Moon Palace

Paul Auster

Andrew notes that the book was "lent to me by a friend at work who is a big fan of this author and recommended it as an ideal holiday read. She wasn't wrong in that it's a rattling good yarn and kept me fairly entertained for several days. The characters are quite strong, though the story has the tendency to go off at tangents that don't always work. The meeting , for example, between Fogg ( the narrator) and a character called Solomon Barber leads to a lengthy retelling of the plot of Barber's appalling novel. He tells you it is going to be awful and recounts it almost in every detail. He also does that thing where he lets the reader in on a major plot secret - you're supposed to see it coming even though the characters can't - but to me it doesn't quite work. On this evidence Auster isn't the genius that the cover blurb proclaims... but I'd read another after a reasonable break."
Andrew 15/8/99

By the same author

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