It was compelling when Auster had two plots going at once, but then he just blew off one plot line like he decided it was a bad idea and we (the readers) should just forget about it. I can't say I wasn't disappointed, so am not sure it deserves 4 stars, maybe 3 1/2.
Feels more like a Paul Auster brand than a book Paul Auster is one of the best authors for audio books. I have worked dozens of boring data entry jobs and I have spent innumberable hours with head phones listening to books on tape and I have always liked the Paul Auster books. They are consistantly serious and comforting at the same time.
However, there's always a feeling that they are good for you. Paul Auster is the broccoli of literature. His characters are earnest to the point of humorlessness. There's always some kind of a tragedy that they are trying to overcome. Through perambulations, they finally accept that life is horrible and they want to keep living in it.
This book has some interesting metafiction with the book within a book where the narrator is writing a character whose only recourse is to kill him (the narrator) in order to end the horrible fantasy of an America divided against itself (imagine the 2004 elections with seccessionist radicals taking over.) but that fantasy never gets fleshed out. Moreso it's about the narrator coming to terms with his dead wife and his granddaughter's dead boyfriend.
The book takes all the expected steps but nothing feels surprising. Paul Auster writes about current events and the way they shape the characters but even that feels rote. It's like he was watching the news when he needed to kill a character and grabbed the most promising image.
It's not a bad book and it Paul Auster. But it's not terribly exciting either.
Auster does absurdist fiction For the most part, I love the way Paul Auster sweeps me into a story. I wasn't disappointed in this. Pulls you right into the story, totally absorbs the restless mind. Every once in a while, you remember you're sitting in a living room in SC, reading a book. It's not long, and has moments that made me think I was still reading Brooklyn Follies. Finished it in 2 sittings and now javaczuk is reading it. What is it about absurdist fiction I so like? (Though I am a little tired of 70ish men in New York, but that's just me,
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