I once had an undergraduate student who refused, adamantly, to read fiction because she said the characters always made such a mess of their lives, either because of the sort of people they were, or because of the poor judgments they made. She had decided that fictional people made poor role models for the kind of life she aspired to lead. But folly is an inescapable part of the human condition, as Paul Auster reminds us in this, his 10th novel, and the sheer mess and unpredictability of life should be fully relished.
Read the rest of my review of Paul Auster's The Brooklyn Follies from today's StarMag here.
(Incidentally, the student I mention here was, very gradually, won over!)
9 comments:
I'm with you on Auster. Congratulations on your appearance in yesterday's Guardian by the way.
Sharon was in The Guardian?
She was indeed, in the roundup of book blogs. Unfortunately - and curiously, since virtually all the Graun's content is online - it isn't on their website. Shame.
rob - could you please please please scan it for me and email it to me?????
i want my little second of fame. i love the guardian book pages and it means such a lot to be mentioned!
i'm very happy to hear that sharon's blog was featured in the guardian...
hers' the only blog i go to religiously for book news...
in fact i'm now in an internet cafe in a seedy area in baclaran manila reading what else...bibliobibuli...
Hi Sharon - I will obey...
Sharon - just sent it to your streamyx address. Had to retrieve it from the recycling first!
Rob
ah greenbottle ... how sweet to think of you reading me from so far away ...
rob - very big thanks, am thrilled. but today i'm news, tomorrow i'm recycled. humbling!
Schadenfreude sells.. why would anyone want to read a book about shiny happy people (unless there's a worm in the apple somewhere :) )
God help anyone who gets role models from books.. let's see now, should I model my life after Gradgrind or Raskolnikov ? :) or maybe Scrooge ? :)
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