Sacré Bleu

Sacré Bleu Christopher Moore 3.5 / 5	Published 2012 First Sentence "On the day he was to be murdered, Vincent Van Gogh encountered a Gypsy on the cobbles outside the inn where he'd just eaten lunch."
Publisher's Description: In his latest novel, Moore takes on the Great French Masters. A magnificent “Comedy d’Art”, Sacre Bleu is part mystery, part history (sort of), part love story, and wholly hilarious as it follows a young baker-painter who joins the dapper Henri Toulouse-Lautrec on a quest to unravel the mystery behind the supposed suicide of Vincent van Gogh.
Dear Reader, Meh. This was an okay book, but it was mediocre Moore at best. It certainly was no Fool, much less Lamb!! I found myself only laughing out loud a handful of times while reading Sacré Bleu, compared to others in his oeuvre. I didn’t feel the same level of wit, the clever banter, the “inside jokes” that pepper Moore’s other works. Perhaps it is partly because I am not an artist, but I just didn’t connect to the story all that much. I didn’t care a whit about the characters, and I certainly wasn’t all that curious about the origins of the Color Man and his sidekick. (To be honest, I didn’t even think they HAD a backstory until about 2/3 of the way through!) I will keep this review short, but I just couldn’t enjoy this one as much as others by Moore, and was disappointed by let-down expectations from such a usually great author. If you have a desire to read something hilarious (and irreverent!), I say pick up Lamb over Sacré Bleu, always! Yours, Arianna

Support Shelf Notes! Purchase your copy of this book here:

Kindle:

Paperback:

Perfume

Perfume: The Story of a Murderer Patrick Süskind Translated by: John E. Woods 5/5	Published 1985 First Sentence "In eighteenth-century France there lived a man who was one of the most gifted and abominable personages in an era that knew no lack of gifted and abominable personages."
Publisher's Description: An acclaimed bestseller and international sensation, Patrick Suskind's classic novel provokes a terrifying examination of what happens when one man's indulgence in his greatest passion — his sense of smell — leads to murder. In the slums of eighteenth-century France, the infant Jean-Baptiste Grenouille is born with one sublime gift — an absolute sense of smell. As a boy, he lives to decipher the odors of Paris, and apprentices himself to a prominent perfumer who teaches him the ancient art of mixing precious oils and herbs. But Grenouille's genius is such that he is not satisfied to stop there, and he becomes obsessed with capturing the smells of objects such as brass doorknobs and fresh-cut wood. Then one day he catches a hint of a scent that will drive him on an ever-more-terrifying quest to create the "ultimate perfume" — the scent of a beautiful young virgin. Told with dazzling narrative brillance, Perfume is a hauntingly powerful tale of murder and sensual depravity. Translated from the German by John E. Woods.
Dear Reader, This was fantastic, another book I've read this year that will be placed into my favorites. he author did an amazing job making you believe you were reading something written in that time period, and kudos to the translator for keeping it that way! This book was really dark and disturbing, the way I like it. Jean Baptiste Grenouille, a child born into a pile of trash (literally - under a gutting table), grows up with the talent of an extreme sense of smell (and I mean EXTREME). He is obsessed with smells, wants to experience the unusual, bottle them up, discover them. The writing is so descriptive that you can almost smell the words on the page. I still can't get over the writing... it was so freakin' good. I'll tell you this much, I learned sooo much more about the perfume industry and history than I ever would have thought. Yes, there is a proper way to smell it... in a gaseous state (never as a concentrate). Or even: "The second rule is: perfume lives in time; it has its youth, its maturity, and its old age. And only if it gives off a scent equally pleasant at all three different stages of its life, can it be called successful." It almost reminds me of wine tastings and all the complexity that goes with it. After reading about the process, I wanted to set up my very own perfume laboratory in my basement, such a romantic art form. However, don't let Grenouille and the subject matter of perfume fool you! This book is sinister and at times painful to read (due to the descriptive nature of the Author). I felt bad for Grenouille, the author really brings out the sympathy in his character (even with his ghastly side). As beautiful as it is reading about France in the olden days, the reality also creeps in with a force. Grenouille realizes the power of scent: "Odors have a power of persuasion stronger than that of words, appearances, emotions, or will. The persuasive power of an odor cannot be fended off, it enters into us like breath into our lungs, it fills us up, imbues us totally. There is no remedy for it." That was one of my favorite lines in the book, and overall gives you a pretty good idea of what you'll find if you decide to read this one. I would suggest this to fans of "Les Miserables" or "Zombie" by Joyce Carol Oates.   Happy Reading, AmberBug

Support Shelf Notes! Purchase your copy of this book here:

All the Light We Cannot See (Review by AmberBug)

All the Light We Cannot See Anthony Doerr 5 / 5	Published 2014 First Sentence "At dusk they pour from the sky."
Publisher's Description: Marie-Laure lives with her father in Paris near the Museum of Natural History, where he works as the master of its thousands of locks. When she is six, Marie-Laure goes blind and her father builds a perfect miniature of their neighborhood so she can memorize it by touch and navigate her way home. When she is 12, the Nazis occupy Paris and father and daughter flee to the walled citadel of Saint-Malo, where Marie-Laure’s reclusive great-uncle lives in a tall house by the sea. With them they carry what might be the museum’s most valuable and dangerous jewel. In a mining town in Germany, the orphan Werner grows up with his younger sister, enchanted by a crude radio they find. Werner becomes an expert at building and fixing these crucial new instruments, a talent that wins him a place at a brutal academy for Hitler Youth, then a special assignment to track the resistance. More and more aware of the human cost of his intelligence, Werner travels through the heart of the war and, finally, into Saint-Malo, where his story and Marie-Laure’s converge.
Dear Reader, I adored this book, my favorite of the year... I just wish I had picked it up sooner. Brace yourself for some book gushing because I'll be giving this one loads of love in this review. First of all, I have to mention that ATLWCS is ridiculously quotable. I think I highlighted more than any other book I've read before (highlighted in my Kindle... don't get all book righteous on my butt). Almost every quote I highlighted got the wheels in my head turning, it was hard to turn them off the entire time I was reading. "Does a bee know it's going to die if it stings somebody?" is a perfect example... how can that not make you think? Maybe I should back up a little and give you a little background on the book. I'll make it brief since you can pretty much read the plotline in the description above. The book follows two main plotlines, Marie-Laure who suddenly goes blind and has to learn how to navigate with help from her father. We also get the perspective of Nazi Germany through the eyes of Werner, a radio expert who joins up with the Hitler youth. The story is built perfectly between these two and gives such a great balance of what it was like during the WWII from both sides, I'm not sure it could be done any better. I'll admit that I was a little more attached to Marie-Laure, her backstory intrigued me and it was hard not to love such a courageous little girl overcoming the terrible challenges that sudden blindness comes with. Her story was filled with heart, I fell in love with her Father and his loving but stern ways he taught her to be self efficient and overcome her disability. We get to follow as she learns to navigate the town and slowly gain her self worth in order to survive in this challenging reality. Going back to quotes, Doerr does this thing I love, he will use direct related quotes to have overall meanings and tie into many themes throughout the story. "Open your eyes, concludes the man, and see what you can before they close forever." This brings me to my absolute favorite part of the book, the way the Author intertwined the story Marie-Laure gets for her birthday "Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea" into the characters and plot of the ATLWCS. It was this section that caused me to cry, her reading this book to the boy trapped underground (all the while the characters in Twenty Leagues are also trapped to die under the sea), it was completely emotional and heartbreaking. I haven't cried from a book (especially from a non-character death) in a very long time, and this one did me in. I'm not going to say if any characters live or die, but I didn't cry because of a death... I cried because of the emotion behind that one scene. I must have really been attached to Marie-Laure and her book because I HAVE to talk about it again. This is the first book (I've read) that introduces Braille and goes into such detail, on how it feels to read one and the differences between books. I find it fascinating that Braille can vary in style, if the words are spaced apart too far or too close, which is relatable to someone adjusting to reading in a different font. Marie-Laure mentions the change from one of her books, "The French feels old-fashioned, the dots printed much closer together than she is used to". I really should mention the other narrative following Werner, I did enjoy this side of the story quite a bit too. It challenges you to look at the other side of the war (the side everyone hates) and see it from the perspective of a level headed orphan boy trying to survive. This boy is super intelligent and has a way with electronics (specifically radios), his expertise in this lands him an unspeakable spot amongst the elite German youth serving for Hitler. At first you think, there is no way this super smart kid would fall for the stupidity behind the mentality of the Nazi party. Slowly, you begin to realize that the perks and reasoning may have been more enticing than you would think, you start to sympathize with those pressured to join and arm themselves with this mentality. What I like about Werner is that he gets sucked into the group with promises of rewarding work with his love of radios, but he learns throughout his journey the true nature of the regime. All the Light We Cannot See teaches us how special things truly are and how we realize this when we don't have them anymore. This is shown with Marie-Laure and coping without sight, Werner and his relationship with his sister, the mundane life Marie and her father lead in the museum, listening to a radio show that is now banned, and so much more. In the face of loss though, each character stays afloat both in mind and body, which is very encouraging for the reader to experience. I have to admit, after spending the time of getting my thoughts down on the blog, it makes me want to re-read this very badly. I haven't been so touched by a book in quite awhile, and I imagine this book will last and have an impression on me for a long time. I highly suggest you read this, I can't express my love for this book enough. Happy Reading, AmberBug

Support Shelf Notes! Purchase your copy of this book here:

Paperback:	Kindle:

All the Light We Cannot See

All the Light We Cannot See Anthony Doerr 5 / 5	Published 2105 First Sentence "At dusk they pour from the sky."
Publisher's Description: Marie-Laure lives with her father in Paris near the Museum of Natural History, where he works as the master of its thousands of locks. When she is six, Marie-Laure goes blind and her father builds a perfect miniature of their neighborhood so she can memorize it by touch and navigate her way home. When she is 12, the Nazis occupy Paris and father and daughter flee to the walled citadel of Saint-Malo, where Marie-Laure’s reclusive great-uncle lives in a tall house by the sea. With them they carry what might be the museum’s most valuable and dangerous jewel. In a mining town in Germany, the orphan Werner grows up with his younger sister, enchanted by a crude radio they find. Werner becomes an expert at building and fixing these crucial new instruments, a talent that wins him a place at a brutal academy for Hitler Youth, then a special assignment to track the resistance. More and more aware of the human cost of his intelligence, Werner travels through the heart of the war and, finally, into Saint-Malo, where his story and Marie-Laure’s converge.
Dear Reader, If there ever was something close to the perfectly crafted novel for me, this was it. What an amazing reading experience. Doerr writes beautiful, tender, empathetic prose which unwinds the story with the ideal blend of detail and pacing. I won't soon forget this gem of a book, most particularly for the way it humanized the German side of the war experience as much as the more sympathetic one. I adored the way the two stories unfolded towards one another, like the flattening of Max's paper planes, until their edges just touched. The rich descriptions of wartime Europe struck me on every page, and I was impressed with how well Doerr wrote the entire experience of Marie-Laure's world from the blind girl's four remaining senses. Every experience of the characters was felt by the reader. The little touches were what really got to me: Werner's childhood interest in radios (told in truly believable detail), Marie-Laure's passion for sea creatures (based upon reading Jules Verne at an impressionable age),  Frederik's obession with birds (to the exclusion of almost all else). The miniature cities which Monsieur Le Blanc builds for his daughter, incorporating clever locking mechanisms from his own talents. The hermit, the orphan sister, the housekeeper, the baker's wife, the giant: all carried so vividly through the page, with their own foibles and cares. I wondered often why Doerr chose 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea as his parallel text, as it were. Is it because the Le Blancs ultimately ended up living on the edge of Atlantic? Is it because echoes of the maniacal Captain Nemo perhaps could be spotted in Hitler? Was it because there was adventure in exploration, and Marie-Laure needed to learn to embrace it rather than fear it? I am still trying to figure that out, but I think the choice was a great one. The snippets of the Verne work scattered throughout the Doerr novel were well-placed and sometimes surprisingly appropriate. I feel like I can't say it more succinctly or more poetically than this paragraph I stumbled across from Booklist: "A novel to live in, learn from, and feel bereft over when the last page is turned, Doerr's magnificently drawn story seems at once spacious and tightly composed. . . . Doerr masterfully and knowledgeably re-creates the deprived civilian conditions of war-torn France and the strictly controlled lives of the military occupiers." —Brad Hooper,Booklist, April 15, 2014 You may have already heard a lot about this novel; it is certainly getting talked about. And deservedly so. I plan to press this into the hands of everyone I know. Or maybe even those I don't know. Yours, Arianna

Support Shelf Notes! Purchase your copy of this book here:

Paperback:	Kindle:

Skeletons at the Feast

Skeletons at the Feast Chris Bohjalian 4 / 5	Published 2008 First Sentence "The girl--a young woman, really, eighteen, hair the color of corn silk--had been hearing the murmur of artillery fire for two days now."
Publisher's Description: In January 1945, in the waning months of World War II, a small group of people begin the longest journey of their lives: an attempt to cross the remnants of the Third Reich, from Warsaw to the Rhine if necessary, to reach the British and American lines. Among the group is eighteen-year-old Anna Emmerich, the daughter of Prussian aristocrats. There is her lover, Callum Finella, a twenty-year-old Scottish prisoner of war who was brought from the stalag to her family’s farm as forced labor. And there is a twenty-six-year-old Wehrmacht corporal, who the pair know as Manfred–who is, in reality, Uri Singer, a Jew from Germany who managed to escape a train bound for Auschwitz. As they work their way west, they encounter a countryside ravaged by war. Their flight will test both Anna’s and Callum’s love, as well as their friendship with Manfred–assuming any of them even survive.  Perhaps not since The English Patient has a novel so deftly captured both the power and poignancy of romance and the terror and tragedy of war. Skillfully portraying the flesh and blood of history, Chris Bohjalian has crafted a rich tapestry that puts a face on one of the twentieth century’s greatest tragedies–while creating, perhaps, a masterpiece that will haunt readers for generations.
Dear Reader, Yet again, this was an audiobook I stumbled across on my library's Overdrive site.  I had read some Chris Bohjalian before (and enjoyed it - Trans-Sister Radio - he's so good at making you think, and look at issues from all sides), and my sister is a big fan of his as well, so given the description, I figured I'd give this one a shot.  I was surprised to read on Goodreads that many people were shocked and disgusted by the graphic nature of this novel, but I did not find it to be sensational - just very real.  Granted, I don't know what actually went on during WWII, as I was lucky enough not to witness it, but from the accounts which I've heard before, the atrocities which Bohjalian describes are truly disturbing but not unrealistic.  He didn't want to shock people, just tell the story. The book begins by following several different people in various wartime situations: Cecile, who is a concentration camp prisoner; Callum, who is a Scottish POW in Germany; Anna, a young German girl who grew up on a beet farm which belonged at different times to Germany and to Poland; and Uri, who is a Jewish German who escaped the trains and lives his life on the run, taking on various personas (Nazi soldier, Russian soldier, or simply melting out of sight) as need be, in order to survive. I found it fascinating to read WWII from the German-citizen side, which is something you don't hear a lot about.  The reader got to watch the Germans start off as strong Hitler supporters (the dictator brought Anna's farm, which had been part of the annexation of Poland, back into Germany, and thus was a hero to many citizens in the east), and then as they began to recognize what was going on.  There were definitely atrocities on both sides of the war, too many to count - and there were good people who had morals no matter what, and bad people who took advantage of their power.  The book explored all sides of the war and of its effects on the people - it was particularly interesting to hear about the long march west that many German citizens made, as they fled from the invading Russians in the last few months of the war.  Their journeys were perilous: most suffered awfully, many died.  This was another aspect of the war I'd not encountered much of before now, so it was good to read about and get yet another perspective on the awful, worldwide conflict. One of the parts that stuck out for me was when the Emmerich family stopped at a family friend's house during their difficult trek east.  They came across women who were certain they were safe from harm, and who lived in an insulated little bubble that had thus far managed to escape the war entirely.  I found that part to be touching and terrifying at once.  Those poor, proud women - to think what must have happened to them once the Emmerichs left and the Russians arrived. I am glad I read this, and I would recommend it, despite that there were some parts that made me gasp in horror as I listened to the narrator read them.  Oh, and one last thing I think I should add: this is the narrator who read one of my favorite books from 2013, The Orchardist.  I think he is a wonderful reader, and having him "come back" for this book might have made me enjoy it even more than I would have otherwise.  I think perhaps he can make any book sound very well-written, even more than they already are! Happy reading, Arianna P.S. I had read before but forgotten that this was a work of fiction but based on real diaries kept from the war.  Wow.

Support ShelfNotes! Purchase your copy of Skeletons at the Feast here:

Les Misérables

Les Misérables Victor Hugo, Norman Denny (Translator) 5/5	Published 1862 First Sentence (Preface from Original Publisher) "So long as there shall exist, by virtue of law and custom, decrees of damnation pronounced by society, artificially creating hells amid the civilization of earth, and adding the element of human fate to divine destiny; so long as the three great problems of the century - the degradation of man through pauperism, the corruption of woman through hunger, the crippling of children through lack of light - are unsolved: so long as social asphyxia is possible in any part of the world; - in other words, and with a still wider significance, so long as ignorance and poverty exist on earth, books of the nature of Les Miserables cannot fail to be of use." HAUTEVILLE HOUSE, 1862
Publisher's Description: ‘He was no longer Jean Valjean, but No. 24601’ Victor Hugo’s tale of injustice, heroism and love follows the fortunes of Jean Valjean, an escaped convict determined to put his criminal past behind him. But his attempts to become a respected member of the community are constantly put under threat: by his own conscience, when, owing to a case of mistaken identity, another man is arrested in his place; and by the relentless investigations of the dogged policeman Javert. It is not simply for himself that Valjean must stay free, however, for he has sworn to protect the baby daughter of Fantine, driven to prostitution by poverty. A compelling and compassionate view of the victims of early nineteenth-century French society, Les Misérablesis a novel on an epic scale, moving inexorably from the eve of the battle of Waterloo to the July Revolution of 1830. Norman Denny’s introduction to his lively English translation discusses Hugo’s political and artistic aims in writing Les Misérables.
Dear Reader, This epic novel by Victor Hugo was quite surprising a treat. I think the enchantment felt was partially due to the lack of knowledge I had of this popular story. I've never seem any of the films or ventured out to see the play. Anyone who has ever read this will know Hugo tends to digress into many topics which stray from the story itself. Not knowing this, the first digression choked me like swallowing on a huge pill. But slowly, after each one... I started to enjoy his digressions and actually wanted more. Hugo has a wonderful mind and really delves into some thought provoking ideas. All this stimulating writing has me highlighting like crazy. For example, I loved the way Hugo compared a prison to a monastery and a convict to a nun, never would I have even thought to compare the two, but what a comparison it is!! I also loved the entire rant on slang; this topic is still being debated today. The slang of long ago is proper speech today which strengthens the argument even more. He brings a refreshing look at what slang really is and how it should be treated. Progress... we must be open to it. One of my favorite characters in the book was actually a very minor character but one which brought about Hugo's rant of slang. Gavroche, the street urchin who creates a nest in an elephant sculpture, has such cheer and resourcefulness for a child with nothing. This is admirable but Gavroche's true charm lies with his slangy speech. He speaks chock full of cute world for ordinary things and he always corrects others when they use "proper" speech. His part is short but his character is so heartwarming and odd that it stuck with me. Okay, so... this story is aptly names, "The Miserable Wretches", be warned! EVERYONE has horrible things happen to them! However, I think a happy ending is quite overrated and usually enjoy the nitty gritty truth better. I'll leave you with this quote straight out of the ending of the book: "It is a terrible thing to be happy! how content one is! How all-sufficient one finds it! How, being in possession of the false object of life, happiness, one forgets the true object, duty!" It was Hugo's duty to deliver us a story with depth and feeling (not one of those dull, heard it all before stories). With this, he has success... END of story. Happy Reading, AmberBug

Support ShelfNotes! Buy your copy of Les Misérables here:

The Club Dumas

The Club Dumas Arturo Pérez-Reverte 1993 3/5	First Sentence "The flash projected the outline of the hanged man onto the wall."
Publisher's Description: Lucas Corso, middle-aged, tired, and cynical, is a book detective, a mercenary hired to hunt down rare editions for wealthy and unscrupulous clients. When a well-known bibliophile is found hanged, leaving behind part of the original manuscript of Alexandre Dumas's "The Three Musketeers, " Corso is brought in to authenticate the fragment. The task seems straightforward, but the unsuspecting Corso is soon drawn into a swirling plot involving devil worship, occult practices, and swashbuckling derring-do among a cast of characters bearing a suspicious resemblance to those of Dumas's masterpiece. Aided by a mysterious beauty named for a Conan Doyle heroine, Corso travels from Madrid to Toledo to Paris in pursuit of a sinister and seemingly omniscient killer. Part mystery, part puzzle, part witty intertextual game, "The Club Dumas" is a wholly original intellectual thriller by the internationally bestselling author of "The Flanders Panel" and "The Seville Communion."
Dear Reader, This is definitely one of those books that only true bibliophiles will love. I couldn’t get into it myself much for the first section, even though it talked all about rare books and those who love them. I felt like, honestly, the story didn’t really pick up until like the last third of the novel, but you really did have to go through all of the earlier stuff in order to get anything out of the later happenings. You just wish you had known that at the time you had to slog through some of the early material…. However, I did, all-in-all, like the book and how it circled around a lost-to-history book which examined the nature of the devil and centered around nine engravings. I also really loved the Dumas connection, although I’d highly recommend to anyone who was planning to read this book that they ought to read or re-read at least The Three Musketeers (if not others of Dumas’ work, as well) before diving into this adventure, because SO much of the action and content revolves around at least the 3Ms. I am certain I missed many of the references and allusions to Dumas works, as I read the Musketeers when I was something like 14, and even The Count of Monte Cristo (a true favorite of mine) was several years ago, and while easier for me to remember, still only a more distant memory. The main character was not terribly likable either, although I’m certain that’s what the author meant to do there. And his relationship that developed mid-book did not seem all that believable, but hey - generally the people who fall in love with each other are just as surprised as the outsiders are. So it wasn’t that the story wasn’t believable that bothered me, but something felt slightly off the whole time...although, I suppose that was largely because the entire book was very “meta”, with the protagonist recognizing how things would go were he the main character in a novel. That was probably my favorite part: his omniscient understanding of his role and his place in the story as a character, written in by another. The author did great with that little bit. Overall, an enjoyable book for a book-lover, that is for sure. I definitely enjoyed the ride, especially when things actually started moving. But, looking back on the book as a whole, I do understand how it all fell together now, and needed to be presented how it was. Best, Arianna

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