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3.91 AVERAGE
3.91 AVERAGE
This book took a significant amount of effort to get through, and I imagine it took even more to write. I often ponder the path my life has taken, and how certain decisions have sent it down a particular path, so the premise of 4 different versions of the same life appealed to me. I expected a firmer judgement on the lives, that one of them would be clearly better than the other, a point to say "This is where it all went wrong", but of course they all had benefits and costs, and just like real life, Ferguson just chose the best path he could at the time.
I'm conflicted on the rating - on the one hand I very much admire the detail and the effort required to craft not one, but essentially four different novels, and it feels such an undertaking deserves 4 stars for simply completing such a large, thoughtful and complex story. However, I wavered between 3 and 4 stars often while reading it, and particularly around the sections when Ferguson is in college, which is when a lot of other readers also felt the story lagged. I found the prose quite unusual....consistently very long sentences, some up to a page in length, and while in some cases it lent an urgency, in others it was confusing and I would have to re-read the sentence to understand the subject and intent. It wasn't so much an entertaining read, as a worthwhile one; so I didn't love it, but I'm glad I've read it.
This book will not appeal to many - it's over 800 pages, and it can be difficult to keep track of which version of Ferguson's life you are reading at times. I feel it's a book that would improve on second reading, and rather than reading it straight through again, I would like to read the 4 versions of life individually, ie 1.1, 2.1, 3.1, 4.1 rather than 1.1, 1.2, 1.3, 1.4, as I think this would be quite a different experience - not necessarily better, but perhaps a more cohesive view of one version. However, I don't think a second read through is likely any time soon.
It's also a book that leads you through historical events, and educates you - never have I felt my lack of classical literature education so keenly - Ferguson is an avid reader and admirer of many of the classics, with such enthusiasm that several times I left book marks to come back to books he made me want to read. Sometimes I was not sure what events were real or fiction, so a bit of investigation into those improved my world history knowledge.
Not a book for a casual reader, and if you attempt it, be prepared to let the book take you at it's own pace - this is not a book you can rush, but in the right frame of mind it is thought-provoking and cleverly executed.
I'm conflicted on the rating - on the one hand I very much admire the detail and the effort required to craft not one, but essentially four different novels, and it feels such an undertaking deserves 4 stars for simply completing such a large, thoughtful and complex story. However, I wavered between 3 and 4 stars often while reading it, and particularly around the sections when Ferguson is in college, which is when a lot of other readers also felt the story lagged. I found the prose quite unusual....consistently very long sentences, some up to a page in length, and while in some cases it lent an urgency, in others it was confusing and I would have to re-read the sentence to understand the subject and intent. It wasn't so much an entertaining read, as a worthwhile one; so I didn't love it, but I'm glad I've read it.
This book will not appeal to many - it's over 800 pages, and it can be difficult to keep track of which version of Ferguson's life you are reading at times. I feel it's a book that would improve on second reading, and rather than reading it straight through again, I would like to read the 4 versions of life individually, ie 1.1, 2.1, 3.1, 4.1 rather than 1.1, 1.2, 1.3, 1.4, as I think this would be quite a different experience - not necessarily better, but perhaps a more cohesive view of one version. However, I don't think a second read through is likely any time soon.
It's also a book that leads you through historical events, and educates you - never have I felt my lack of classical literature education so keenly - Ferguson is an avid reader and admirer of many of the classics, with such enthusiasm that several times I left book marks to come back to books he made me want to read. Sometimes I was not sure what events were real or fiction, so a bit of investigation into those improved my world history knowledge.
Not a book for a casual reader, and if you attempt it, be prepared to let the book take you at it's own pace - this is not a book you can rush, but in the right frame of mind it is thought-provoking and cleverly executed.
Really liked the idea of writing 4 different versions of self and possible outcomes. I am commencing reading from the embedded reading list throughout the novel. I have tender feelings for the boy entering adolescence and the trials of transitioning to adulthood. I appreciate the studies in relationships with unsupportive parents and mixed families.
What was that?
The book was so dull and repetitive. I found the idea really interesting, I originally started reading the book because I wanted to know how different will the lives turn out, but the execution just fell flat. I thought they will be completely different, but they ended up with quite a lot similarities.
I really liked that the author was experimenting with various writing styles, but even the interesting parts of the book couldn't save the endless ramblings about baseball, girls and sex. Sometimes, I found myself asking "God, is this ever going to end?" while skipping through entire passages, because I just couldn't care which team won in the 1955 baseball season, or how pent up and sexually frustrated Ferguson was.
But I pushed through, hoping for some redeeming ending, but then the book just... ended... and after 1000+ pages, I was just glad it's over.
I don't know, I guess it just wasn't my kind of book.
The book was so dull and repetitive. I found the idea really interesting, I originally started reading the book because I wanted to know how different will the lives turn out, but the execution just fell flat. I thought they will be completely different, but they ended up with quite a lot similarities.
Spoiler
Yes, his father died in one and divorced in another, he went to Princeton in one life and to Colombia in another, he lived in one life while dying in another after 200 pages, but that's where major differences end and the rest was just not that interesting.I really liked that the author was experimenting with various writing styles, but even the interesting parts of the book couldn't save the endless ramblings about baseball, girls and sex. Sometimes, I found myself asking "God, is this ever going to end?" while skipping through entire passages, because I just couldn't care which team won in the 1955 baseball season, or how pent up and sexually frustrated Ferguson was.
But I pushed through, hoping for some redeeming ending, but then the book just... ended... and after 1000+ pages, I was just glad it's over.
I don't know, I guess it just wasn't my kind of book.
Il What if...? di solito è una tematica che mi colpisce e mi incalza. Questa volta non mi ha conquistato: probabilmente 4 sono pochi. Il what if diventa così una nota a margine, e 4 3 2 1 si rivela essere un romanzo di formazione, a tratti un romanzo storico contemporaneo. Spunti interessanti, stile particolare, con i lunghissimi periodi con discorso diretto ma senza altri segni di interpunzione che le virgole, da cui dovrò staccarmi riabituandomi al mondo della letteratura normale sia in fase di lettura che in fase di scrittura.
Bell'esperimento, ma con dei limiti.
Bell'esperimento, ma con dei limiti.
DNF - too descriptive and chapters were too long thus causing me to mix up the different versions of his life.
This book is super long but so worth the time invested in reading it, the story revolves around Archie Ferguson and four variations of his life. It's fascinating to see how his life changes and evolves based on a variety of both good and bad events and it's equally interesting to note the things that stay the same despite those events. Set during the 50s and 60s, mostly in NYC, it's a brilliant novel and completely deserving of the Man Booker. Highly recommended.
"Sprawling, repetitive, occasionally splendid, and just as often exasperating, “4 3 2 1” is never quite dull, but it comes too close to tedium too often" (The New Yorker)
some wonderful writing, but too long, lost interest 1/4 through.
Meh. Wish I had higher praise for this 800+ page book (does it count for two in my reading challenge?!) but no such luck. The concept of the book was great and the first third I dove into meeting the four Archie's but my interest quickly faded.
Well, this took forever to finish. This might actually be the longest it has ever taken me to finish a book. I have debated giving this four or five stars. I am stingy as hell though and I am thinking of the reasons why the 4 instead of 5 stars:
1. The baseball descriptions, so many baseball descriptions. The whole discussions about sports killed it.
2. Way too many descriptions of Ferguson's sex life. I guess it makes sense when you think of the ending of the novel (no spoilers), but still.
3. The inherent repetitiveness in the structure of the novel was a bit too much sometimes.
4. Some of the most touching and beautifully written moments were hindered by the ensuing discussions on politics, student riots and so on.
5. I needed more of Amy, a character way more interesting in the overall than Ferguson.
6. The stereotypical descriptions of Paris, obviously written by someone who has never actually lived there.
7. The amount of emotional pain I experienced for the whole duration of the Ferguson 3 storyline.
Reasons why this novel deserves 5 stars:
1. The entirety of the Ferguson 3 storyline. So touching and so beautiful.
2. I mean this was a beautifully written book. The stream-of-consciousness, almost-no-dialogue style is not for everyone, but I loved it.
3. I mean that ending. I know some more perspicacious readers managed to figure it out, but I didn't and I enjoyed it all the more.
4. The usual je ne sais quoi of every good book. That feeling that you get after you finish it that you might not quite be the same person that you were when you started reading the book.
Anyway, 4* stars for now, but maybe after I have time to digest it a bit and read some other sub-par books I will come back to re-evaluate.
I have also read a lot of criticism for this book amongst literary critics and book reviewers. And of course, I do agree with them to some extent. Nevertheless, there is one particular point that bugs me. There are many that read Auster's development of this novel (the shared similarities between the four Fergusons - the love for Amy, the desire to become a writer, the love of France) as a clear sign that in Auster sides with "nature" on the debate of "nature versus nurture". I don't think that is necessarily true.
Furthermore, the prevalence of this type of criticism across the board (that assigns a system of beliefs to an author because of the way that author has decided to construct a story) drives me nuts. Of course, I don't think the author is dead and authorial intent still plays a very important part in criticism. But to be able to devise intent from structure is just bonkers and to further use that to essentially justify your dislike for the book makes me really wonder about the state of criticism today.
1. The baseball descriptions, so many baseball descriptions. The whole discussions about sports killed it.
2. Way too many descriptions of Ferguson's sex life. I guess it makes sense when you think of the ending of the novel (no spoilers), but still.
3. The inherent repetitiveness in the structure of the novel was a bit too much sometimes.
4. Some of the most touching and beautifully written moments were hindered by the ensuing discussions on politics, student riots and so on.
5. I needed more of Amy, a character way more interesting in the overall than Ferguson.
6. The stereotypical descriptions of Paris, obviously written by someone who has never actually lived there.
7. The amount of emotional pain I experienced for the whole duration of the Ferguson 3 storyline.
Reasons why this novel deserves 5 stars:
1. The entirety of the Ferguson 3 storyline. So touching and so beautiful.
2. I mean this was a beautifully written book. The stream-of-consciousness, almost-no-dialogue style is not for everyone, but I loved it.
3. I mean that ending. I know some more perspicacious readers managed to figure it out, but I didn't and I enjoyed it all the more.
4. The usual je ne sais quoi of every good book. That feeling that you get after you finish it that you might not quite be the same person that you were when you started reading the book.
Anyway, 4* stars for now, but maybe after I have time to digest it a bit and read some other sub-par books I will come back to re-evaluate.
I have also read a lot of criticism for this book amongst literary critics and book reviewers. And of course, I do agree with them to some extent. Nevertheless, there is one particular point that bugs me. There are many that read Auster's development of this novel (the shared similarities between the four Fergusons - the love for Amy, the desire to become a writer, the love of France) as a clear sign that in Auster sides with "nature" on the debate of "nature versus nurture". I don't think that is necessarily true.
Furthermore, the prevalence of this type of criticism across the board (that assigns a system of beliefs to an author because of the way that author has decided to construct a story) drives me nuts. Of course, I don't think the author is dead and authorial intent still plays a very important part in criticism. But to be able to devise intent from structure is just bonkers and to further use that to essentially justify your dislike for the book makes me really wonder about the state of criticism today.