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Is this a book worth adding to your collection with paid money? Yes, if you are into Auster and you believe in the superstitious mythical powers that all rational and intelligent writers place in their writing machines. In my personal opinion, this piece belonged in a nice art magazine.
If you want to get a book that Auster's work intersects with art, check out "Double Game", a collaborative effort by Sophie Calle and Paul Auster. There is no finer blending of fact/fiction, art/literature in contemporary literature.
Even for readers well-versed in contemporary literary theory and literature there is work to be done, and if you have a problem with a theoretical approach to literature then stay miles away from this book - unless you really are an avid Auster-fan: then you should feel obliged to at least give it a go.
But if you are interested in witnessing how theory, in this case of the post-structuralist vein (in particular Lacan and Derrida), and literature - four of Auster's core works (City of Glass, In the Country of Last Things, The Music of Chance and Moon Palace) may cross-fertilize each other - this is definitely a book to read.
For students (post-graduates in particular, I guess) and scholars working with Auster this book is indispensable. The chapters on the genre-affiliations preceding every close reading are for the most part interesting, in particular in connection with Moon Palace which is seen as a novel written in the picaresque mode. The close readings following these generic definitions are very thorough and eye-opening, and the Lacanian approach often leads to stunningly original interpretations, forcing the reader read Auster in a new light. I thoroughly recommend this study - the effort is rewarded with insight and inspiration.
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There are sentences in this book which entire other books could be based on. Thankfully, this is one time where an author chooses brevity and wit over quantity. (Perhaps the only criticsm could be he takes this to a whole other extreme and makes it too brief).
Recommended for fans of Beckett and Kafka.
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For the love of god, will someone please confiscate Paul Auster's copy of Diamond Dogs? A substandard dystopic work that wears its less-than-profound philosphical ruminations on its sleeve, In the Country of Last Things is Auster's longest title and worst book ( the best would be Leviathan, in case you're wondering. ) Here, as in the New York Trilogy, his writing is far too Livres de Poche -- meaning spare and vague, like all Camus-influenced French fiction. Worse, he has no talent for imagery, which means that this book in no way approaches Riddley Walker as a post-holocaust vision, despite what the inside jacket says. ITCOLT isn't even as good as Martin Amis's sister novel Other People. I just really didn't care for all the high-concept ideas ( such as The Runners, who run in packs until they collapse and die. ) Too cute, far too cute. Avoid.
Wonderful from many viewpoints: existential, post-holocaust, futuristic. I also think that his spare writing style was very capable indeed of painting a visual and emotional landscape.
But he's also capable of producing dreck (for instance, his close-to-unreadable novel MR. VERTIGO), and this script is in the dreck category.
Has the man never read "An Incident At Owl Creek Bridge"? Well, Ambrose Bierce used the gag at the core of this film many, many years before Auster did. Borges used it, too. That by itself is fine -- the fact that Homer wrote about war doesn't mean no one else should ever again -- but seems to think his gag is clever, orginal, and not telegraphed, when nothing could be further from the truth. (Frankly, the only reason I was in suspense until the end was that I couldn't believe that Auster would [re-]use such an obvious gag.)
LULU ON THE BRIDGE is crap. Pretentious writing, familiar ideas. Don't be suckered.
anywhere I want with this screenplay. I cherish
every word. I also love the fact that some of the
edited scenes are in the dialogue too. I just wish
the pictures could be in color. Other than that,
a must for any FAN of the film! "You can't live if
you don't eat, right?" "Right."
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If you haven't, this book is a fine, interesting read (forget the Kirkus dog/god thing, you won't find "pure corn will cure porn" anywhere else). Auster is a modern master. The book will do you good as long as you can forgive Auster's careless application of his style of prose to every charcter's voice in the novel (well, most of them).
If you have read more than three Auster books, you should know by now that Auster basically comes up with pretty much the same plot in every novel. The details and the subtlties vary, but this book is basically a mixture of The Music of Chance and parts of the New York Trilogy. If you read this expecting to find something completely new, you'll be disapointed. I think that's why so many people have reacted badly to Mr. Vertigo (which was an excellent book). Auster has a number of brilliant ideas in Timbuktu. There are only two major problems with the text. First, the point of view is not even slightly a dog's point of view. Don't be fooled. Auster isn't even close to being consistent with Dr. Bone's voice (Ingloosh...English setter?) Ok, next, as pointed out, the forty pages or so spent in suburbia are very disenchanting, but one can argue that a suburban landscape requires suburban plot and imagery...cest la guerre.
BTW, if this book comes even close to being a best seller, I'll personally get a tatoo of Santa Claus on my arm. This is far from a sellout.