The Brooklyn Follies

This is a great book, written by a man I wish I could be real friends with. Indeed, Paul Auster makes you feel like an old chum he's taking out to lunch and to whom he's confiding an intimate account of the chances and follies of a handful of people that are very close to him.

Some of the matter-of-fact situations in the "The Brooklyn Follies", however, are in reality very improbable, which in my view only adds to the story's charm as a modern, twisted yet pleasant fairy tale with a bitter aftertaste: when seemingly all's well and the story ends, it's 8 am on September 11, 2001.

Very American, in the very best sense of the word.

Click on the book cover to read the Guardian's Digested Read.

Synopsis

"I was looking for a quiet place to die". So begins Paul Auster's remarkable new novel, "The Brooklyn Follies". Set against the backdrop of the contested US election of 2000, it tells the story of Nathan and Tom, an uncle and nephew double-act. One in remission from lung cancer, divorced, and estranged from his only daughter, the other hiding away from his once-promising academic career, and life in general. Having accidentally ended up in the same Brooklyn neighbourhood, they discover a community teeming with life and passion. When Lucy, the little girl who refuses to speak, comes into their lives there is suddenly a bridge from their pasts that may offer them the possibility of redemption. Filled with stories and characters, mystery and fraud, these lives intertwine and become bound together as Auster brilliantly explores the wider terrain of contemporary America - a crucible of broken dreams and of human folly.

Reviews

Guardian, Times, Telegraph, Metacritic

The Shadow of the Wind

This is one of those books that keeps you up all night. And unlike what happens with so many others, the sleep you'll loose will be worth it. It's good AND seductive literature (a rare thing these days).

The powerful - even if slighly fantastic - plot, the mastery and richness of the narrative, the extraordinary depth of each of the characters (you truly feel you've known them forever), the superb depiction of the setting (post-Civil War Barcelona comes alive inside you, and you'll finish the book with a tremendous urge to visit the city), all of these will make you cherish The Shadow of the Wind, by Carlos Ruiz Zafon.

Top mark no matter what they say.

Synopsis

Hidden in the heart of the old city of Barcelona is the 'cemetery of lost books', a labyrinthine library of obscure and forgotten titles that have long gone out of print. To this library, a man brings his 10-year-old son Daniel one cold morning in 1945. Daniel is allowed to choose one book from the shelves and pulls out 'La Sombra del Viento' by Julian Carax. But as he grows up, several people seem inordinately interested in his find. Then, one night, as he is wandering the old streets once more, Daniel is approached by a figure who reminds him of a character from La Sombra del Viento, a character who turns out to be the devil. This man is tracking down every last copy of Carax's work in order to burn them. What begins as a case of literary curiosity turns into a race to find out the truth behind the life and death of Julian Carax and to save those he left behind. A page-turning exploration of obsession in literature and love, and the places that obsession can lead.