Man in the Dark

Man in the Dark Paul Auster 5/5	First Sentence "I am alone in the dark, turning the world around in my head as I struggle through another bout of insomnia, another white night in the great American wilderness."
Publisher's Description: 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.
Dear Reader, This is another wonderfully descriptive novel by Paul Auster. Some people don't like his style but I wholeheartedly adore it, maybe minus the reoccurring characters of cheating men (although maybe he writes what he knows?!? He is on his second wife). His books usually contain unusual situations with a heavy hand of existentialism. This novel is exactly that, it starts off with the main character telling a story in his head about a man who wakes up in a hole with little recollection of how he got there. The first half of this book deals mainly with this story within a story and you don't really learn about August Brill (main character) directly until you get closer to the end. What is unusual about this is that we actually do learn a little of Brill through his own story. You see... the story Brill creates in his head is about a man who must stop the Author (Brill) from continuing on with the story. Confused yet? Auster does a wonderful job with this and trust me... you really won't be confused at all (I'm finding it hard to describe since I lack the graceful way with words that Auster has). The story within the story is finished halfway through the novel and the we continue with August Brill's reality (not the story). At first I was a little annoyed that the story seemed somewhat unfinished but the reason is there, you start to get it towards the end. I enjoyed both parts equally and by the time I was done with the book I felt like I was on an emotional roller coaster. One part of the book actually has a very graphic scene set in Iraq, one that shows the true horror of the war. It was quite hard to stomach and I'll admit it left me in tears. I understand why August Brill was creating this story, he wanted to dream of a way to change the outcome of his current life. In the story he created in his head, the point was to stop the Author from changing history but wouldn't that mean the characters would then die? Those characters are imagined by Brill, so essentially by killing him... they would die with him. In Brill's reality we have a horrific event (in Iraq) that has changed his whole family and he uses this story to dream of what it would be like to write a different ending. Man, get your mind around that one! It's a fantastic story, both of them. This might be my favorite Auster book yet, I highly recommend it. Take note though, be careful to be in a good mind frame when reading this... I could see the potential it would have to screw with someone at the wrong time of their life. With that said.... Happy Reading, AmberBug

Invisible

Invisible Paul Auster 3.5/5	First Sentence (and a bit more) "I shook his hand for the first time in the spring of 1967. I was a second-year student at Columbia then, a know-nothing boy with an appetite for books and a belief (or delusion) that one day I would become good enough to call myself a poet, and because I read poetry, I had already met his namesake in Dante's hell, a dead man shuffling through the final verses of the twenty-eighth canto of the Inferno."
Publisher's Description: “One of America’s greatest novelists” dazzlingly reinvents the coming-of-age story in his most passionate and surprising book to date." Sinuously constructed in four interlocking parts, Paul Auster’s fifteenth novel opens in New York City in the spring of 1967, when twenty-year-old Adam Walker, an aspiring poet and student at Columbia University, meets the enigmatic Frenchman Rudolf Born and his silent and seductive girfriend, Margot. Before long, Walker finds himself caught in a perverse triangle that leads to a sudden, shocking act of violence that will alter the course of his life. Three different narrators tell the story of Invisible, a novel that travels in time from 1967 to 2007 and moves from Morningside Heights, to the Left Bank of Paris, to a remote island in the Caribbean. It is a book of youthful rage, unbridled sexual hunger, and a relentless quest for justice. With uncompromising insight, Auster takes us into the shadowy borderland between truth and memory, between authorship and identity, to produce a work of unforgettable power that confirms his reputation as “one of America’s most spectacularly inventive writers.”
Dear Reader, I selected to read this in Audio book format. Paul Auster reads his books beautifully (in my opinion) and I can never resist the chance to listen to his hypnotizing voice. I was under the impression that everyone would enjoy his narration just as much, however, I found out that not everyone feels the same as me. I listen to my audio books in my car and every now and then, my boyfriend gets to listen too (when we decide to take my car.) He was blessed one day to ride with me while I was just starting Invisible, I was actually quite excited thinking that he'd find Auster as wonderful as me. No, he did not. I didn't even have to ask him what he thought of Auster's glorious voice, he told me right away, "How can you STAND it? His voice is so monotone!" That's when I realized what he said was true! I still didn't care, monotone or not, I loved every syllable. I wanted to tell this story because I think it taught me a lesson and really needs to be said for readers asking if they should Audio this book or just read it. I would jump up and down and say you'd be crazy not to want to hear Auster sex up his own writing... but on the other hand, maybe you would be like my boyfriend and wonder why he doesn't use any inflection or change his voice for each character. To each their own! With that said, on to the book itself. This book is chock full of crazy stuff. If you know Auster, you'll know to expect this. If this is a first time Auster read? I would suggest picking up one of his earlier books first (or audio booking Winter Journal - my favorite). The story is told in seasons, each one a chapter of the book the main character has written of his life. I always love books about books, this one lacked a little of that charm though. The charm the story held was within the development of Adam and the whimsical characters he interacted with. Whimsical may be the wrong word for that if you start thinking of Disney characters but that was the first word that came to mind. You see Adam throughout his life; traveling, getting into trouble, struggling writer, wanting to know the meaning of everything. Auster always does this so well (again, in my opinion). The shocking moments of the book really took me for surprise, they come at times you don't expect them. I would recommend this book to anyone who has already experienced Auster and enjoyed his work. Happy Reading, AmberBug