There was too much going on in this book for it to be an enjoyable read.
The premise is that an author who is recovering from a severe illness buys a blue notebook from a mysterious Chinese stationery shop owner, and he starts to write a story in it
Auster spends a lot of the novel detailing the outline of this story and when his author gets writers block and gives up, we don’t get to know the outcome. Very annoying!
The author’s wife has a nightmare with similarities to the story…. this got my interest going – but it doesn’t get anywhere. Even more annoying.
Eventually you realise the main mystery is about the author’s wife and the secret she has been concealing. But that story line really doesn’t go anywhere either.
The author character in this novel has a friend whose son assaults the author’s wife. The author writes that he is relieved that his friend had died before the assault as it would have destroyed him. What I did find interesting when finding out more about Paul Auster, is that in real life his own son has been linked with a murder and the surname of the friend character who’s son he was writing of is Trause – an anagram of Auster.
This book has been named as a ‘post modern ghost story’ and also a ‘snow globe of a novel’. I’d agree with the snow globe, it’s quite a mish mash of plots.
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