Cathrine

The Brooklyn Follies: A Novel by Paul Auster

My review

rating: 4 of 5 stars
.

"She has the story, and when a person is lucky enough to live inside a story, to live inside an imaginary world, the pains of this world disappear. For as long as the story goes on, reality no longer exists."

I am happy to say that I have very few pains right now :-) but I still feel very lucky to have lived inside this story.

I confess that I do not really know what to rate this book ;-). A 3.5 / 5 stars seems somewhat "right". Mixed emotions.

I had high expectations for Paul Auster. The name carries with it a certain weight. I was not sure I was "up to" reading and understanding his books.

Turns out that he is not that kinda author ;-). At least not in this book. Fear can keep us from eating a lot of good cakes ;-) ! This is a page turner of a book. And you grow to care about these characters. Even the "fat-people-phobic" narrator. The word FAT FAT FAT being endlessly thrown at you makes you want to reach for a bag of potato chips as you read ;-P FAT CAKE FAT CHIPS FAT UGH! But that (and his social snob'ism) is my only real complaint about the book. Though if you work in a book store or have an "average" job beware of this book as it may make you feel unworthy ;-) though unworthy of what is never really made clear. I think deep down ;-) PA knows what matters - and that even FAT book store clerks are "worthy", worthy just where and as they are in life, not as clay that can be molded into something "better".

But enough ;-) as I REALLY did enjoy this book. And it was a complaint about a character and (hopefully) not about Auster. And having a character provoke you to complain is a sign of a good author!

There is a love of life in this book that I treasure :) !!!

And a few very wise truths about life.

I often ignored life to read this book ;-). Picking it up as often as I could. And honestly it wasn't just because of his gorgeous author photo ;-) ! (not JUST)

I love how he refers to other books / authors, events, people (movies, actors) and especially USA politics in this book. Small details leaving large impressions :) !

QUINT he refers to the book you are reading on your vacation :) ! I have never heard of it before and ... here it is just a couple of weeks after you mentioned it to me.

I have been thinking of reading DeLillo's Falling Man and when I saw De Lillo mentioned in this book I thought to myself 'I should order 'Falling Man' tonight' and then (for those of you who have read this Auster) came the perfect ending of this book and I knew it was the next book for me :) ! (Though I do fear that Falling Man may be a destructive read. A book that my Pain Body wants me to read ;-) !)

Lil :-) thank you very much for introducing this book to me :) ! I ordered it for my husband in Norwegian this afternoon :) ! And I am excited to hear what he thinks.

And I am looking forward to my next Auster. And am going to stick to your list :-) !

(Though I think maybe Siri has him beat ;-) ! When I was at their reading it seemed as if she was kind of writing in his shadow. But it may just be that his name is bolder than hers and not his books?!)

Below are some of my favorite passages :) .....

"Life got in the way -- two years in the army, work, marriage, family responsibilities, the need to earn more and more money, all the muck that bogs us down when we don't have the balls to stand up for ourselves -- but I had never lost my interest in books."

"She has the story, and when a person is lucky enough to live inside a story, to live inside an imaginary world, the pains of this world disappear. For as long as the story goes on, reality no longer exists."

"One should never underestimate the power of books."

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