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rurusy's review against another edition
Not what I was looking for. Very dense and rambling. Don’t like how women are written - though there’s barely any, which is probably part of why they stand out to me. I think I could enjoy this more in a lit class where we dissect and discuss everything so I could better appreciate the deeper meaning even if I didn’t love reading it, but as someone just reading for leisure, I couldn’t stand it. I think this is the first book I’m purposely giving up on part way through. I ramble a lot, but this felt like each point/thought was made using 4-5 sentences when it could’ve been done with 1-2. I get sometimes it’s an artistic choice, but it got to the point where it was tedious to me and I was skipping paragraphs just to get through it. Again, I think I could enjoy or at least learn to appreciate this book in a lit discussion/analysis class, but as someone currently just wanting to read for fun, I couldn’t get through it. Note: I basically just got through the first story (which is the longest) and started the second.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Child abuse
Minor: Death, Misogyny, Sexism, Racial slurs, Child death, and Suicide
moonandmadness's review against another edition
challenging
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.25
I thoroughly enjoyed this collection; Ghosts was my least favourite of the three, and between City of Glass and The Locked Room, I narrowly preferred the latter. Auster has managed to capture the spirit of the crime genre in the oddest way possible - I would call this parodic and yet it seems entirely serious. I enjoyed all the dead-ends and oddities; I think it did a fantastic job of subverting the reader's expectations of the genre, and despite being maddening and mostly inexplicable, was very engaging.
Content Warnings
Minor: Racial slurs
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