Take a photo of a barcode or cover
3.91 AVERAGE
3.91 AVERAGE
challenging
funny
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
medium-paced
Vi è mai capitato di immaginare quale piega avrebbe preso la vostra vita se aveste preso una decisione piuttosto che un’altra? Anche una minima differenza, un dettaglio che ci sembra superfluo, ha le capacità di generare un divario incolmabile tra quella che è la realtà e quella che avrebbe potuto essere.
Archie Ferguson è il protagonista delle quattro “opzioni”, quattro possibili vite: vediamo come gli eventi che lo circondano siano fondamentali per la sua formazione, nonostante il suo carattere e la sua indole siano sempre gli stessi. Archie Ferguson nasce il 3 marzo 1947, motivo per cui, nel momento in cui inizia ad interessarsi dell’attualità (intorno ai 12-13 anni, con l’inizio degli anni sessanta), ci racconta gli eventi che in quegli anni sconvolsero profondamente l’America dal suo punto di vista.
Il libro è ricchissimo di citazioni letterarie (per gli amanti di ogni genere, Archie spazia dai classici greci e latini alla letteratura russa, passando per quella americana e quella francese), cinematografici (bellissima la parte su Ejzenstejn), sportivi (Babe Ruth, Mickey Mantle...) e musicali (di cui non sono un’esperta, ma tratta sia di musica classica che della musica pop e rock di quegli anni). Consiglio di leggere il libro nel modo in cui è stato impaginato, ovvero leggendo un capitolo per ogni “vita” per volta, piuttosto che leggere interamente una storia per poi passare alle successive: credo che solo in questo modo si possano apprezzare le analogie e le differenze che si vanno a creare tra le varie “versioni”.
Archie Ferguson è il protagonista delle quattro “opzioni”, quattro possibili vite: vediamo come gli eventi che lo circondano siano fondamentali per la sua formazione, nonostante il suo carattere e la sua indole siano sempre gli stessi. Archie Ferguson nasce il 3 marzo 1947, motivo per cui, nel momento in cui inizia ad interessarsi dell’attualità (intorno ai 12-13 anni, con l’inizio degli anni sessanta), ci racconta gli eventi che in quegli anni sconvolsero profondamente l’America dal suo punto di vista.
Il libro è ricchissimo di citazioni letterarie (per gli amanti di ogni genere, Archie spazia dai classici greci e latini alla letteratura russa, passando per quella americana e quella francese), cinematografici (bellissima la parte su Ejzenstejn), sportivi (Babe Ruth, Mickey Mantle...) e musicali (di cui non sono un’esperta, ma tratta sia di musica classica che della musica pop e rock di quegli anni). Consiglio di leggere il libro nel modo in cui è stato impaginato, ovvero leggendo un capitolo per ogni “vita” per volta, piuttosto che leggere interamente una storia per poi passare alle successive: credo che solo in questo modo si possano apprezzare le analogie e le differenze che si vanno a creare tra le varie “versioni”.
slow-paced
(Gave up at 79%)
I tried so hard to get through this, but eventually the author's overly wordy prose did me in. I just couldn't handle more of "if they went to the movies, or if they didn't (most often they did), then they might end the night with a cigarette, or without one, and a trip to a restaurant, or a meal at home, or no meal at all, and then..."
The first 200 pages were boring and confusing, but after I stopped trying to remember which timeline I was in I (somewhat) enjoyed the book for a little while. Ultimately, I found I didn't care about any of the characters, wasn't invested in any of the storylines, and just didn't want to suffer through another 150 pages of overwritten monotony.
I tried so hard to get through this, but eventually the author's overly wordy prose did me in. I just couldn't handle more of "if they went to the movies, or if they didn't (most often they did), then they might end the night with a cigarette, or without one, and a trip to a restaurant, or a meal at home, or no meal at all, and then..."
The first 200 pages were boring and confusing, but after I stopped trying to remember which timeline I was in I (somewhat) enjoyed the book for a little while. Ultimately, I found I didn't care about any of the characters, wasn't invested in any of the storylines, and just didn't want to suffer through another 150 pages of overwritten monotony.
challenging
emotional
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
challenging
emotional
informative
reflective
sad
slow-paced
life is too short to read the same life with minimal changes 4x over
ill collect my thoughts to write a proper review either later or tomorrow or never, this is just me dumping my thoughts as they come!
i have very mixed feelings about this book, evenly split between the first 600ish pages (i love this i love every archie ferguson i love the writing) and the remaining 400 (i wish this would've gone differently, aw ur losing me here, what the heck? and - when i eventually reached the last few pages - a good few minutes spent staring at the ceiling like this changes everything and im not sure how i feel about it).
my rating is, overall, a 3.5. the last third of the book didn't really live up to the expectations built by the first half of it, and the premise of the story, the question of "where would we be now had we made different choices and experienced different things? who would we be, how would we carry ourselves through the world?" was left partly unanswered (maybe the answer is that which transpires through the book: we'd be a little different, i guess. the possibilities are too endless to really reach a conclusion), as the ending reveals the book is the result of
this was the longest read of my life, not necessarily because of its 900+ pages but because im such a slow reader that this book ended up following me through major life events (i started it at the end of october, what?), so now i kinda feel like im parting ways with a living being after taking care of it for months. i wouldn't have sat through such a long story had i not been enjoying it. the writing is also very up my alley, and im rouding my rating to a very personal and subjective 4 because i loved ferguson for hundreds and hundreds of pages and i'm going to miss him and his little lives.
i have very mixed feelings about this book, evenly split between the first 600ish pages (i love this i love every archie ferguson i love the writing) and the remaining 400 (i wish this would've gone differently, aw ur losing me here, what the heck? and - when i eventually reached the last few pages - a good few minutes spent staring at the ceiling like this changes everything and im not sure how i feel about it).
my rating is, overall, a 3.5. the last third of the book didn't really live up to the expectations built by the first half of it, and the premise of the story, the question of "where would we be now had we made different choices and experienced different things? who would we be, how would we carry ourselves through the world?" was left partly unanswered (maybe the answer is that which transpires through the book: we'd be a little different, i guess. the possibilities are too endless to really reach a conclusion), as the ending reveals the book is the result of
Spoiler
the brilliant idea of ferguson 4, the real archie, after his mom tells him the joke we'd unconsciously heard at the very beginning of the book.this was the longest read of my life, not necessarily because of its 900+ pages but because im such a slow reader that this book ended up following me through major life events (i started it at the end of october, what?), so now i kinda feel like im parting ways with a living being after taking care of it for months. i wouldn't have sat through such a long story had i not been enjoying it. the writing is also very up my alley, and im rouding my rating to a very personal and subjective 4 because i loved ferguson for hundreds and hundreds of pages and i'm going to miss him and his little lives.
funny
lighthearted
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
4321 is een bildungsroman van Paul Auster waarin hij het leven van één jongen, Archie Ferguson, op 4 verschillende manier laat verlopen. Elk hoofdstuk volgt een andere versie van Fergusons leven, waarin kleine veranderingen in omstandigheden of keuzes leiden tot totaal verschillende paden op het gebied van familie, liefde, verlies, politieke voorkeur en carrière.
Het onderschied tussen de vier verhalen vereist wat aandacht, maar het wordt steeds duidelijker. Elk van de vier versies van Ferguson ontwikkelt zich uniek, maar sommige interesses of karaktereigenschappen keren telkens terug. Ik vond het idee van spelen met identiteit en toeval erg interessant. Ook wordt er best veel uitgelegd over het Amerika van de 20e eeuw. De verhaallijn waarin hij veel betrokken is bij politieke demonstraties sprak me niet zo aan. Wel vond ik de delen waarin hij veel bezig was met schrijven en literatuur erg leuk om te lezen.
Het einde onthult welke verhaallijn de dominante is; dit is de verhaallijn die reflecteert op het schrijven van de andere drie. Dit vond ik erg krachtig.
Het onderschied tussen de vier verhalen vereist wat aandacht, maar het wordt steeds duidelijker. Elk van de vier versies van Ferguson ontwikkelt zich uniek, maar sommige interesses of karaktereigenschappen keren telkens terug. Ik vond het idee van spelen met identiteit en toeval erg interessant. Ook wordt er best veel uitgelegd over het Amerika van de 20e eeuw.