Reviews

Moon Palace by Paul Auster

philosykos's review against another edition

adventurous emotional reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

claudia_elisabeth's review against another edition

5.0

4,5*

eriynali's review against another edition

5.0

auster, auster, auster. you get to the end of a book and just have to read another one, because you never want it to end. this one was kind of typical auster plot and scenarios, but i loved every minute of it.

hannet's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark mysterious slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

What IS this book? I read it 15 years ago and remembered it kinda fondly I think? Paul Auster has suchhh a dense writing style, there is so much happening in this book. Then again, it's all kinda repetitive and my brain turned off at all the dead relatives, suprise fathers, sudden money windfalls, loneliness and new starts. What isn't happening is feelings. At all. Someone dies? The character is just gonna be like "sobbed intermittently in spite of myself" -- well yeah, your mom who wasn't available to you in your childhood died and you just signed the inherited house you never want to step a foot in again to your alcoholic aunt... who you know is going to die soon and she's your last relative... I remembered parts of the book while reading it, and it hit different 15 years later. What else can I reread that's gonna make me feel a tether to a younger version of myself? Gonna read up some reviews and analyses now on what it all means.

A short example of what's happening in this book:

[...] but I quickly came to dread the moment when I would have to sit down and watch Effing suck it into his mouth. It was not that he slurped; he positively vacuumed it up, piercing the air with all the clamor and commotion of a defective Hoover. This noise was so unnerving, so distinctive, that I began hearing it all the time, even when we were not sitting at the table. Even now, if I manage to concentrate hard enough, I can bring it back in many of its most subtle characteristics: the shock of the first moment when Effing's lips met the spoon, shattering the quiet with a monumental intakt of breath; the prolonged, high-pitched ruckus that followed, a blistering uproar that seemed to turn the liquid in to a concotion of gravel and broken glass as it traveled down his throat; the swallow, the short pause that came next, the clank of the spoon as it hit the bowl, and then the heave and shudder of an outwrd breath. He would smack  his lips at that point, perhaps even grimace with pleasure, and then begin the process all over again, filling the spoon and lifting it to his mouth [...]

And this:

He wore bowlers and fezes, baseball caps and fedoras, pith helmets and cowboy hats, whatever captured his fancy, without regard to style or convention. By 1957, his collection had grown so large that he once went twentythree days without wearing the same hat twice.

So he has a bunch of hats.

avidreadr's review against another edition

5.0

Love all Paul Aster tales.

sappytree's review against another edition

adventurous funny mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.0

astridcoucke's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense

3.75

johnbradley2's review against another edition

3.0

A bit outside my wheelhouse. Interesting though!

petsalamander's review against another edition

adventurous inspiring reflective slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

a very long read that i kind of apprehended at first, but that i learnt to love throughout the book. that confirms it, bildungsroman definitely is my favourite book genre, yet, i hadn't read anything like it before. everything from the beginning of the story makes sense little by little, everything ends up echoing with the other, and i love how you can distinctly define three different parts given on the three different characters that are very much linked together. the son, the father and the grandfather, the constant absence of a father figure, bound to never be one, the presence of the moon, discreet but noticeable everytime you think about it, the role of the absent mother as well, a ghost, the intergenerational plot could sound cliché, but auster wrote this so seamlessly and subtlety, you could relate to m.s by reading his very thoughts on every single thing his eyes lay onto and that you learn to love as well. it took you on a trip, and on a time machine, everything was so well described you could picture it all, except m.s, which i picture as a lanky man with brown hair, bags under his brown eyes, always the same outfits and jacket such as victor's. i loved the character of kitty, and the ending broke my heart, he ended just like he started the story, utterly alone.

marthed's review against another edition

adventurous emotional inspiring reflective slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5