The New York Trilogy - Paul Auster

Advantages: a fantastic and clever work
Disadvantages: may be a little infuriating for the average reader

...old bag of fish. Even the holier-than-thou critics don't quite seem to know what it's all about. They argue whether it's a) a revolt against modernism, b) a progression of modernism, c) both of these and more or d) both of these and more, and less, and everything, and nothing, and all that's in between. Nobody can decide when it began, how far it's going, when it's ending, what it entails exactly, or anything like that. Nobody even seems to know ...
...to know any better than the big beardy guys who make money arguing about it. What I do know is that, if Paul Auster's 'New York Trilogy' is anything to go by, then the whole postmodern shebang is getting a thumbs-up from me. The novel consists, fairly obviously, of three stories - 'City of Glass', 'Ghosts' and 'The Locked Room'. Each one is based around a forties-film-noir style detective yarn, except that the protagonist is called upon to investigate ... Read review

Advantages: Strangely compelling, beautifully written
Disadvantages: If you like neat endings, stay well clear

...came across this book on the recommendation of a friend who knows I like crime fiction, yet from very early on, I was aware that this was something very different about this book. What initially seems to be a straightforward detective story soon becomes a confusing read, so that identities begin to merge together and then separate again. Despite this, Auster writes in such a way that his make compelling reading and at no point did I feel like throwing ...
...beliefs in order to grasp the concept behind this book. Auster is well-known for his postmodernist tendencies. For those of you who don't know what postmodernism means (I had to look it up on wikipedia.org), it refers to trends, usually in art or literature, that rebel against the 'modernist' period, which usually refers to trends at the end of the nineteenth century and the beginning of the twentieth. Sometimes postmodernism involves bringing back ... Read review

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...Auster’s most famous book and the one that good me hooked. it is made up of three stories that are seemingly unrelated but which interact with each other in a million different, charming ways. Auster leads us through a journey of exploration. He develops themes that will dominate his work such as the nature of the self, the nature of language and what place outsiders have in society. An old girlfriend of mine studied this for the narrative in her ... Read review

Advantages: Puzzling, involving and very hard to put down
Disadvantages: Sometimes confusing

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...o oo oo o st i k o oopoo po opo o o o po poooo ppo o o o o o oooo ppp o oo oo o st i k o oopoo po opo o o o po poooo ppo o o o o o oooo ppp o oo oo o st i k o oopoo po opo o o o po poooo ppo o o o o o oooo ppp o oo oo o st i k o oopoo po opo o o o po poooo ppo o o o o o oooo ppp o oo oo o st i k o oopoo po opo o o o po poooo ppo o o o o o oooo ppp o oo oo o st i k o oopoo po opo o o o po poooo ppo o o o o o oooo ppp o oo oo o st i k o oopoo po opo ... Read review