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Liked It “Like walking through a strange dream, and being intrigued the entire time. Auster keeps you wanting to read more. A strange book at turns, yet curiously interesting. Well written, a good book to lose yourself in. A little fantasy/sci fi at times, but done in a very believable way. The most...” see full review » see other reviews » |
Didn’t Like It “On the plus side of the ledger: |
Newest Reviews
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“Like walking through a strange dream, and being intrigued the entire time. Auster keeps you wanting to read more. A strange book at turns, yet curiously interesting. Well written, a good book to lose yourself in. A little fantasy/sci fi at times, but done in a very believable way. The most unusual book you'll read this year.”
Brett S wrote this review Friday, October 23 2009. ( reply | view 1 replies | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
“Started off great on went off on a rant ”
richard n wrote this review Thursday, October 15 2009. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
“I like Auster's multiple stories and characterizations. Was a little predictable but flowed very well”
Joan K wrote this review Wednesday, October 14 2009. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No“On the plus side of the ledger:
Paul D wrote this review Wednesday, August 12 2009. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
The opening sequence - i thought Auster's description of the slow process of recovery from a serious illness was spot on.
The fact that Sid (the narrator) was a writer who wrote with a pen in a notebook. Being of sufficient vintage to have gotten my start as a writer writing in long-hand (I favored legal pads over notebooks), it did my heart good.
I found many of the characters and many of the digressions quite vivid and engaging, especially the Nick Bowen/Ed Victory sequences. I even found myself engaged by Sid's hypothetical musing about Krause and Grace and the baby, which the heroin-addled son seems to confirm when he refers to Grace as his "stepmother."
On the not plus side:
I despised the footnotes, they seemed mannered and distracting and they didn't contain any information that could not have very effectively been integrated into the text. It's not as though Sid writes non-fiction in which case they might have had some, very, very limited, tangential thematic relation to the work.
I found Sid weak and, worse, not very interesting. Nick Caraway is weak, but he didn't suck all the oxygen out of The Great Gatsby the way ole Sid does out of Oracle Nights.
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“Julie g said: 4 stars
Play Book Tag Shelf wrote this review Thursday, July 16 2009. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
Most notable is the haunting atmosphere of this book.This is a story about an author who has been in an accident and is recovering slowly.It explores his relationship with words and the power of words.Sidney Orr buys a portugese notebook which seems to have some premonitionary power.This book seemed a bit slow in the beginning and I was left wondering if it was going to go somewhere,And yes it did have somewhere to go.(A joy to read after the dribble I read last week!)
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“I was totally immersed into this magical novel, moreover, I was sliding with the Orr's story like a rollercoaster. Auster is one of the greatest storytellers of modern literature and I don't know why but he fascinates me. What I love the most of his talent is how he builds up a wondrous story with a bountiful little stories, like a jigsaw or a puzzle.
Elisabeth B wrote this review Saturday, March 14 2009. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
Sidney Orr translate the world with eternal themes, like love, art, doubt, guilt, friendship... everything interspersed with excellent suspense, gripping tales.
I am eager to buy his latest work "Man in the Dark" but I need to get some earlier books I have not read yet, like "The Book of Illusions". Anyway, it seems that I am willing to become a long-time Auster's fan.”
“I'm a Paul Auster ho and this is my least favorite book of his - because of the footnote thing. I tried to get past it but all I can remember are the footnotes in juxtaposition to the body of the work. And I don't mean that I remember the actual contents of the footnotes - just that they were there and there and there and there. But that should not deter anyone from reading every other Paul Auster book!”
kathy k wrote this review Friday, January 30 2009. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
“..carácoles. Este é um bom livro que me deixou com mal-estar, então é difícil falar dele. Pois bem. Sendo o Paul Auster, há bastante meta-discussão sobre literatura e o processo de escrever, e também narrativas dentro da narrativa. Claro q estas se relacionam com a narrativa, digamos, principal (apesar de a do título ser uma dessas menores), ressaltando aspectos. O próprio narrador comenta esse processo.
priscila plo wrote this review Sunday, August 24 2008. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
Apesar de apreciar a construção das personagens, elas não têm apelo emocional para mim, exceto talvez John Trause. Quanto ao enredo, diversas vezes ele ameaça tornar-se fantástico, mas depois murcha desesperadoramente - porém isso é proposital, então não vejo como algo negativo. O q me incomodou foi o "quesito Harry Potter", em q nas últimas 6 páginas há uma grande reviravolta e alguns dos fios levantados durante o livro são amarrados, dando um pouco de conforto hollywoodiano; de qqr forma, o desfecho é um descalabro bastante incômodo. Quer dizer, psicologicamente, porque esteticamente é impecável. Resumindo: muitíssimo bem-feito, mas não consigo gostar. Talvez isso mude em breve, como aconteceu com o filme "Birth", q eu detestei ao sair da sessão mas gostava + a cada vez q pensava sobre ele. ”
“This was a really interesting book. It's one of those books where the author leads the reader down one road, only for him to learn toward the end that a completely different destination was being built toward all along. I'm not talking about a plot twist or anything like that, but of the theme and overall direction of this book. It deals with a writer recovering from illness who finds a blue notebook, inspiring him to begin writing again. Strange things begin to happen in his life, all leading up to a coming tragedy, though not in the book leads you to think. It's a neat story with some interesting ideas. Auster's prose is brilliant, very readable, and easy to get lost in.”
Michael wrote this review Wednesday, June 18 2008. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
“Struggled with this book, really struggled. It's a story within a story with footnotes that make up another story. I read this book at night and my mind was just too tired to keep up with which story I was reading. Was it the main story? The one the main character's writing? I almost didn't care anymore.”
Brian D wrote this review Wednesday, February 20 2008. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
