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A review by nancy_ql
4 3 2 1 by Paul Auster
3.0
Ambitious is not quite the word for this novel. The depth and breadth of this project go beyond ambitious. Is it hubris to create four iterations of a man's story, each a novel in itself? To situate each man's story within "definitive" discussions of big historical events? To devote considerable pages, more than once, to outlines of the man's story ideas and French poetry translations, creating more narratives within narratives? To make each story so insistently about the man that all other characters fade into the tapestry of his backdrop? (for ex: "Ferguson squandered the next six months pursuing two different women who were not worth the effort of pursuing and shall remain nameless because they are not worth the effort of naming")
There is an arrogance here that builds as the book progresses, so that by the time the last Ferguson standing concludes the story, after the thousandth page, and reveals himself to be the god-like creator of all the other Fergusons, I could think of no better words than Dorothy Parker's: "This is not a novel to be tossed aside lightly. It should be thrown with great force."
There is an arrogance here that builds as the book progresses, so that by the time the last Ferguson standing concludes the story, after the thousandth page, and reveals himself to be the god-like creator of all the other Fergusons, I could think of no better words than Dorothy Parker's: "This is not a novel to be tossed aside lightly. It should be thrown with great force."