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3.91 AVERAGE
3.91 AVERAGE
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
emotional
funny
hopeful
reflective
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Rarely do I pick up a book that is 866 pages, mostly because I'm always wary that a story needs that many words. Since this novel by Paul Auster was shortlisted for the Booker Prize, I figured I would give it a shot.
I found myself longing to read it, though when people asked me about it...I could never quite say it was good. Does it push some literary conventions? Probably...well, sort of? I kept asking myself why I was continuing to read it. The fact that the novel is an exploration of four trajectories of the same person, something I thought would be gimmicky and too contrived. There was a certain quality of Daniel Handler's Adverbs here, different stories that referred to the same characters, though the characters shared only some of the essences. These characters were, in some ways, not totally living four distinct trajectories -- which is, perhaps, what is most convention-defying. Despite the same character experiencing unique trajectories though coming into contact with many of the same events and fellow characters, it would be easy enough to mix and match scenes from one trajectory and another. It was as though the story was shrouded in mist and sometimes the mist would clear and you would see that part so clearly, though you couldn't quite tell how it might relate to other parts of the landscape. I was intrigued, but I'm still not sure I thought it was good, which I think means I liked it more than I might acknowledge.
I did find Auster's dealing with Archie's sexuality a bit problematic, for reasons that are perhaps too narrow or too political or too convention-abiding. Sexuality, in general, is an interesting topic that Auster plays with in the novel, but I wanted it to be taken a little more seriously in the novel perhaps? It may be that I'm over-sensitive to the way sexuality plays out in stories, especially when that sexuality is marginal/marginalized. I would be eager to hear how others thought of that aspect of the piece.
It's worth a read and a thought. And it read, somehow, beautifully.
I found myself longing to read it, though when people asked me about it...I could never quite say it was good. Does it push some literary conventions? Probably...well, sort of? I kept asking myself why I was continuing to read it. The fact that the novel is an exploration of four trajectories of the same person, something I thought would be gimmicky and too contrived. There was a certain quality of Daniel Handler's Adverbs here, different stories that referred to the same characters, though the characters shared only some of the essences. These characters were, in some ways, not totally living four distinct trajectories -- which is, perhaps, what is most convention-defying. Despite the same character experiencing unique trajectories though coming into contact with many of the same events and fellow characters, it would be easy enough to mix and match scenes from one trajectory and another. It was as though the story was shrouded in mist and sometimes the mist would clear and you would see that part so clearly, though you couldn't quite tell how it might relate to other parts of the landscape. I was intrigued, but I'm still not sure I thought it was good, which I think means I liked it more than I might acknowledge.
I did find Auster's dealing with Archie's sexuality a bit problematic, for reasons that are perhaps too narrow or too political or too convention-abiding. Sexuality, in general, is an interesting topic that Auster plays with in the novel, but I wanted it to be taken a little more seriously in the novel perhaps? It may be that I'm over-sensitive to the way sexuality plays out in stories, especially when that sexuality is marginal/marginalized. I would be eager to hear how others thought of that aspect of the piece.
It's worth a read and a thought. And it read, somehow, beautifully.
adventurous
inspiring
reflective
slow-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
Mit 4 3 2 1 legt Paul Auster ein beeindruckendes literarisches Werk vor, das gleichermaßen als Coming-of-Age-Roman, intellektuelle Zeitreise und poetische Reflexion über Identität und Zufall gelesen werden kann. Es ist ein Roman von epischem Ausmaß – sowohl im Umfang als auch im Anspruch – und für Leserinnen und Leser, die sich auf seine Komplexität einlassen, ein echtes Erlebnis.
Vier Leben, ein Ich
Im Zentrum steht Archibald Isaac Ferguson, geboren 1947 – und zwar viermal. Auster erzählt nicht eine Geschichte, sondern vier Varianten desselben Lebens. Mit einem kleinen Einschlag des Zufalls an einem frühen Punkt verzweigen sich Fergusons Lebenswege und nehmen sehr unterschiedliche Wendungen. Mal wächst er wohlbehütet auf, mal in zerrütteten Verhältnissen. Mal wird er Sportler, mal politischer Aktivist, Journalist oder Schriftsteller. Doch so unterschiedlich seine Lebensläufe auch sind – in allen bleibt er Ferguson, ein Suchender, ein Beobachter, ein Denker.
Diese Struktur ist zugleich das formale Herzstück und die größte Herausforderung des Romans. Auster verzichtet auf künstliche Abgrenzungen, nummeriert die Kapitel schlicht mit den jeweiligen Lebensnummern (1.1, 1.2, 1.3, 1.4 usw.), sodass der Leser immer wieder zwischen den vier Biografien springt. Das erfordert Aufmerksamkeit und Geduld – doch wird man mit einem tiefen Verständnis für die Variabilität menschlicher Erfahrung belohnt.
Ein Buch mit Gehalt
Was 4 3 2 1 so besonders macht, ist nicht allein die erzählerische Konstruktion, sondern die geistige Dichte, die Auster entfaltet. Der Roman ist gesättigt mit Literatur, Musik, Philosophie, Politik und Geschichte – eine wahre Zeitkapsel des 20. Jahrhunderts, insbesondere der 60er Jahre in den USA. Der Vietnamkrieg, die Bürgerrechtsbewegung, Studentenproteste, der Tod von Kennedy – all das durchdringt Fergusons Welten und formt ihn auf unterschiedliche Weise.
Auster gelingt es dabei, große Themen wie Schicksal, Identität, Erinnerung und Moral in die ganz persönlichen Geschichten eines jungen Mannes zu verweben. Es ist ein Buch, das sich nicht in schnellen Wendungen oder billigen Überraschungen erschöpft, sondern sich langsam entfaltet – nachdenklich, tiefgründig, oft melancholisch, manchmal wütend, stets voller Leben.
Sprachlich meisterhaft
Auch sprachlich ist der Roman ein Genuss. Auster schreibt mit großer Klarheit, Tiefe und Eleganz. Selbst in den langen, verschachtelten Sätzen bleibt die Sprache präzise und durchdacht. Die Erzählstimme ist gleichzeitig distanziert und einfühlsam, sie beobachtet, kommentiert, reflektiert – und lässt dennoch Raum für die Leser, sich ihre eigenen Gedanken zu machen.
Fazit
4 3 2 1 ist kein Buch für zwischendurch. Es verlangt Konzentration, Geduld und ein gewisses Maß an literarischer Erfahrung. Wer sich aber darauf einlässt, wird mit einer außergewöhnlichen Lektüre belohnt – einem Roman voller Gehalt, Ideen, Menschlichkeit und Tiefe. Für mich war es mal wieder ein Buch, das nicht nur unterhalten, sondern nachhaltig beschäftigt hat. Paul Auster hat mit diesem Werk ein modernes Meisterstück geschaffen, das lange nachhallt.
Wunderschön erzählt, unglaublich fantastische Zeit (NY 1960), holistische génial.
I've still got 200 pages of this to go, but I'm going to review it now anyway. If there's anything to add from the last 1/4 of the book I'll tack it on to the end of this review.
So 4 bildungsromans in 1 novel. 4 versions of the formative years of one Archie Ferguson. It's 3 really, cos he's loses his life quite early in stream 2, so that's done and dusted. And I struggled to find the point of this conceit. The stories didn't verge significantly from one another, as one or two physical or economic butterfly effects changed Archies' developmental fate a tad. His struggles to be an artist of some sort, his sporting development, his intellectual and political development and his priapic concerns vary in detail but not really in substance across the 3 strands. In the end I distracted by myself by trying to imagine which of these events had really happened to Auster in his youth. I reckoned most of them.
Then there's the issue of the backdrop against which the 3/4 Archies' develop. The USA of the late 50s and the politically charged 60s. And it's in there, but not in any interesting way. One chapter is largely taken up with the narration of student protests at Columbia University, for quite parochial reasons though one of them involves race, but its treatment in the writing reads like reportage and is really, really dull.
The best line in the 660 pages I've traversed is ironically when a poet is quoted - Kenneth Rexroth's "Against the ruin of the world, there is only one defence, the creative act". Not every creative act works as a defence clearly...
Addendum on finishing:
I was hoping that the end of the book would offer up why Auster had employed this artifice and in 5 of the last 6 pages he does; turns out it's a pretty common or garden parallel histories artifice which is a bit tame. Auster the author expresses his love for his 4 'boys', but I didn't really like them all that much which is a problem. And that final, final page, a reportage on NYC mayor Nelson Rockerfeller, who barely merits a mention in the preceding 865 pages and therefore struck me as a most odd final word for the whole thing.
So 4 bildungsromans in 1 novel. 4 versions of the formative years of one Archie Ferguson. It's 3 really, cos he's loses his life quite early in stream 2, so that's done and dusted. And I struggled to find the point of this conceit. The stories didn't verge significantly from one another, as one or two physical or economic butterfly effects changed Archies' developmental fate a tad. His struggles to be an artist of some sort, his sporting development, his intellectual and political development and his priapic concerns vary in detail but not really in substance across the 3 strands. In the end I distracted by myself by trying to imagine which of these events had really happened to Auster in his youth. I reckoned most of them.
Then there's the issue of the backdrop against which the 3/4 Archies' develop. The USA of the late 50s and the politically charged 60s. And it's in there, but not in any interesting way. One chapter is largely taken up with the narration of student protests at Columbia University, for quite parochial reasons though one of them involves race, but its treatment in the writing reads like reportage and is really, really dull.
The best line in the 660 pages I've traversed is ironically when a poet is quoted - Kenneth Rexroth's "Against the ruin of the world, there is only one defence, the creative act". Not every creative act works as a defence clearly...
Addendum on finishing:
I was hoping that the end of the book would offer up why Auster had employed this artifice and in 5 of the last 6 pages he does; turns out it's a pretty common or garden parallel histories artifice which is a bit tame. Auster the author expresses his love for his 4 'boys', but I didn't really like them all that much which is a problem. And that final, final page, a reportage on NYC mayor Nelson Rockerfeller, who barely merits a mention in the preceding 865 pages and therefore struck me as a most odd final word for the whole thing.
This has been one of the best novels I have ever read. It was pretty close to be my all-time favorite, but the last chapter ruined the novel a little bit. Finishing the novel took me more than 6 months. A long time. Usually, I have either finished a novel at this point or I have completely abandoned it. But in this case, the structure of the book made it easy to take longer breaks. The sole protagonist of the novel is Archie Ferguson, born in 1947 and son of a New Yorker Jewish couple. (There are some autobiographical elements.) Instead of just one life, Paul Auster expands the life of Ferguson to four different versions based on how influential random events and experiences played out in the early childhood of Ferguson. Those four different versions are told alternating. Because of this, chapters do not connect to each other directly and instead you jump to the life of another Ferguson. This made it easy for me to take breaks.
Auster did a fantastic job to balance these four different Fergusons. He is always to some degree the same person. This is not a prolonged butterfly-effect story where everything drastically changed because of one event. Instead, all the versions share a common core of characteristics and interests. To some degree, they are the same person but in different circumstances and with a different past. But we are also influenced by what we experience, so these Ferguson are also always different. To some degree. This makes it possible to experience and understand Ferguson to an incredible extend. I do not think that I ever got to know a fictional (or real) character/person so well and personally I felt deeply connected with him.
The novel is also filled with reflections on different topics. As a child of the late 40s Ferguson is confronted with political and historical events of the 50s and 60s. Other topics are being a Jewish American, music, art, literature, and especially writing, as all Fergusons chose writing as an interest.
I also enjoyed the simplistic writing style of the novel. The language is plain and simple, although there is a tendency for relatively long sentences. There is not much dialogue and instead a lot of introspective and plain reports of what happened. Which fits perfectly with the brooding and more introvert character of Ferguson.
The only thing I hate is the last chapter. Without spoiling it too much I think the last chapters ruins part of the fascination of the novel and makes it much more ordinary than it could have been. It ruins possible reading alternatives and interpretations. But this should not stop anyone from reading 4 3 2 1. It is still a fantastic novel and worth the long reading time.
Auster did a fantastic job to balance these four different Fergusons. He is always to some degree the same person. This is not a prolonged butterfly-effect story where everything drastically changed because of one event. Instead, all the versions share a common core of characteristics and interests. To some degree, they are the same person but in different circumstances and with a different past. But we are also influenced by what we experience, so these Ferguson are also always different. To some degree. This makes it possible to experience and understand Ferguson to an incredible extend. I do not think that I ever got to know a fictional (or real) character/person so well and personally I felt deeply connected with him.
The novel is also filled with reflections on different topics. As a child of the late 40s Ferguson is confronted with political and historical events of the 50s and 60s. Other topics are being a Jewish American, music, art, literature, and especially writing, as all Fergusons chose writing as an interest.
I also enjoyed the simplistic writing style of the novel. The language is plain and simple, although there is a tendency for relatively long sentences. There is not much dialogue and instead a lot of introspective and plain reports of what happened. Which fits perfectly with the brooding and more introvert character of Ferguson.
The only thing I hate is the last chapter. Without spoiling it too much I think the last chapters ruins part of the fascination of the novel and makes it much more ordinary than it could have been. It ruins possible reading alternatives and interpretations. But this should not stop anyone from reading 4 3 2 1. It is still a fantastic novel and worth the long reading time.
If you enjoy listening to a man ramble on for 36 hours then this is the book for you. For me however it became torture after the first 3 hours. After hour 3 it became extremely boring. It actually went on for an hour about a pair of shoes!
And it was a little difficult to keep things straight because the story kept changing. Each chapter had like a part A and B etc where different parts Ferguson’s life were changed. Like 1.2, 1.2 etc. And every chapter had some disgusting sex scene. I honestly never want to hear the name Ferguson or Archie again!!!!
Absolut excepțională.
Are 1070 de pagini și doar vreo 3000 de fraze, și chiar dacă nu se întâmplă mare lucru mereu, ritmul prozei lui Auster e perfect - nu te grăbește, dar nici nu te lasă să lâncezești, iar felul în care găsește chestii extraordinare de spus despre orice eveniment mărunt, și să o țină astfel timp de peste o mie de pagini mi se pare ceva magnific.
M-am îndrăgostit de toți cei patru Fergusoni în feluri diferite și am trăit alături de ei viețile pe care le-au trăit (cât le-au trăit), iar efortul autorului de a scrie o poveste (mă rog, patru chiar) în acest fel, cu atenție milimetrică la detalii de tot felul mi s-a părut ceva demn de cărțile de istorie.
Ca și alte cărți masive (la propriu și la figurat) precum Blonde, The Executioner's Song, Of Human Bondage, The Border Trilogy, The Scar sau tetralogia Rabbit (știu că-s romane distincte, dar sunt atât de bine închegate încât le tratez ca pe o singură entitate), 4321 e una dintre poveștile acelea care te năruie fizic și emoțional până reușești să o dai gata, dar pe care o s-o duci cu tine multă vreme după aceea.
E prima carte scrisă de Auster pe care o citesc, dar probabil va fi și singura pentru multă vreme, pentru că nu-mi pot închipui că celelalte ar putea să o surclaseze în vreun fel și vreau să păstrez în minte experiența ei cât de mult posibil.
Are 1070 de pagini și doar vreo 3000 de fraze, și chiar dacă nu se întâmplă mare lucru mereu, ritmul prozei lui Auster e perfect - nu te grăbește, dar nici nu te lasă să lâncezești, iar felul în care găsește chestii extraordinare de spus despre orice eveniment mărunt, și să o țină astfel timp de peste o mie de pagini mi se pare ceva magnific.
M-am îndrăgostit de toți cei patru Fergusoni în feluri diferite și am trăit alături de ei viețile pe care le-au trăit (cât le-au trăit), iar efortul autorului de a scrie o poveste (mă rog, patru chiar) în acest fel, cu atenție milimetrică la detalii de tot felul mi s-a părut ceva demn de cărțile de istorie.
Ca și alte cărți masive (la propriu și la figurat) precum Blonde, The Executioner's Song, Of Human Bondage, The Border Trilogy, The Scar sau tetralogia Rabbit (știu că-s romane distincte, dar sunt atât de bine închegate încât le tratez ca pe o singură entitate), 4321 e una dintre poveștile acelea care te năruie fizic și emoțional până reușești să o dai gata, dar pe care o s-o duci cu tine multă vreme după aceea.
E prima carte scrisă de Auster pe care o citesc, dar probabil va fi și singura pentru multă vreme, pentru că nu-mi pot închipui că celelalte ar putea să o surclaseze în vreun fel și vreau să păstrez în minte experiența ei cât de mult posibil.