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4 3 2 1
Nearly two weeks early, on March 3, 1947, in the maternity ward of Beth Israel Hospital in Newark, New Jersey, Archibald Isaac Ferguson, the one and only child of Rose and Stanley Ferguson, is born. From that single beginning, Ferguson’s life will take four simultaneous and independent fictional paths. Four identical Fergusons made of the same DNA, four boys who are the same boy, go on to lead four parallel and entirely different lives. Family fortunes diverge. Athletic skills and sex lives and friendships and intellectual passions contrast. Each Ferguson falls under the spell of the magnificent Amy Schneiderman, yet each Amy and each Ferguson have a relationship like no other. Meanwhile, readers will take in each Ferguson’s pleasures and ache from each Ferguson’s pains, as the mortal plot of each Ferguson’s life rushes on.
As inventive and dexterously constructed as anything Paul Auster has ever written, yet with a passion for realism and a great tenderness and fierce attachment to history and to life itself that readers have never seen from Auster before. 4 3 2 1 is a marvelous and unforgettably affecting tour de force.
As inventive and dexterously constructed as anything Paul Auster has ever written, yet with a passion for realism and a great tenderness and fierce attachment to history and to life itself that readers have never seen from Auster before. 4 3 2 1 is a marvelous and unforgettably affecting tour de force.
866 pages, Hardcover
First published January 31, 2017
About the author
Paul Auster
264 books11.2k followersPaul Auster was the bestselling author of 4 3 2 1, Bloodbath Nation, Baumgartner, The Book of Illusions, and The New York Trilogy, among many other works. In 2006 he was awarded the Prince of Asturias Prize for Literature. Among his other honors are the Prix Médicis Étranger for Leviathan, the Independent Spirit Award for the screenplay of Smoke, and the Premio Napoli for Sunset Park. In 2012, he was the first recipient of the NYC Literary Honors in the category of fiction. He was also a finalist for the International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award (The Book of Illusions), the PEN/Faulkner Award (The Music of Chance), the Edgar Award (City of Glass), and the Man Booker Prize (4 3 2 1). Auster was a member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters and a Commandeur de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres. His work has been translated into more than forty languages. He died at age seventy-seven in 2024.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 4,371 reviews
February 23, 2017
3 stars.
I think that I'm in the minority here. I didn't love this novel as most everyone else seemed to. I like the idea of this but I think that the concept v. the execution fell short. I found this to be the most exhausting book I have ever read and was completely spent after I was done reading it. I had to force myself to finish the last few hundred pages just so that I could find out what happened. For me, the concept of this book is absolutely brilliant. 4 3 2 1 by Paul Auster is an auspicious undertaking. However the actual execution of the book itself- was not as remarkable. I felt that a lot was lost in the actual writing of it.
4 3 2 1 is the story of Archie Ferguson. However, it is not the story of just one Archie Ferguson. Imagine a boy named Archie living four parallel lives, this is that story.
I think the first third of the book is the strongest and that the author did an incredible job providing a backstory for Archie, his parents lives, their relationship and Archie’s beginning. I will say that I was really impressed with how Paul Auster set out each different version of Archie – each personality was very distinguishable, even though they were inherently the same person.
For me, however, after the first third of the book, my interest was lost. The incoherent rambling sentences of each version of this young man drove me insane. At first I thought Paul Auster was trying to convey that that was how a young teenager speaks, but as each version of Archie grew older, he continued to speak in the same manner rambling on about nothing and it made me crazy. I would think that certain versions of him, the writer; the journalist, would speak in shorter, more concise sentences and fully formed thoughts and that did not happen. I personally think the novel would have been better served if it had been cut by several hundred pages.
Why did I even bother finishing it you ask? Simply because I wanted to find out what happened to each different version of Archie. And even though much of the book made me crazy, I'm glad I did.
I think that I'm in the minority here. I didn't love this novel as most everyone else seemed to. I like the idea of this but I think that the concept v. the execution fell short. I found this to be the most exhausting book I have ever read and was completely spent after I was done reading it. I had to force myself to finish the last few hundred pages just so that I could find out what happened. For me, the concept of this book is absolutely brilliant. 4 3 2 1 by Paul Auster is an auspicious undertaking. However the actual execution of the book itself- was not as remarkable. I felt that a lot was lost in the actual writing of it.
4 3 2 1 is the story of Archie Ferguson. However, it is not the story of just one Archie Ferguson. Imagine a boy named Archie living four parallel lives, this is that story.
I think the first third of the book is the strongest and that the author did an incredible job providing a backstory for Archie, his parents lives, their relationship and Archie’s beginning. I will say that I was really impressed with how Paul Auster set out each different version of Archie – each personality was very distinguishable, even though they were inherently the same person.
For me, however, after the first third of the book, my interest was lost. The incoherent rambling sentences of each version of this young man drove me insane. At first I thought Paul Auster was trying to convey that that was how a young teenager speaks, but as each version of Archie grew older, he continued to speak in the same manner rambling on about nothing and it made me crazy. I would think that certain versions of him, the writer; the journalist, would speak in shorter, more concise sentences and fully formed thoughts and that did not happen. I personally think the novel would have been better served if it had been cut by several hundred pages.
Why did I even bother finishing it you ask? Simply because I wanted to find out what happened to each different version of Archie. And even though much of the book made me crazy, I'm glad I did.
February 6, 2017
This is a wonderful and intelligent in depth look at the 4 different lives of the jewish Ferguson born in March 1947 to Stanley and Rose. Set in New York and New Jersey, it is a novel full of details, it begins with giving us the disparate backgrounds and families of store owner Stanley and photographer Rose. It charts the relationship between Stanley and Rose and their heartbreaking attempts to have a child. Once Ferguson is born, we are given a non linear but simultaneous life trajectory structured in distinct episodes for each Ferguson.
It made me laugh when the first young Ferguson has every intention of marrying his mother! What Auster does is bring home how each different decision and event changes the life of Ferguson through an intense and tumultuous period of American social and political history of the 1960s up until the early 1970s. So we get the awareness of the fate of the Rosenbergs, the civil rights movement, the Vietnam War, and the protests in which Ferguson takes part.
I found it difficult to remember which Ferguson is which at times, partly my fault but partly because whilst Ferguson has different lives, he is essentially the same person. He is a writer in every version of his life, his politics are progressive, and Amy is the girl he gets involved with albeit with differing results. He dwells on the nature of money and whether it should necessarily dictate that the family should therefore move into a bigger house just because they could. Auster captures the raw energy, vitality and intensity with which the young live their lives and the central role of and obsession with sex. I loved the cultural references such as the books and movies that marked the period. Different events in the family mark each Ferguson, such as the death of his father in a arson attack on the store. One Ferguson experiences an early death as a result of a lightning storm.
This is a very long and ambitious novel which might not be to everyone's taste and there are some extremely long sentences in it. I loved it, although it is not perfect and there are parts which tended to ramble a little too much. The prose is beautiful and I found the narrative a gripping read most of the time. Near the end, Auster informs us why the novel was structured as it is. Elements of the novel have been informed by the autobiographical details of the author's life. Characters from his previous novels make an appearance in this book. Auster is connecting his life's work and life brilliantly in this novel. This is essentially the story of the life and times of Paul Auster. A highly recommended read. Many thanks to Faber and Faber for an ARC.
It made me laugh when the first young Ferguson has every intention of marrying his mother! What Auster does is bring home how each different decision and event changes the life of Ferguson through an intense and tumultuous period of American social and political history of the 1960s up until the early 1970s. So we get the awareness of the fate of the Rosenbergs, the civil rights movement, the Vietnam War, and the protests in which Ferguson takes part.
I found it difficult to remember which Ferguson is which at times, partly my fault but partly because whilst Ferguson has different lives, he is essentially the same person. He is a writer in every version of his life, his politics are progressive, and Amy is the girl he gets involved with albeit with differing results. He dwells on the nature of money and whether it should necessarily dictate that the family should therefore move into a bigger house just because they could. Auster captures the raw energy, vitality and intensity with which the young live their lives and the central role of and obsession with sex. I loved the cultural references such as the books and movies that marked the period. Different events in the family mark each Ferguson, such as the death of his father in a arson attack on the store. One Ferguson experiences an early death as a result of a lightning storm.
This is a very long and ambitious novel which might not be to everyone's taste and there are some extremely long sentences in it. I loved it, although it is not perfect and there are parts which tended to ramble a little too much. The prose is beautiful and I found the narrative a gripping read most of the time. Near the end, Auster informs us why the novel was structured as it is. Elements of the novel have been informed by the autobiographical details of the author's life. Characters from his previous novels make an appearance in this book. Auster is connecting his life's work and life brilliantly in this novel. This is essentially the story of the life and times of Paul Auster. A highly recommended read. Many thanks to Faber and Faber for an ARC.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
August 1, 2017
I was excited about this to begin with but it soon began to feel like a vehicle without an engine that Auster was pushing ever uphill.
If we live only a small part of our inner life externally, what happens to the rest? Unfortunately Auster doesn’t address this intriguing question in any kind of stimulating way though you’d think a novel about a character living four parallel lives would.
How much of fate comes from within and how much comes from without? Unfortunately Auster doesn’t address this intriguing question in any kind of stimulating way either though you’d think a novel about a character living four parallel lives would.
I’ve got a lot of time for Paul Auster but I’m afraid I found this a self-indulgent and ultimately pointless novel. I wasn’t a great fan of Life after Life but Atkinson’s novel on a similar theme is much more fluid and interesting structurally than this. It’s also immeasurably more outlandishly playful. Atkinson’s heroine becomes a downtrodden bullied wife in one version; assassinates Hitler in another. Auster’s hero, by contrast, goes to Princeton in one version; Colombia in another. Maybe that’s truer to life but it hardly makes for gripping dramatic tension. And yet Auster is quite happy to employ melodrama as a deciding factor in creating crossroad moments – a murdered father, a car crash resulting in the loss of thumb and first finger - except his melodrama leads to banal distinctions. Atkinson, like the film Sliding Doors, identified the crossroad moments when a fate might change course; Auster doesn’t – he uses accidents rather than choices to define the fate of his character. Things happen off-screen and differently from one life to another for no apparent reason: an uncle makes a bizarre decision, the father makes completely different life choices for no apparent reason with far reaching repercussions in one life which he doesn’t make in another. In this regard, Ferguson is like a puppet operated by his male family members.
Auster’s hero is perhaps the biggest problem. I was never convinced he was sufficiently intriguing as a character for a 200 pg novel, let alone an almost 900 pg one. The sixties should be fascinating but Ferguson is like some throwback to the 1950s. Though this novel is waterlogged with the minutiae of 60s news items and memorabilia there’s no mention of LSD, of rock music, of hippy culture. Ferguson loves baseball, basketball, Bach and beer. He’s not a child of his time. Therefore the decade begins to become irrelevant and it’s a bit baffling why so much energy is spent in trying to recreate it. I assumed at least one version would send him to Vietnam or prison to provide some real dramatic contrast. Nope. Instead the cliffhanger is whether Ferguson will become a novelist or a translator of poetry. Gripping stuff! At the heart of this novel is a colossal failure of imagination on Auster’s part – he can’t imagine himself as anything but a writer. That said, I agree with Auster and not with Atkinson – that if we had four cracks at life they wouldn’t be significantly different – but for that very reason this all becomes a very pointless and long winded exercise.
The other problem is you also get three or four lives in a computer game and after a while this began to become as predictable and repetitive as a computer game. Whatever happens isn’t sufficiently consequential to sustain interest. There’s not much at stake when you get four rolls of the dice. So what if he dies in one version? It’s actually a relief because it was hard work trying to remember the thin distinctions between one life and another. At least, we now had one less nuanced account of his love life and literary aspirations to retain in memory. (This novel would be a good test for evaluating how prone you might be to dementia.) And to be honest I didn’t understand why things turned out differently in the various versions. Because his father dies he becomes gay? That seemed to me a crass piece of reasoning. In one version his cousin Amy finds him irresistible; in another she’s sexually indifferent. I never had a clue why. My feeling was Auster didn’t either. That his main motivation for writing this was to lavishly indulge in nostalgia for his lost youth. Then why not just write a memoir? To add insult to injury he deploys an utterly lame post-modernist trick at the end, trying to cajole us into believing the whole thing has been the height of cleverness.
After this, Jane Smiley’s dreadful Some Luck and Murakami’s rambling dead end 1Q84 I’m now going to think very hard before reading any novel over 700 pages.
If we live only a small part of our inner life externally, what happens to the rest? Unfortunately Auster doesn’t address this intriguing question in any kind of stimulating way though you’d think a novel about a character living four parallel lives would.
How much of fate comes from within and how much comes from without? Unfortunately Auster doesn’t address this intriguing question in any kind of stimulating way either though you’d think a novel about a character living four parallel lives would.
I’ve got a lot of time for Paul Auster but I’m afraid I found this a self-indulgent and ultimately pointless novel. I wasn’t a great fan of Life after Life but Atkinson’s novel on a similar theme is much more fluid and interesting structurally than this. It’s also immeasurably more outlandishly playful. Atkinson’s heroine becomes a downtrodden bullied wife in one version; assassinates Hitler in another. Auster’s hero, by contrast, goes to Princeton in one version; Colombia in another. Maybe that’s truer to life but it hardly makes for gripping dramatic tension. And yet Auster is quite happy to employ melodrama as a deciding factor in creating crossroad moments – a murdered father, a car crash resulting in the loss of thumb and first finger - except his melodrama leads to banal distinctions. Atkinson, like the film Sliding Doors, identified the crossroad moments when a fate might change course; Auster doesn’t – he uses accidents rather than choices to define the fate of his character. Things happen off-screen and differently from one life to another for no apparent reason: an uncle makes a bizarre decision, the father makes completely different life choices for no apparent reason with far reaching repercussions in one life which he doesn’t make in another. In this regard, Ferguson is like a puppet operated by his male family members.
Auster’s hero is perhaps the biggest problem. I was never convinced he was sufficiently intriguing as a character for a 200 pg novel, let alone an almost 900 pg one. The sixties should be fascinating but Ferguson is like some throwback to the 1950s. Though this novel is waterlogged with the minutiae of 60s news items and memorabilia there’s no mention of LSD, of rock music, of hippy culture. Ferguson loves baseball, basketball, Bach and beer. He’s not a child of his time. Therefore the decade begins to become irrelevant and it’s a bit baffling why so much energy is spent in trying to recreate it. I assumed at least one version would send him to Vietnam or prison to provide some real dramatic contrast. Nope. Instead the cliffhanger is whether Ferguson will become a novelist or a translator of poetry. Gripping stuff! At the heart of this novel is a colossal failure of imagination on Auster’s part – he can’t imagine himself as anything but a writer. That said, I agree with Auster and not with Atkinson – that if we had four cracks at life they wouldn’t be significantly different – but for that very reason this all becomes a very pointless and long winded exercise.
The other problem is you also get three or four lives in a computer game and after a while this began to become as predictable and repetitive as a computer game. Whatever happens isn’t sufficiently consequential to sustain interest. There’s not much at stake when you get four rolls of the dice. So what if he dies in one version? It’s actually a relief because it was hard work trying to remember the thin distinctions between one life and another. At least, we now had one less nuanced account of his love life and literary aspirations to retain in memory. (This novel would be a good test for evaluating how prone you might be to dementia.) And to be honest I didn’t understand why things turned out differently in the various versions. Because his father dies he becomes gay? That seemed to me a crass piece of reasoning. In one version his cousin Amy finds him irresistible; in another she’s sexually indifferent. I never had a clue why. My feeling was Auster didn’t either. That his main motivation for writing this was to lavishly indulge in nostalgia for his lost youth. Then why not just write a memoir? To add insult to injury he deploys an utterly lame post-modernist trick at the end, trying to cajole us into believing the whole thing has been the height of cleverness.
After this, Jane Smiley’s dreadful Some Luck and Murakami’s rambling dead end 1Q84 I’m now going to think very hard before reading any novel over 700 pages.
November 3, 2019
1 2 3 4.......
.....Archibald Isaac Ferguson.....( 900 pages about this guy)
.....Archi....(nope, 900 pages about THIS guy)
.....Ferguson....(no, THIS guy)
.....Archi Ferguson.....(I lied... this story is about THIS guy)!!!!
4 3 2 1 .......BLAST OFF!!!
This novel comes with 'surgeon general warnings': Its risky business being 'under-the-influence' of "4 3 2 1". It's possible to get an unbearable
headache, have insomnia, muscles might ache, and a reader might begin to feel fatigue AFTER the first 22 hours of listening to Paul Auster....( as steamy awesome as Paul Auster is!!!!). Our brain begins to comedown from the euphoric excitement as the readers-drug-stimulant begins to wane.
Even though the 'Excitement-High', is an escapable part of the reading journey ...
4 3 2 1 is a phenomenal an unforgettable TRIP!!! Overall: A WONDERFUL AUDIOBOOK experience!!!
TRUE CONFESSIONS FROM a 4 3 2 1 'devotee'....'junkie'....'fanatic'.....
I feel like I've been married to two men with the name 'Paul' for the past few weeks. My husband, Paul, started to get a little annoyed at Paul #2. He was ready for 'the guest' to go home!! I have no idea why MY PAUL turned off Paul Auster when he was telling us about Archie writing about Baseball for his High School paper in New Jersey.
Why wasn't MY PAUL jumping up and down with excitement? Had 'my Paul' been in the room listening to a scene when Archie was at Camp Paradise, believe me, he would not have turned off the audiobook!
THIRTY NINE PLUS hours of listening to an audiobook- no matter how sexy - charming - and AWESOME my new -audio-husband was.... and no matter how ENGAGING it was to follow the life of Ferguson- his family- his passions - his relationships - his hygiene and eating habits - his sex life - and his love for Amy Schneiderman-- 39 hours is a LOT OF TIME OUT OF A PERSON'S life!!!
My original plans were to spend hours listening while hiking the trails. However -- unexpectedly mother-nature played a trick on California. It's only stopped raining for about 2-3 hours 'total' in the past month. I had no idea I would become a house- prisoner audiobook listener. So, I re-adjusted my plans.
So... what do I think is so wonderful about 4 3 2 1?
Honestly .... spending as much time as I did with this book- almost 40 hours - feels like a love affair. Ferguson was born in March, 1947. The family richness engages us at the beginning.....
......The writing IS gorgeous. Paul Auster reads gorgeously!!!
......This book has EVERYTHING.....I see a mini series..... a terrific television drama!!!
......I have a few 'golden/box' favorite parts. Some of the stories are soooo darn good that it's that drug-effect again.....a satisfying high...
......So that when other parts of this book were good -- but not earthshaking--I noticed I was waiting for another RUSH. I was 'hooked' on the desserts hidden in this novel.
.....The BEST advantage for investing long hours to the audiobook: I spent an enormous amount of my OFF time 'thinking' about the characters and the relationships in this story. I enjoyed this process too.
.......Much to love .....in no particular order:
The history of this entire book - Furguson's mind, his intelligence, his independent thinking where it mattered, ( trusting himself over a teacher and adults more than half his age). Lots of passion about books, writing, poetry, art, music, movies .... ( the entire experience of sitting in the balcony eating hot dogs and popcorn with his mom for hours), photography, ( a special photograph of Ferguson), accidents, sickness, death, affairs, divorce, re-marriages, camp, school, sports, college, the war, drinking, drugs, schools, politics, Jews, foods, Jewish foods, Rose and Stanley ( Archie's parents), civil rights movement, New York Riots, the Kennedy assignation, Columbia University, journalism, race:,(black & white relationships equally), justice, bullying, lots of sex, friends of Archi really stand out - like Noah from his childhood and many others, Aunt Mildred was an interesting character... loved the grandparents, cousins and extended families.
1965..... ( the year life got interesting and was changing),
The humor was great and not forced, the sadness was real, the warmth was real, The first trip that Archi and Amy take to Paris is wonderful,
Lots of academic appreciation and literature,
This book gave me some nostalgia for trees.
I LOVED the-"shoe-orgy" story, and "The elevator story.
Archie's first book... ( an accomplishment with the deepest fulfillment ),
Sunday mornings eggs, bagels, and the newspaper - good times!! , Saturday's with Amy were days I would enjoy.
I also thought about Ferguson being in the wrong place at the wrong time. I thought about a few times in my own life where I felt the same thing..... A split second can change the direction of your life.
The interview at the end of the audiobook with Paul Auster is heartwarming and interesting.
An ambitious novel -- one that is best to read when - not - feeling rushed. Or why bother! There is much to enjoy in the same way we enjoy slow cooking. Savor the meal!!! Enjoy the get-a-way. It can feel every bit like a vacation - with HIGH moments - and quiet moments.
4.99 stars!!!
.....Archibald Isaac Ferguson.....( 900 pages about this guy)
.....Archi....(nope, 900 pages about THIS guy)
.....Ferguson....(no, THIS guy)
.....Archi Ferguson.....(I lied... this story is about THIS guy)!!!!
4 3 2 1 .......BLAST OFF!!!
This novel comes with 'surgeon general warnings': Its risky business being 'under-the-influence' of "4 3 2 1". It's possible to get an unbearable
headache, have insomnia, muscles might ache, and a reader might begin to feel fatigue AFTER the first 22 hours of listening to Paul Auster....( as steamy awesome as Paul Auster is!!!!). Our brain begins to comedown from the euphoric excitement as the readers-drug-stimulant begins to wane.
Even though the 'Excitement-High', is an escapable part of the reading journey ...
4 3 2 1 is a phenomenal an unforgettable TRIP!!! Overall: A WONDERFUL AUDIOBOOK experience!!!
TRUE CONFESSIONS FROM a 4 3 2 1 'devotee'....'junkie'....'fanatic'.....
I feel like I've been married to two men with the name 'Paul' for the past few weeks. My husband, Paul, started to get a little annoyed at Paul #2. He was ready for 'the guest' to go home!! I have no idea why MY PAUL turned off Paul Auster when he was telling us about Archie writing about Baseball for his High School paper in New Jersey.
Why wasn't MY PAUL jumping up and down with excitement? Had 'my Paul' been in the room listening to a scene when Archie was at Camp Paradise, believe me, he would not have turned off the audiobook!
THIRTY NINE PLUS hours of listening to an audiobook- no matter how sexy - charming - and AWESOME my new -audio-husband was.... and no matter how ENGAGING it was to follow the life of Ferguson- his family- his passions - his relationships - his hygiene and eating habits - his sex life - and his love for Amy Schneiderman-- 39 hours is a LOT OF TIME OUT OF A PERSON'S life!!!
My original plans were to spend hours listening while hiking the trails. However -- unexpectedly mother-nature played a trick on California. It's only stopped raining for about 2-3 hours 'total' in the past month. I had no idea I would become a house- prisoner audiobook listener. So, I re-adjusted my plans.
So... what do I think is so wonderful about 4 3 2 1?
Honestly .... spending as much time as I did with this book- almost 40 hours - feels like a love affair. Ferguson was born in March, 1947. The family richness engages us at the beginning.....
......The writing IS gorgeous. Paul Auster reads gorgeously!!!
......This book has EVERYTHING.....I see a mini series..... a terrific television drama!!!
......I have a few 'golden/box' favorite parts. Some of the stories are soooo darn good that it's that drug-effect again.....a satisfying high...
......So that when other parts of this book were good -- but not earthshaking--I noticed I was waiting for another RUSH. I was 'hooked' on the desserts hidden in this novel.
.....The BEST advantage for investing long hours to the audiobook: I spent an enormous amount of my OFF time 'thinking' about the characters and the relationships in this story. I enjoyed this process too.
.......Much to love .....in no particular order:
The history of this entire book - Furguson's mind, his intelligence, his independent thinking where it mattered, ( trusting himself over a teacher and adults more than half his age). Lots of passion about books, writing, poetry, art, music, movies .... ( the entire experience of sitting in the balcony eating hot dogs and popcorn with his mom for hours), photography, ( a special photograph of Ferguson), accidents, sickness, death, affairs, divorce, re-marriages, camp, school, sports, college, the war, drinking, drugs, schools, politics, Jews, foods, Jewish foods, Rose and Stanley ( Archie's parents), civil rights movement, New York Riots, the Kennedy assignation, Columbia University, journalism, race:,(black & white relationships equally), justice, bullying, lots of sex, friends of Archi really stand out - like Noah from his childhood and many others, Aunt Mildred was an interesting character... loved the grandparents, cousins and extended families.
1965..... ( the year life got interesting and was changing),
The humor was great and not forced, the sadness was real, the warmth was real, The first trip that Archi and Amy take to Paris is wonderful,
Lots of academic appreciation and literature,
This book gave me some nostalgia for trees.
I LOVED the-"shoe-orgy" story, and "The elevator story.
Archie's first book... ( an accomplishment with the deepest fulfillment ),
Sunday mornings eggs, bagels, and the newspaper - good times!! , Saturday's with Amy were days I would enjoy.
I also thought about Ferguson being in the wrong place at the wrong time. I thought about a few times in my own life where I felt the same thing..... A split second can change the direction of your life.
The interview at the end of the audiobook with Paul Auster is heartwarming and interesting.
An ambitious novel -- one that is best to read when - not - feeling rushed. Or why bother! There is much to enjoy in the same way we enjoy slow cooking. Savor the meal!!! Enjoy the get-a-way. It can feel every bit like a vacation - with HIGH moments - and quiet moments.
4.99 stars!!!
December 24, 2023
I’ve read quite a bit of Auster’s work over the years, mainly his novels but also some of his non-fiction output too. I’ve imbibed quite a bit of biographical detail in this time from books such as Hand to Mouth: A Chronicle of Early Failure and The Red Notebook: True Stories and consequently I can see that a good deal of the content herein is based on the author’s own passions and experiences. A quick list would throw up his love of novels, poetry, films and baseball, his college education at Columbia and his time spent in Paris where he lived in a top floor maids room. But there are other elements too, such as a real life incident he’s talked about a good deal in which, at the age of fourteen, a young boy next to him was struck by lightening and killed.
So is this book just a big biographical tome? No, its much, much more than that. The novel tells the story of four parallel lives of Archibald ‘Archie’ Ferguson, born of Russian-Jewish descent in New Jersey in 1947. Given the same start point for each of the four lives it follows that the paths diverge as a result of random events which lead each Archie to follow a different route. All the Archies are interested in films, sport, politics and above all books – in fact they all aspire to become writers. There are actually many similarities with regard to the lives lived, such as some of the people they meet and a number of events that impact all of their lives, but the relationships between characters is different and Archie’s involvement in the common events and their impact on him deviate significantly. The result is we have four different stories, each using the same timeline, broadly the same geography and many of the same characters.
Some of the routes Archie takes are down to blind luck - good or bad - but at other times it’s subtler: often the path is influenced by the brilliantly observed interactions with and behaviours of people who surround him. Each tale is told in alternating chapters, so we get to see four versions of a small section of his life before repeating the process. If this sounds like there could be repetition, then that’s because there is – of some key events. But remember that we see these events through different eyes, each with an altered involvement in the given occurrence. At some points it does feel like the chosen structure slows progress to a crawl, but any reservations I have about this are more than offset by the pure enjoyment I got from the author’s prose. This man can certainly write!
If, like me, you think you’ve missed out on many of the literary works that you you feel - or have been told - you should have read then there is a veritable crib sheet of titles here. In fact, one of the Furguson’s has a list of one hundred books he must read drafted for him. I’m not sure I’ll get to many (if any) of these but curiosity may drive me to seek out at least one or two. The fact is that Auster’s love of the written word leaps off the page. This is a book for lovers of books.
It a huge book, at nearly nine hundred pages, and therefore it’s a significant enterprise for any reader to take on. However, it’s written in a straightforward style and as long as readers can keep track of the four storylines (I kept notes) then I feel there’s nothing off-putting here. Ok, there are some very long sentences, with quite a few words I’d never come across before, but I really did feel that the narrative flow was well controlled. The inventiveness and imagination demonstrated by Auster will come as no surprise to seasoned readers of his books and there are some brilliant thoughts and insights on all sorts of issues, literary works and on life in general. And above all, I became so invested in the lives of Ferguson that I became truly emotional when each tale had run its course. A good read? No, it's more than that – a masterpiece as far as I’m concerned.
My thanks to Faber and Faber and NetGalley for providing an early copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
So is this book just a big biographical tome? No, its much, much more than that. The novel tells the story of four parallel lives of Archibald ‘Archie’ Ferguson, born of Russian-Jewish descent in New Jersey in 1947. Given the same start point for each of the four lives it follows that the paths diverge as a result of random events which lead each Archie to follow a different route. All the Archies are interested in films, sport, politics and above all books – in fact they all aspire to become writers. There are actually many similarities with regard to the lives lived, such as some of the people they meet and a number of events that impact all of their lives, but the relationships between characters is different and Archie’s involvement in the common events and their impact on him deviate significantly. The result is we have four different stories, each using the same timeline, broadly the same geography and many of the same characters.
Some of the routes Archie takes are down to blind luck - good or bad - but at other times it’s subtler: often the path is influenced by the brilliantly observed interactions with and behaviours of people who surround him. Each tale is told in alternating chapters, so we get to see four versions of a small section of his life before repeating the process. If this sounds like there could be repetition, then that’s because there is – of some key events. But remember that we see these events through different eyes, each with an altered involvement in the given occurrence. At some points it does feel like the chosen structure slows progress to a crawl, but any reservations I have about this are more than offset by the pure enjoyment I got from the author’s prose. This man can certainly write!
If, like me, you think you’ve missed out on many of the literary works that you you feel - or have been told - you should have read then there is a veritable crib sheet of titles here. In fact, one of the Furguson’s has a list of one hundred books he must read drafted for him. I’m not sure I’ll get to many (if any) of these but curiosity may drive me to seek out at least one or two. The fact is that Auster’s love of the written word leaps off the page. This is a book for lovers of books.
It a huge book, at nearly nine hundred pages, and therefore it’s a significant enterprise for any reader to take on. However, it’s written in a straightforward style and as long as readers can keep track of the four storylines (I kept notes) then I feel there’s nothing off-putting here. Ok, there are some very long sentences, with quite a few words I’d never come across before, but I really did feel that the narrative flow was well controlled. The inventiveness and imagination demonstrated by Auster will come as no surprise to seasoned readers of his books and there are some brilliant thoughts and insights on all sorts of issues, literary works and on life in general. And above all, I became so invested in the lives of Ferguson that I became truly emotional when each tale had run its course. A good read? No, it's more than that – a masterpiece as far as I’m concerned.
My thanks to Faber and Faber and NetGalley for providing an early copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
March 6, 2022
On beginning to read 4 3 2 1 I was surprised that the story went at first as if it had been written by Theodore Dreiser so it made me wonder where was all the expected postmodernistic quirkiness. But to my great delight I was capable to find the trick soon enough.
“Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both…”
These first lines of The Road Not Taken by Robert Frost are literally the key to the book… Paul Auster simultaneously travels four forking roads so the novel is a set of variations on the theme of the American Dream, a study of existential probabilities: the quickly aborted life of the do-it-yourself newspaper whizz kid; the Hollywood-style-kitsch life of the bohemian cineaste; the mournfully crippled life of the failed poet and disillusioned journalist; and the thoroughly unhappy life of the inchoate experimental writer.
And by painting four imaginary lives Paul Auster vividly paints the panorama of the dramatically hot sixties.
In order not to turn into a scribbler a true writer must always do his own thing otherwise there will be nothing but oblivion…
“Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both…”
These first lines of The Road Not Taken by Robert Frost are literally the key to the book… Paul Auster simultaneously travels four forking roads so the novel is a set of variations on the theme of the American Dream, a study of existential probabilities: the quickly aborted life of the do-it-yourself newspaper whizz kid; the Hollywood-style-kitsch life of the bohemian cineaste; the mournfully crippled life of the failed poet and disillusioned journalist; and the thoroughly unhappy life of the inchoate experimental writer.
…he had accumulated enough memories to know that the world around him was continually being shaped by the world within him, just as everyone else’s experience of the world was shaped by his own memories, and while all people were bound together by the common space they shared, their journeys through time were all different, which meant that each person lived in a slightly different world from everyone else.
And by painting four imaginary lives Paul Auster vividly paints the panorama of the dramatically hot sixties.
Ferguson and his friends understood that they were living in an irrational world, a country that murdered its presidents and legislated against its citizens and sent its young men off to die in senseless wars, which meant that they were more fully attuned to the realities of the present than their elders were.
In order not to turn into a scribbler a true writer must always do his own thing otherwise there will be nothing but oblivion…
May 18, 2019
Glazed Over
I had a personal interest in this book. I was born just three weeks before it's protagonist, Archie Ferguson, and nine days after his author, Paul Auster. I grew up in a similar suburb of New York City, and in similar economic and educational circumstances. So, to the extent that Ferguson was shaped by the cultural context of the day, perhaps I could detect unrecognised influences in my own life. Or, even more exciting, given that 4 3 2 1 is about alternative universes, I could explore the paths not taken in my own life. Not the most noble of motives, but certainly not the worst.
But there are certain literary problems with the premise of alternative lives that I don't think Auster has worked through thoroughly, at least not for my purposes. By now most educated readers know of Chaos Theory, the idea that even the smallest changes in initial conditions can generate immense consequences. This, one supposes, applies as much to relationships as to particle interactions. Therefore, who we meet, indeed who our parents or friends or their parents or friends have ever met, obviously have untold ramifications for any individual life.
So, which relationships should the author choose to modify in alternative life-stories? Mother-father? Mother-aunt? Father-uncles? Among the in-laws? The possibilities are obviously endless, with no inherent rationality no matter which are selected. If there is any significance to the relationships Auster has chosen to use as narrative fulcra, they have escaped me. This annoys my aesthetic sensibilities; I have no way to relate to the method and therefore the characters are abstractions and unrelated to my life even though the frequent environmental references - Kennedy, Vietnam, New York City - are familiar.
The randomness of life also includes one's own genetic make-up, which may or may not be translated into any number of behaviours. Does watching a world-series game at age four create a seed of interest in playing baseball or merely following baseball? Does a loving auntie's fondness for literature create a capacity for literary taste or a distaste for oppressive direction in reading? Will a fascination for journalistic writing at a young age forestall development of athletic talent?
Clearly the possibilities are uncountable and complex, a problem which doesn't arise if the story is a unitary narrative. But how does an author create four such stories with any cohesion? The bumps and nudges Auster introduces in each of Ferguson's lives are like random variables in a gigantic mathematical equation. But the equation, if it exists, is hidden throughout the text. I admit to an inability to solve the mathematical problem. In any case I don't see myself anywhere in it.
And, of course, life-paths bifurcate constantly. So, influential events and choices compound deviations. How can an author maintain control over the cascading possibilities in a way that still has some sort of narrative sense? How does the reader, for that matter, keep track of the partially congruent lives and the not-quite-the-same protagonists as they float through an interweaved existence?
4 3 2 1 is a long book structured episodically. By the time of the protagonist's adolescence, it is unlikely anyone who isn't a member of Mensa would be able to remember which teenager descends from which toddler, whose father was the thrusting entrepreneur and whose the local shopkeeper, which girlfriend called Amy is in love (or not) with which version of Ferguson, and whose aunt lives in California and whose in Brooklyn. I failed the associative test, having to retreat to my bed with a migraine. An inadequate as well as unsympathetic reader therefore.
The continuities among the four lives are more interesting: Suburban, Jewish, Intellectual, Liberal. These are the axes around with everything else in 4 3 2 1 mutates and rotates. They are the sort of Kantian categories which shape the universe from which alternatives are selected. These, of course, are as arbitrary as the scenarios that Auster creates within them. But perhaps they are the only things that really matter.
In other words, it may be the continuities not the variations that constitute Auster's point. That, for example, the possibilities available within the universe bounded by these categories are not infinite. Or if they are, they are at least countable. And in a sense, they converge in a kind of fatalistic unity. This would constitute a rather sophisticated literary game. To say more risks giving the game away.
I have real questions whether this game is worth playing though. Or, at least, that I have the talent to play it. I ended up like one of Auster's characters, with "the glazed-over look of a man unable to see anything but the thoughts inside his own head." Just where I started, I suppose.
I had a personal interest in this book. I was born just three weeks before it's protagonist, Archie Ferguson, and nine days after his author, Paul Auster. I grew up in a similar suburb of New York City, and in similar economic and educational circumstances. So, to the extent that Ferguson was shaped by the cultural context of the day, perhaps I could detect unrecognised influences in my own life. Or, even more exciting, given that 4 3 2 1 is about alternative universes, I could explore the paths not taken in my own life. Not the most noble of motives, but certainly not the worst.
But there are certain literary problems with the premise of alternative lives that I don't think Auster has worked through thoroughly, at least not for my purposes. By now most educated readers know of Chaos Theory, the idea that even the smallest changes in initial conditions can generate immense consequences. This, one supposes, applies as much to relationships as to particle interactions. Therefore, who we meet, indeed who our parents or friends or their parents or friends have ever met, obviously have untold ramifications for any individual life.
So, which relationships should the author choose to modify in alternative life-stories? Mother-father? Mother-aunt? Father-uncles? Among the in-laws? The possibilities are obviously endless, with no inherent rationality no matter which are selected. If there is any significance to the relationships Auster has chosen to use as narrative fulcra, they have escaped me. This annoys my aesthetic sensibilities; I have no way to relate to the method and therefore the characters are abstractions and unrelated to my life even though the frequent environmental references - Kennedy, Vietnam, New York City - are familiar.
The randomness of life also includes one's own genetic make-up, which may or may not be translated into any number of behaviours. Does watching a world-series game at age four create a seed of interest in playing baseball or merely following baseball? Does a loving auntie's fondness for literature create a capacity for literary taste or a distaste for oppressive direction in reading? Will a fascination for journalistic writing at a young age forestall development of athletic talent?
Clearly the possibilities are uncountable and complex, a problem which doesn't arise if the story is a unitary narrative. But how does an author create four such stories with any cohesion? The bumps and nudges Auster introduces in each of Ferguson's lives are like random variables in a gigantic mathematical equation. But the equation, if it exists, is hidden throughout the text. I admit to an inability to solve the mathematical problem. In any case I don't see myself anywhere in it.
And, of course, life-paths bifurcate constantly. So, influential events and choices compound deviations. How can an author maintain control over the cascading possibilities in a way that still has some sort of narrative sense? How does the reader, for that matter, keep track of the partially congruent lives and the not-quite-the-same protagonists as they float through an interweaved existence?
4 3 2 1 is a long book structured episodically. By the time of the protagonist's adolescence, it is unlikely anyone who isn't a member of Mensa would be able to remember which teenager descends from which toddler, whose father was the thrusting entrepreneur and whose the local shopkeeper, which girlfriend called Amy is in love (or not) with which version of Ferguson, and whose aunt lives in California and whose in Brooklyn. I failed the associative test, having to retreat to my bed with a migraine. An inadequate as well as unsympathetic reader therefore.
The continuities among the four lives are more interesting: Suburban, Jewish, Intellectual, Liberal. These are the axes around with everything else in 4 3 2 1 mutates and rotates. They are the sort of Kantian categories which shape the universe from which alternatives are selected. These, of course, are as arbitrary as the scenarios that Auster creates within them. But perhaps they are the only things that really matter.
In other words, it may be the continuities not the variations that constitute Auster's point. That, for example, the possibilities available within the universe bounded by these categories are not infinite. Or if they are, they are at least countable. And in a sense, they converge in a kind of fatalistic unity. This would constitute a rather sophisticated literary game. To say more risks giving the game away.
I have real questions whether this game is worth playing though. Or, at least, that I have the talent to play it. I ended up like one of Auster's characters, with "the glazed-over look of a man unable to see anything but the thoughts inside his own head." Just where I started, I suppose.
September 28, 2017
Click here to watch a video review of this book on my channel, From Beginning to Bookend.
An expansive study of a young man's life - diverging on four separate paths - that captivates with intimate writing and playfully explores the existential quandary of destiny versus the unexpected.
An expansive study of a young man's life - diverging on four separate paths - that captivates with intimate writing and playfully explores the existential quandary of destiny versus the unexpected.
October 9, 2022
2 "self-indulgent, myopic, masturbatory" stars !!
Most(est) Disappointing Read of 2018 Award
Over the years, my dudes, have been encouraging me to read Auster. He has been much admired and read over the years by male friends of all sexual orientations. One boi told me...Jaidee you are much more likely to listen to your gal pals (this is true but not by much ). So when this book appeared on the scene, it mucho intrigued me !! Like Sliding Doors without Gwyneth Paltrow.....but wait we want and need Gwyneth in Sliding Doors but not at a dinner party !!
Well for the last four months, I read and read and read, I decided to treat it like exercise, stoic but not enjoyed, keep going Jaidee, this is good for you, don't pick up another YA or piece of erotica or mindless mystery !! I plodded on but then would avoid and read other books that I much rather, only to return to this tome and keep wondering why is it so godamm long....just why....just why !!
I started to resent my guy friends and their praise of Auster....but I continued on for a number of reasons....the primary one is that I liked good ol Archie...I liked all four versions of him and despite my resentment and disappointment was rooting for him and actually felt bad for him for being written up in this way !!
What I liked:
-Archie 1. Archie 2. Archie 3 and Archie 4
- the consistency of keeping the stories straight
What I disliked:
-all the bloody telling rather than showing of Archie's world both exterior and interior
-all that bloody length...no reason for it....making the Goldfinch feel like a novella....lol
-all that bloody liberal preaching of historical events
Repeat ....the bloody telling, the bloody length, the bloody preaching
I did this for you Archie and for nobody else.
I may pick up another Auster as several bois have told me that I started with the wrong one and I will give Auster another chance but again
.....the bloody telling
.....the bloody length
.....the bloody preaching
Hey Gwyneth what do you think ?
Most(est) Disappointing Read of 2018 Award
Over the years, my dudes, have been encouraging me to read Auster. He has been much admired and read over the years by male friends of all sexual orientations. One boi told me...Jaidee you are much more likely to listen to your gal pals (this is true but not by much ). So when this book appeared on the scene, it mucho intrigued me !! Like Sliding Doors without Gwyneth Paltrow.....but wait we want and need Gwyneth in Sliding Doors but not at a dinner party !!
Well for the last four months, I read and read and read, I decided to treat it like exercise, stoic but not enjoyed, keep going Jaidee, this is good for you, don't pick up another YA or piece of erotica or mindless mystery !! I plodded on but then would avoid and read other books that I much rather, only to return to this tome and keep wondering why is it so godamm long....just why....just why !!
I started to resent my guy friends and their praise of Auster....but I continued on for a number of reasons....the primary one is that I liked good ol Archie...I liked all four versions of him and despite my resentment and disappointment was rooting for him and actually felt bad for him for being written up in this way !!
What I liked:
-Archie 1. Archie 2. Archie 3 and Archie 4
- the consistency of keeping the stories straight
What I disliked:
-all the bloody telling rather than showing of Archie's world both exterior and interior
-all that bloody length...no reason for it....making the Goldfinch feel like a novella....lol
-all that bloody liberal preaching of historical events
Repeat ....the bloody telling, the bloody length, the bloody preaching
I did this for you Archie and for nobody else.
I may pick up another Auster as several bois have told me that I started with the wrong one and I will give Auster another chance but again
.....the bloody telling
.....the bloody length
.....the bloody preaching
Hey Gwyneth what do you think ?
April 4, 2017
4321 narrates four versions of one young man’s life, how it might have differed given small altered circumstances.
This wore me down. Instead of becoming more engaged I was exasperated by it at about pg 700. I kept thinking I could have read three novels in the time it took me to wade through this. Essentially it struck me as four different drafts of the same half-finished novel. I kept waiting for the Eureka moment when the four narratives would suddenly shed light on each other and blaze into a brilliant whole but it never happened. It remained for me four different drafts of a half-finished and not very enthralling novel. In fact, I can’t really say I understood what the purpose of the novel was.
It’s a very American novel and as such will probably appeal more if you live on the other side of the Atlantic. And even more so if you grew up in the 1960s as it’s liberally strewn with news items from American life in that decade. For me, the bottom line was I wasn’t enthralled by any of the narratives which were all very predictable portraits of the young artist. We get his home life, his college life, his political convictions, his love life but with a sense of having heard it all before. Its saving grace was the high quality of the prose.
Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for a copy in exchange for an honest review.
This wore me down. Instead of becoming more engaged I was exasperated by it at about pg 700. I kept thinking I could have read three novels in the time it took me to wade through this. Essentially it struck me as four different drafts of the same half-finished novel. I kept waiting for the Eureka moment when the four narratives would suddenly shed light on each other and blaze into a brilliant whole but it never happened. It remained for me four different drafts of a half-finished and not very enthralling novel. In fact, I can’t really say I understood what the purpose of the novel was.
It’s a very American novel and as such will probably appeal more if you live on the other side of the Atlantic. And even more so if you grew up in the 1960s as it’s liberally strewn with news items from American life in that decade. For me, the bottom line was I wasn’t enthralled by any of the narratives which were all very predictable portraits of the young artist. We get his home life, his college life, his political convictions, his love life but with a sense of having heard it all before. Its saving grace was the high quality of the prose.
Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for a copy in exchange for an honest review.
August 13, 2017
First of all, thank you to GoodReads friend, Andrew, for the terrific review that he wrote of this book and for his encouragement to give it a try. Also, thank you to all the GoodReads friends who pressed the “like” button, and/or added reinforcement comments as I updated my reading status day by day. All the support helped so much to bolster my journey with this 880-page book. And, of course, thank you to Paul Auster for writing with the bravery and the talent to create something completely different in a way that is accessible and eminently readable for everyone.
4 3 2 1 is a very different book; I have never read anything remotely like it in my reading life. Four alternate lives, the longest sentences in the world (2 or 3 pages long in a few instances) and consequently, some of the longest paragraphs as well. Some or all of these factors may be intimidating or overwhelming for some people. They were for me at first, but the writing is so rich and flowing that these aspects are not detrimental at all and actually became part of the story's charm.
Archie Ferguson is endearing in all his parallel lives, from his babyhood to young boyhood and through each lifespan. When he is older, all of his parallel selves write - some of them from young adolescence on through college years and beyond. He is a journalism writer of immediate events – sports, movie and book reviews, and politics (and/or anti-politics); he is also a writer of poetry. He is a writer of books – memoir style in one book, and in another, juxtaposing the influence of movies on children, the impact of movies on child actors, and the dreams of young people (even Anne Frank) to be in movies themselves. In another parallel existence, he writes very strange books, but ones that made me think about the possibilities and how someone would go about writing such a book. There are many stories within this story and each one is fascinating, related, and relevant.
The story lines run parallel, yet with subtle differences. I did not find the different stories difficult to follow at all. The author kindly leaves tiny bread crumbs at the start of each chapter so it was easy to re-connect with which lifeline I was reading.
There are tragedies within these stories, and there are triumphs, too. Archie experiences some damaging (physically and/or mentally and/or emotionally) circumstances in his lives and with help, or sheer determination, manages to move through them using these experiences as a learning tool for growth. There are losses in Archie’s lives that are heartbreaking. There are family challenges to deal with, education choices to make, and plenty of teenage and young adult romantic and sexual frustrations and confusions.
There are books and authors and movies and music and more books and travel and politics and sports and more books and rebellions and striving to do the right thing. There are multiple charged situations and radical pursuits of change from the 1960’s and 1970’s included throughout the stories.
There is much to think about in this book; so many partially-recalled events that were courageously brought to life in these stories. Some of the events made me feel the situations so deeply I had tears in my eyes. All that was ghastly and horrific and monstrous from those decades was explored and brought to the fore. I thought of those times (the 1960’s and early 1970’s) as ones that were swept under the rug and/or buried under heaps of jasmine-scented manure. No-one who wasn’t there can even comprehend the full impact (because the reality and the facts were completely distorted and aborted by the press, government agencies, and university administrations), but it is all here, and it is undiluted.
But why do it in this particular way? Why not write four separate books instead of four parallel books in one? Maybe Auster could have been writing about himself when he wrote Archie’s thoughts: Why attempt to do such a thing? Why not simply invent another story and tell it as any other writer would? Because Ferguson wanted to do something different. Because Ferguson was no longer interested in telling mere stories. Because Ferguson wanted to test himself against the unknown and see if he could survive the struggle.
I think it is obvious that Mr. Auster did test himself against the unknown with this book, and he survived this particular struggle with wit, grace, humour, and exceptionally splendid writing. Now we, as readers, are invited to enjoy the fruits of those labours. And, to be honest, there was too much overlap, too many incidents, and too much information in this book for individual stories. This book simply had to be written the way it was, and I am impressed with the results and marvel at the talent and skill that brought this creation into being. At about the 90% mark I felt sad because I only had a few hours of reading left.
4 3 2 1 is on the longlist for the 2017 Booker prize. It deserves to win. I recommend this book to anyone who is open to the challenge of reading a book that is different, a book that is long, that challenges and expands our thoughts and feelings throughout, and to anyone who is willing to suspend judgement in favor of discernment. If you can do this, you will be rewarded with a fabulously good read.
4 3 2 1 is a very different book; I have never read anything remotely like it in my reading life. Four alternate lives, the longest sentences in the world (2 or 3 pages long in a few instances) and consequently, some of the longest paragraphs as well. Some or all of these factors may be intimidating or overwhelming for some people. They were for me at first, but the writing is so rich and flowing that these aspects are not detrimental at all and actually became part of the story's charm.
Archie Ferguson is endearing in all his parallel lives, from his babyhood to young boyhood and through each lifespan. When he is older, all of his parallel selves write - some of them from young adolescence on through college years and beyond. He is a journalism writer of immediate events – sports, movie and book reviews, and politics (and/or anti-politics); he is also a writer of poetry. He is a writer of books – memoir style in one book, and in another, juxtaposing the influence of movies on children, the impact of movies on child actors, and the dreams of young people (even Anne Frank) to be in movies themselves. In another parallel existence, he writes very strange books, but ones that made me think about the possibilities and how someone would go about writing such a book. There are many stories within this story and each one is fascinating, related, and relevant.
The story lines run parallel, yet with subtle differences. I did not find the different stories difficult to follow at all. The author kindly leaves tiny bread crumbs at the start of each chapter so it was easy to re-connect with which lifeline I was reading.
There are tragedies within these stories, and there are triumphs, too. Archie experiences some damaging (physically and/or mentally and/or emotionally) circumstances in his lives and with help, or sheer determination, manages to move through them using these experiences as a learning tool for growth. There are losses in Archie’s lives that are heartbreaking. There are family challenges to deal with, education choices to make, and plenty of teenage and young adult romantic and sexual frustrations and confusions.
There are books and authors and movies and music and more books and travel and politics and sports and more books and rebellions and striving to do the right thing. There are multiple charged situations and radical pursuits of change from the 1960’s and 1970’s included throughout the stories.
There is much to think about in this book; so many partially-recalled events that were courageously brought to life in these stories. Some of the events made me feel the situations so deeply I had tears in my eyes. All that was ghastly and horrific and monstrous from those decades was explored and brought to the fore. I thought of those times (the 1960’s and early 1970’s) as ones that were swept under the rug and/or buried under heaps of jasmine-scented manure. No-one who wasn’t there can even comprehend the full impact (because the reality and the facts were completely distorted and aborted by the press, government agencies, and university administrations), but it is all here, and it is undiluted.
But why do it in this particular way? Why not write four separate books instead of four parallel books in one? Maybe Auster could have been writing about himself when he wrote Archie’s thoughts: Why attempt to do such a thing? Why not simply invent another story and tell it as any other writer would? Because Ferguson wanted to do something different. Because Ferguson was no longer interested in telling mere stories. Because Ferguson wanted to test himself against the unknown and see if he could survive the struggle.
I think it is obvious that Mr. Auster did test himself against the unknown with this book, and he survived this particular struggle with wit, grace, humour, and exceptionally splendid writing. Now we, as readers, are invited to enjoy the fruits of those labours. And, to be honest, there was too much overlap, too many incidents, and too much information in this book for individual stories. This book simply had to be written the way it was, and I am impressed with the results and marvel at the talent and skill that brought this creation into being. At about the 90% mark I felt sad because I only had a few hours of reading left.
4 3 2 1 is on the longlist for the 2017 Booker prize. It deserves to win. I recommend this book to anyone who is open to the challenge of reading a book that is different, a book that is long, that challenges and expands our thoughts and feelings throughout, and to anyone who is willing to suspend judgement in favor of discernment. If you can do this, you will be rewarded with a fabulously good read.
November 2, 2017
"4321" è una scatola magica che contiene quattro storie incastrate insieme come carte in un mazzo. Non c’è scampo all’incessante e impetuoso rimescolarsi di vita e morte, gioia e sofferenza, paure e slancio.
Recensione completa qui: http://www.illibraio.it/4321-paul-aus...
Recensione completa qui: http://www.illibraio.it/4321-paul-aus...
February 10, 2017
What a wonderful and thought provoking book. It is proving nearly impossible for me to write a coherent review of a book this large (both in page count and in scope), so I am going to concentrate on a few things that I kept thinking about since finishing it.
This is Archie Fergusen's story, told in four alternating timelines. Auster uses this premise for a thoughtful meditation on what makes us us and how little changes lead to different paths. I adored the way Auster lets this play out and shows how different versions of people are possible, if key events turn out differently. While I think Fergusen is the weak point when it comes to characters (he can be a bit insufferable at times), I absolutely loved his wonderful mother. No matter what time line, no matter what happens, she is unwavering in her love and devotion to her son. Some of the other supporting characters are brilliant as well; his father while difficult is a great and fully fleshed out character, Amy Schneidermann is an enigma and female character that is allowed to be flawed and human, and Fergusen's grandfather was also wonderfully imagined. They are all allowed to make mistakes, to grow from those mistakes and to be complete people - even if they are not the focus of this grand work.
While the book is very long, it never felt indulgent in its wordiness - the story Auster wants to tell can only be told in this grand a scope, even the in-depth analyses of baseball games were necessary. This is a rare achievement in a genre where I often prefer tighter works to Dickensian ones.
It is really interesting to see what developments Auster sees as inevitable and which parts of Fergusen's life change depending on the time line. In all four versions, Fergusen is at the core a writer. The genre he writes or the way he ends up as a writer vary, but nevertheless he is always a man of words. While this is fixed, the people he meets and the relationships he forges with them are varied and change immensely depending on how his life turns out. Given how close the biographical cornerstones are to Auster's own biography this can be seen a profound insight into what he considers most important. Which is why, at the core, this beautiful work of art is above everything else a wonderfully believable and moving love letter to the Arts (be it literature, music, theatre, poetry, photography or fine arts) and their power. This is for me the great achievement of this book and the reason why it kept me engaged while reading and thinking about it when I had to put the book away.
____
I received an arc curtesy of NetGalley and Faber and Faber in exchange for an honest review. Thanks for that!
This is Archie Fergusen's story, told in four alternating timelines. Auster uses this premise for a thoughtful meditation on what makes us us and how little changes lead to different paths. I adored the way Auster lets this play out and shows how different versions of people are possible, if key events turn out differently. While I think Fergusen is the weak point when it comes to characters (he can be a bit insufferable at times), I absolutely loved his wonderful mother. No matter what time line, no matter what happens, she is unwavering in her love and devotion to her son. Some of the other supporting characters are brilliant as well; his father while difficult is a great and fully fleshed out character, Amy Schneidermann is an enigma and female character that is allowed to be flawed and human, and Fergusen's grandfather was also wonderfully imagined. They are all allowed to make mistakes, to grow from those mistakes and to be complete people - even if they are not the focus of this grand work.
While the book is very long, it never felt indulgent in its wordiness - the story Auster wants to tell can only be told in this grand a scope, even the in-depth analyses of baseball games were necessary. This is a rare achievement in a genre where I often prefer tighter works to Dickensian ones.
It is really interesting to see what developments Auster sees as inevitable and which parts of Fergusen's life change depending on the time line. In all four versions, Fergusen is at the core a writer. The genre he writes or the way he ends up as a writer vary, but nevertheless he is always a man of words. While this is fixed, the people he meets and the relationships he forges with them are varied and change immensely depending on how his life turns out. Given how close the biographical cornerstones are to Auster's own biography this can be seen a profound insight into what he considers most important. Which is why, at the core, this beautiful work of art is above everything else a wonderfully believable and moving love letter to the Arts (be it literature, music, theatre, poetry, photography or fine arts) and their power. This is for me the great achievement of this book and the reason why it kept me engaged while reading and thinking about it when I had to put the book away.
____
I received an arc curtesy of NetGalley and Faber and Faber in exchange for an honest review. Thanks for that!
February 10, 2018
Βαθμολογία: ∞
Υπάρχουν ογκώδη βιβλία γεμάτα δράση με πέντε, δέκα, είκοσι πρωταγωνιστές απαραίτητοι για να γεμίσουν τόσες εκατοντάδες σελίδες, και υπάρχει το 4 3 2 1 όπου περιστρέφεται εξ ολοκλήρου γύρω από έναν μοναδικό χαρακτήρα, του οποίου η ζωή σπάει σε τέσσερα διαφορετικά κομμάτια που το καθένα ακολουθεί τη δική του πορεία, και ενώ δεν πρόκειται για pageturner εσύ βρίσκεις τον εαυτό σου να κρέμεται από κάθε λέξη αυτού του μεγάλου λογοτέχνη, παρακολουθείς τον μικρό Archie να πεθαίνει και να ζει, να γίνεται παιδί, έφηβος, φοιτητής, να αναζητεί την ταυτότητά του, αυτόν τον αθλητή, δημοσιογράφο, συγγραφέα, που ερωτεύεται και απογοητεύεται σε μια Αμερική όπου βιώνει μια σειρά ιστορικών γεγονότων όπως τη δολοφονία του Κένεντι, τις φυλετικές ταραχές, τις διαμαρτυρίες κατά του πολέμου του Βιετνάμ, το μπλακάουτ της Νέας Υόρκης, και συναντάς όλα τα γνωστά επαναλαμβανόμενα μοτίβα του Auster, τον θάνατο, την απώλεια, την πτώχευση, τον πρωταγωνιστή συγγραφέα που μετοικεί στο Παρίσι, το παράδοξο, την ιστορία μέσα στην ιστορία και φυσικά αυτές τις πλούσιες μακροσκελείς προτάσεις που πηγαίνεις με αγωνία από κόμμα σε κόμμα ξέροντας ότι στο τέλος θα πει κάτι συγκλονιστικό που θα κάνει την καρδιά σου να σφιχτεί κι εσύ δε θες να φτάσεις στην τελεία, δε θες να φτάσεις γενικότερα στο τέλος, αφού έχεις καταλάβει προ πολλού ότι πρόκειται για το βιβλίο της χρονιάς, ένα αριστούργημα.
Υπάρχουν ογκώδη βιβλία γεμάτα δράση με πέντε, δέκα, είκοσι πρωταγωνιστές απαραίτητοι για να γεμίσουν τόσες εκατοντάδες σελίδες, και υπάρχει το 4 3 2 1 όπου περιστρέφεται εξ ολοκλήρου γύρω από έναν μοναδικό χαρακτήρα, του οποίου η ζωή σπάει σε τέσσερα διαφορετικά κομμάτια που το καθένα ακολουθεί τη δική του πορεία, και ενώ δεν πρόκειται για pageturner εσύ βρίσκεις τον εαυτό σου να κρέμεται από κάθε λέξη αυτού του μεγάλου λογοτέχνη, παρακολουθείς τον μικρό Archie να πεθαίνει και να ζει, να γίνεται παιδί, έφηβος, φοιτητής, να αναζητεί την ταυτότητά του, αυτόν τον αθλητή, δημοσιογράφο, συγγραφέα, που ερωτεύεται και απογοητεύεται σε μια Αμερική όπου βιώνει μια σειρά ιστορικών γεγονότων όπως τη δολοφονία του Κένεντι, τις φυλετικές ταραχές, τις διαμαρτυρίες κατά του πολέμου του Βιετνάμ, το μπλακάουτ της Νέας Υόρκης, και συναντάς όλα τα γνωστά επαναλαμβανόμενα μοτίβα του Auster, τον θάνατο, την απώλεια, την πτώχευση, τον πρωταγωνιστή συγγραφέα που μετοικεί στο Παρίσι, το παράδοξο, την ιστορία μέσα στην ιστορία και φυσικά αυτές τις πλούσιες μακροσκελείς προτάσεις που πηγαίνεις με αγωνία από κόμμα σε κόμμα ξέροντας ότι στο τέλος θα πει κάτι συγκλονιστικό που θα κάνει την καρδιά σου να σφιχτεί κι εσύ δε θες να φτάσεις στην τελεία, δε θες να φτάσεις γενικότερα στο τέλος, αφού έχεις καταλάβει προ πολλού ότι πρόκειται για το βιβλίο της χρονιάς, ένα αριστούργημα.
December 15, 2017
The bombardment of all these words, that ceaseless yammering which failed to make any distinction between important things and unimportant things, talk that could impress you with its intelligence and perspicacity or else half bore you to death with its utter meaninglessness.
Update 1: Inexplicably shortlisted for the Booker. I'm lost for words. If only Auster had been.....
Update 2: Awarded my worst completed book of 2017 (albeit The Nix may have been a contender had I got past page 70)
The above quote sums it up well - except for the intelligence and perspicacity part, as there was little of that on show.
There are two distinct elements to 4 3 2 1 - a (painfully) detailed account of someone growing up to be a writer; and a Sliding Doors style approach where different moments cause a life to go down different paths, set against a backdrop of a turbulent period of history (here 1960s America).
"As far as I know, no one has ever written a novel with this form,” Auster said in the Guardian. Except of course they have - and they have not only done it first, they have done it much much better.
Kate Atkinson's Life after Life / A God in Ruins and Jenny Erpenbeck's Alle Tage Abend (beautifully translated by Susan Bernofsky as The End of Days) managed the bifurcation of lives much more effectively, and gave far more insight into history that Auster's trotting out of events.
And Knausgård has written such a definitive account of a writer's life from birth onwards, that anything else becomes a lightweight imitation. If Auster's historical insights were uninspiring, I'm sure Auster does have many intelligent insights into the literature that he mentions throughout the story, but he seldom shares them with us here, often simply resorting to lists of books and authors.
To be fair (assuming Auster isn't ignorant of these works) putting the two elements together is new - but the result is a tedious 200-250 page novel largely repeated four times.
And Auster clearly sides on the nature side of the nature vs. nurture debate, as despite various traumas Ferguson emerges as the same highly unpleasant character in each life version (his creepy forward-planned relationship with Celia, the 12yo sister of a recently killed friend, a particular lowpoint), and with the same oddly narrow worldview and ambition despite all the momentous events around him.
For books as elsewhere in life, length itself isn't an issue, its girth that matters. Some of the greatest novels of the 2000s weigh in much longer than this: 2666 (1126 pp), 1q84 (992pp), Your Face Tomorrow (1287pp), My Struggle (2818pp with the 1000+ volume 6 yet to come) and of course Ferrante's magnificent Neopolitan Quartet (1700 pp), but they each have depth, unique qualities, and, crucially, reading them each was pure pleasure. [Although as an aside, many of the authors choose - for their own and the reader's sanity, or in Bolano's case to maximise sales revenue - to publish them in instalments.]
Here the length is just padding. At one point we're told:
The three students who shared the apartment with them, for example fellow students named Melanie, Fred and Stu in the first year, Alice, Alex and Fred the second year, had no role to play in the story.
which rather begs the question of why mention them.
Ferguson.4, himself an author, notes at the end 'he was turning out roughly four pages for every one he kept - if only Auster had followed Ferguson.4's approach and kept only one Ferguson the novel may not have been improved, but at least it would have been mercifully shorter. And I would certainly recommend anyone still determined to read the book to pick one life (Ferguson.1 I would suggest) and read it through, skipping the other parts: if you like it then you can read the others.
Some other favourite quotes I noted while reading which really spoke to me:
Either you give in to your despair and wait for it to pass, or you burn your scarlet notebook and forget you ever had it.
Unfortunately the library might have objected if I followed the latter course, so I had to grin and bear it.
on some days he felt the book was trying to kill him. Every sentence was a struggle.
every day in fact.
Amy let out a prolonged groan and then tore in to him for wasting his time on trivial, asinine, college-boy humour.
I know how she felt.
Update 1: Inexplicably shortlisted for the Booker. I'm lost for words. If only Auster had been.....
Update 2: Awarded my worst completed book of 2017 (albeit The Nix may have been a contender had I got past page 70)
The above quote sums it up well - except for the intelligence and perspicacity part, as there was little of that on show.
There are two distinct elements to 4 3 2 1 - a (painfully) detailed account of someone growing up to be a writer; and a Sliding Doors style approach where different moments cause a life to go down different paths, set against a backdrop of a turbulent period of history (here 1960s America).
"As far as I know, no one has ever written a novel with this form,” Auster said in the Guardian. Except of course they have - and they have not only done it first, they have done it much much better.
Kate Atkinson's Life after Life / A God in Ruins and Jenny Erpenbeck's Alle Tage Abend (beautifully translated by Susan Bernofsky as The End of Days) managed the bifurcation of lives much more effectively, and gave far more insight into history that Auster's trotting out of events.
And Knausgård has written such a definitive account of a writer's life from birth onwards, that anything else becomes a lightweight imitation. If Auster's historical insights were uninspiring, I'm sure Auster does have many intelligent insights into the literature that he mentions throughout the story, but he seldom shares them with us here, often simply resorting to lists of books and authors.
To be fair (assuming Auster isn't ignorant of these works) putting the two elements together is new - but the result is a tedious 200-250 page novel largely repeated four times.
And Auster clearly sides on the nature side of the nature vs. nurture debate, as despite various traumas Ferguson emerges as the same highly unpleasant character in each life version (his creepy forward-planned relationship with Celia, the 12yo sister of a recently killed friend, a particular lowpoint), and with the same oddly narrow worldview and ambition despite all the momentous events around him.
For books as elsewhere in life, length itself isn't an issue, its girth that matters. Some of the greatest novels of the 2000s weigh in much longer than this: 2666 (1126 pp), 1q84 (992pp), Your Face Tomorrow (1287pp), My Struggle (2818pp with the 1000+ volume 6 yet to come) and of course Ferrante's magnificent Neopolitan Quartet (1700 pp), but they each have depth, unique qualities, and, crucially, reading them each was pure pleasure. [Although as an aside, many of the authors choose - for their own and the reader's sanity, or in Bolano's case to maximise sales revenue - to publish them in instalments.]
Here the length is just padding. At one point we're told:
The three students who shared the apartment with them, for example fellow students named Melanie, Fred and Stu in the first year, Alice, Alex and Fred the second year, had no role to play in the story.
which rather begs the question of why mention them.
Ferguson.4, himself an author, notes at the end 'he was turning out roughly four pages for every one he kept - if only Auster had followed Ferguson.4's approach and kept only one Ferguson the novel may not have been improved, but at least it would have been mercifully shorter. And I would certainly recommend anyone still determined to read the book to pick one life (Ferguson.1 I would suggest) and read it through, skipping the other parts: if you like it then you can read the others.
Some other favourite quotes I noted while reading which really spoke to me:
Either you give in to your despair and wait for it to pass, or you burn your scarlet notebook and forget you ever had it.
Unfortunately the library might have objected if I followed the latter course, so I had to grin and bear it.
on some days he felt the book was trying to kill him. Every sentence was a struggle.
every day in fact.
Amy let out a prolonged groan and then tore in to him for wasting his time on trivial, asinine, college-boy humour.
I know how she felt.
September 25, 2017
I had been reluctant to read this extraordinary book because of its sheer length and my lukewarm reaction to previous Auster novels, particularly The Music of Chance. Once it was Booker shortlisted, I decided I had to read it, and I can see why the decision was made, and in many less competitive years I would have supported it wholeheartedly, but I would still prefer the prize to go to Ali Smith. I have just read it over an intensive six days, and read over a third (almost 400 pages) yesterday to finish it.
I will not spend too long on the basic premise, four life-stories that are alternative versions of the life story of a young writer who shares many biographical details with Auster himself (I didn't realise just how many until I read his Wikipedia biography), but it is impossible to write a fair review without spoilers. .
The book starts with an old Jewish joke about Ellis Island, his grandfather is encouraged to give a false name such as Rockefeller that will convey the right resonances but by the time he has reached the clerk, "the weary immigrant blurted out in Yiddish, Ikh hob fargessen (I've forgotten)! And so it was that Isaac Reznikoff began his new life in America as Ichabod Ferguson." The first chapter (1.0) tells his parents' early stories and concludes with his birth, after which the alternating chapters start (1.1 to 7.4).
The book is mostly set in the 50s and 60s, though the narratives of different Fergusons move at different paces . The chapters tend to get longer and more detailed the longer the book goes on. This ought to be a problem, but some of the most powerful writing is in the second half with a visceral account of the Columbia University protests of 1968 and their wider place in the rise and fall of radical left-wing student politics that grew out of the opposition to the Vietnam war and the civil rights movement. .
In some ways it seems a little sad that a writer of Auster's age would choose to devote such a major project to reexamining his youth, and devotes so much of it to the various Fergusons' searches for sex and their sporting obsessions, but the passage of time probably allows it to be more reflective and distanced, and the 60s was undoubtedly a time when much more seemed to be achievable. There is no way the political content can be seen as a reaction to the Trump presidency as most of the book must have been written before that seemed plausible, but many of the political issues retain a vitality in a more modern context.
As to just how good the book is, I probably need more time to reflect, but I am reluctant to award the full five stars to a book that is so tediously self-indulgent in places, even if the best parts are very strong and many of the ideas are fascinating. The book is full of references to the other writers and artists that influenced the young Auster - I envy the intellectual depth of his education. I will say that it is the strongest of the three Auster novels I have read.
I will not spend too long on the basic premise, four life-stories that are alternative versions of the life story of a young writer who shares many biographical details with Auster himself (I didn't realise just how many until I read his Wikipedia biography), but it is impossible to write a fair review without spoilers. .
The book starts with an old Jewish joke about Ellis Island, his grandfather is encouraged to give a false name such as Rockefeller that will convey the right resonances but by the time he has reached the clerk, "the weary immigrant blurted out in Yiddish, Ikh hob fargessen (I've forgotten)! And so it was that Isaac Reznikoff began his new life in America as Ichabod Ferguson." The first chapter (1.0) tells his parents' early stories and concludes with his birth, after which the alternating chapters start (1.1 to 7.4).
The book is mostly set in the 50s and 60s, though the narratives of different Fergusons move at different paces . The chapters tend to get longer and more detailed the longer the book goes on. This ought to be a problem, but some of the most powerful writing is in the second half with a visceral account of the Columbia University protests of 1968 and their wider place in the rise and fall of radical left-wing student politics that grew out of the opposition to the Vietnam war and the civil rights movement. .
In some ways it seems a little sad that a writer of Auster's age would choose to devote such a major project to reexamining his youth, and devotes so much of it to the various Fergusons' searches for sex and their sporting obsessions, but the passage of time probably allows it to be more reflective and distanced, and the 60s was undoubtedly a time when much more seemed to be achievable. There is no way the political content can be seen as a reaction to the Trump presidency as most of the book must have been written before that seemed plausible, but many of the political issues retain a vitality in a more modern context.
As to just how good the book is, I probably need more time to reflect, but I am reluctant to award the full five stars to a book that is so tediously self-indulgent in places, even if the best parts are very strong and many of the ideas are fascinating. The book is full of references to the other writers and artists that influenced the young Auster - I envy the intellectual depth of his education. I will say that it is the strongest of the three Auster novels I have read.
August 3, 2017
For the first approximately 500 pages of this (very long) book, I was in reading heaven. It’s not a secret (it’s in the blurb) that it tells the story of four lives that are the same life (a bit, I guess like the movie Sliding Doors or the book Life After Life). It tells these stories by cycling round them in instalments and a large part of the pleasure of reading, apart from the brilliance of the writing, is the fun of comparing the developing stories to see where they diverge and where they overlap.
I really loved the writing. For example: "…the city remained a fundamental part of her life, dear, dirty, devouring New York, the capital of human faces, the horizontal Babel of human tongues." Or: "…and the only literary man known as Archibald anywhere in the world was Ferguson’s least favorite American poet, Archibald MacLeish, who won every prize and was considered to be a national treasure but was in fact a boring, no-talent dud." (Don’t beat about the bush, Paul, tell us what you really think!). And one more: "The best thing about being fifteen is that you don’t have to be fifteen for more than a year."
So, for a long time (it takes a long time to read 500 pages), I was very happy and sailing a course towards a comfortable 5 star rating.
But then things started to change. At about 500 pages in, I remember having a conversation with my wife about the book and telling her about an ending I was dreading might be coming. No spoilers here, but that is exactly the ending we get. However, when we got to it, I found I didn’t actually mind that much. I was thinking I would hate it ending like that, but it was actually OK, mainly because of way it was written. The real problem for me was the 300 or so pages between heaven and the end where the book seems to become far too obsessed with student politics and the painful process of writing a book. For me, these pages dragged a bit: if they had been 100 pages, it would have been fine, but it was three times that and took some getting through.
The book feels very autobiographical, although Auster has said it isn’t: "It's really not me at all, even though the interest of the Fergusons seemed to overlap with mine. I think of this book as sharing my geography and sharing my chronology, but it's really not at all my story. These Fergusons are so much more precocious than I was. They seem able to do things at astonishingly young ages that I was not capable of doing, for example." I have to say, I’m not convinced he is being entirely truthful.
I’ve seen criticisms of this book that complain about the time period it is set in and that suggest that if you are going to write four life stories then why not make them more different from one another. In my view, those criticisms are missing the point. I think Auster wants to review the times he has grown up in and some the conclusions he draws and especially the very, very end of the book are actually very relevant to today. In the same interview as I’ve quoted above, Auster says: "So here was history continuing to happen as I was writing a book about 50 years ago, and the parallels were eerie, I have to say. And so many of the things that were dividing us 50 years ago are dividing us again today. What we didn't learn in the '60s was that while we thought the left was in the ascendance, it was actually the right. And now, again, the right is again taking over the country in ways that eight years ago, when Obama came into office, we wouldn't have imagined could happen." Also, I think one of the things Auster is perhaps trying to say is that some things have to happen and, if your life is destined to take you to certain points, you will get to those points in one form or another regardless of the route you take. The book is far more interesting because the life stories are similar but different and I think making them radically different would hugely spoil the book.
It’s a significant investment of time to read this book. For American readers, the effort required may be less because they may not have the repeated need I had to check on the facts that are reported in the book. I kept stopping to check which people and events were fictional and which were actual people and events. But, overall, despite the problem I had with the middle section, I would say the time and effort are well rewarded.
It’s 3.5 stars from me, but rounded up because I so enjoyed reading the first 500 pages.
UPDATE: And then rounded down a few weeks later because I keep thinking about the dreary 250 pages in the middle!
I really loved the writing. For example: "…the city remained a fundamental part of her life, dear, dirty, devouring New York, the capital of human faces, the horizontal Babel of human tongues." Or: "…and the only literary man known as Archibald anywhere in the world was Ferguson’s least favorite American poet, Archibald MacLeish, who won every prize and was considered to be a national treasure but was in fact a boring, no-talent dud." (Don’t beat about the bush, Paul, tell us what you really think!). And one more: "The best thing about being fifteen is that you don’t have to be fifteen for more than a year."
So, for a long time (it takes a long time to read 500 pages), I was very happy and sailing a course towards a comfortable 5 star rating.
But then things started to change. At about 500 pages in, I remember having a conversation with my wife about the book and telling her about an ending I was dreading might be coming. No spoilers here, but that is exactly the ending we get. However, when we got to it, I found I didn’t actually mind that much. I was thinking I would hate it ending like that, but it was actually OK, mainly because of way it was written. The real problem for me was the 300 or so pages between heaven and the end where the book seems to become far too obsessed with student politics and the painful process of writing a book. For me, these pages dragged a bit: if they had been 100 pages, it would have been fine, but it was three times that and took some getting through.
The book feels very autobiographical, although Auster has said it isn’t: "It's really not me at all, even though the interest of the Fergusons seemed to overlap with mine. I think of this book as sharing my geography and sharing my chronology, but it's really not at all my story. These Fergusons are so much more precocious than I was. They seem able to do things at astonishingly young ages that I was not capable of doing, for example." I have to say, I’m not convinced he is being entirely truthful.
I’ve seen criticisms of this book that complain about the time period it is set in and that suggest that if you are going to write four life stories then why not make them more different from one another. In my view, those criticisms are missing the point. I think Auster wants to review the times he has grown up in and some the conclusions he draws and especially the very, very end of the book are actually very relevant to today. In the same interview as I’ve quoted above, Auster says: "So here was history continuing to happen as I was writing a book about 50 years ago, and the parallels were eerie, I have to say. And so many of the things that were dividing us 50 years ago are dividing us again today. What we didn't learn in the '60s was that while we thought the left was in the ascendance, it was actually the right. And now, again, the right is again taking over the country in ways that eight years ago, when Obama came into office, we wouldn't have imagined could happen." Also, I think one of the things Auster is perhaps trying to say is that some things have to happen and, if your life is destined to take you to certain points, you will get to those points in one form or another regardless of the route you take. The book is far more interesting because the life stories are similar but different and I think making them radically different would hugely spoil the book.
It’s a significant investment of time to read this book. For American readers, the effort required may be less because they may not have the repeated need I had to check on the facts that are reported in the book. I kept stopping to check which people and events were fictional and which were actual people and events. But, overall, despite the problem I had with the middle section, I would say the time and effort are well rewarded.
It’s 3.5 stars from me, but rounded up because I so enjoyed reading the first 500 pages.
UPDATE: And then rounded down a few weeks later because I keep thinking about the dreary 250 pages in the middle!
February 21, 2017
I was conflicted about reviewing 4 3 2 1: on the one hand, Paul Auster shows incredible talent and engaging storytelling, fully immersing us into the broad strokes of the four different lives of Archibald Ferguson, and the intricate, fascinating details that form each version of Ferguson's life, touching on art, film, language, translation, Ivy league educations, baseball, basketball, the siren call of Paris, having money, not having money, the Woman (Amy Schneiderman), other women and men to love, and the varying versions of the Ferguson clan and especially his parents Stanley and Rose. When the novel is good, it is great: witty, funny, charming, hitting character and plot points macro and micro with ease and precision, and always invoking an accurate but also engaging sense of time and place as we watch Ferguson grow up in the 40s, 50s and 60s in New Jersey and New York (depending on the version) and struggle with his identity, the Vietnam War, Antisemitism, the Civil Rights Movement, racism, the Kennedy election and assassination, white flight, and the hope and disillusionment and fracturing of society during the 60s especially. All of Fergusons' family and friends are well drawn, though I most loved his mother Rose Adler (in every version of Ferguson) and his wisecracking, brilliant cousin Noah Marx (in version 4). There was much to admire, and much to love for the majority of the novel.
On the other hand, the book threw me for fits with its pacing. It took me a bit to work through the first 100 or so pages of set up, the backdrops of the Ferguson and Adler lineages detailed but not flowing or clicking for me. But then, sunk into little Ferguson's various childhoods, I was off and devouring each saga up through Ferguson's graduation and moving on (in many versions) to college. Then, around page 600, Ferguson 1 gets derailed in a major student protest at Columbia University in the late 1960s, and the momentum I'd had was lost. The book recovered, as we moved on to see what the other versions of Ferguson got into, but that chapter for Ferguson 1 was long, unwieldy, and worse yet uninteresting. And overall, I don't know that I love the writing of Paul Auster. The brilliance can't be denied, but he's also prone to writing extremely long, run-on sentences, that meander and turn to the point that I would occasionally lose the major focus of the thought. It sometimes read like stream of consciousness inserted into these epics of the Fergusons, which . I felt that there was definitely some extra, less meaningful content that could have been removed entirely to keep the pacing tighter, and in general appreciate an author who is a bit more choosy with word choice and sentence structure in literary fiction: some of the writing felt unintentional, versus say how I felt about the writing of Michael Chabon's Moonglow or Kate Atkinson's Life After Life, the hybrid of which could be 4 3 2 1.
I don't think this is a read for everyone, and indeed while it delighted me and I enjoyed reading it on the whole and was engaged with Auster's talent, it also irritated me, occasionally bored me and really forced me to work to finish major parts. But again, when it is good, it is great, and for that, I'd award it 4 stars.
On the other hand, the book threw me for fits with its pacing. It took me a bit to work through the first 100 or so pages of set up, the backdrops of the Ferguson and Adler lineages detailed but not flowing or clicking for me. But then, sunk into little Ferguson's various childhoods, I was off and devouring each saga up through Ferguson's graduation and moving on (in many versions) to college. Then, around page 600, Ferguson 1 gets derailed in a major student protest at Columbia University in the late 1960s, and the momentum I'd had was lost. The book recovered, as we moved on to see what the other versions of Ferguson got into, but that chapter for Ferguson 1 was long, unwieldy, and worse yet uninteresting. And overall, I don't know that I love the writing of Paul Auster. The brilliance can't be denied, but he's also prone to writing extremely long, run-on sentences, that meander and turn to the point that I would occasionally lose the major focus of the thought. It sometimes read like stream of consciousness inserted into these epics of the Fergusons, which . I felt that there was definitely some extra, less meaningful content that could have been removed entirely to keep the pacing tighter, and in general appreciate an author who is a bit more choosy with word choice and sentence structure in literary fiction: some of the writing felt unintentional, versus say how I felt about the writing of Michael Chabon's Moonglow or Kate Atkinson's Life After Life, the hybrid of which could be 4 3 2 1.
I don't think this is a read for everyone, and indeed while it delighted me and I enjoyed reading it on the whole and was engaged with Auster's talent, it also irritated me, occasionally bored me and really forced me to work to finish major parts. But again, when it is good, it is great, and for that, I'd award it 4 stars.
March 26, 2018
Το ογκώδες μυθιστόρημα των 1224 σελίδων, χωρίζεται σε μεγάλα κεφάλαια, τα οποία διανύουν περίπου έναν αιώνα Αμε��ικάνικης ιστορίας.
Το πρώτο κεφάλαιο μας γνωρίζει με την οικογένεια Φέργκιουσον, λίγα πράγματα για τον παππού και την γιαγιά του κεντρικού ήρωα και αρκετά περισσότερα για τους γονείς.
Τα υπόλοιπα κεφάλαια είναι αφιερωμένα στον Άρτσι Φέργκιουσον ή απλώς “Φέργκιουσον”, όπως συνηθίζει να τον προσφωνεί ο αφηγητής της ιστορίας.
Ο Άρτσι γεννήθηκε στο Newark το 1947, από τη Ρόουζ και τον Στάνλει Φέργκιουσον. Αυτό για τον αναγνώστη είναι δεδομένο. Τίποτα άλλο όμως δεν μένει δεδομένο. Ενώ οι χαρακτήρες των ηρώων παραμένουν ως έχουν ως προσωπικότητες, κάποια γεγονότα στη ζωή τους δημιουργούν τέσσερα πιθανά μονοπάτια. Στα επόμενα κεφάλαια λοιπόν, παρακολουθούμε 4 πιθανές εκδοχές της ζωής του Άρτσι, μια φωτιά, μια μετακόμιση, μια ληστεία κ.ο.κ. Μικρές αρχικά αποκλίσεις, που στην πορεία θα οδηγήσουν σε μεγαλύτερες αποκλίσεις. Υπέροχο τέχνασμα, από ένα συγγραφέα ο οποίος στο παρελθόν μας έχει δώσει μικρά δείγματα αυτής της ιδέας.
Γύρω από αυτό το τέχνασμα παρακολουθούμε τον ήρωα να μεγαλώνει, να ωριμάζει, να προβληματίζεται, να ερωτεύεται και σε κάποιες περιπτώσεις να πολιτικοποιείται σε μία εποχή αναβρασμού και συνεχών αλλαγών στο κοινωνικό και πολιτικό σκηνικό της Αμερικής των 50’s- 60’s.
Ο πόλεμος στο Βιετνάμ, τα πολιτικά και κοινωνικά δικαιώματα, δολοφονίες ισχυρών προσώπων, τίποτα δεν περνάει απαρατήρητο και αφιλτράριστο από το νου του Άρτσι και φυσικά του συγγραφέα.
Επίσης υπάρχουν πάμπολλες αναφορές για τον κινηματογράφο, την μουσική, το μπέιζμπολ και πολλά πολλά ακόμη αμερικάνικα χόμπι. Αυτό το έργο είναι ένας μικρός θησαυρός για τους νοσταλγούς του αμερικάνικου ονείρου, όπως αυτό διαμορφώθηκε μέσα στις χρυσές δεκαετίες.
Δεν πρέπει όμως να σταθούμε μόνο σε αυτό. Ναι, το μυθιστόρημα είναι ένας φόρος τιμής στην Αμερική μίας άλλης εποχής, αλλά κυρίως είναι φόρος τιμής στη νιότη. Ο Auster ως νοσταλγός της παιδικής ηλικίας, περιγράφει με ακρίβεια και τρυφερή νοσταλγία κάθε σκέψη, κάθε ανάμνηση και εικόνα του νεαρού του ήρωα. Άλλωστε δεν είναι τυχαίο ότι το έργο κλείνει όταν ο ήρωας διανύει μόλις την δεύτερη δεκαετία της ζωής του.
Όπως καταλάβατε το έργο είναι πολύπλευρο και φυσικά μεγάλο σε όγκο και νοήματα. Παρόλα αυτά είναι ευκολοδιάβαστο και πολύ ευχάριστο στην ανάγνωση. Όταν ξεπέρασα ένα μικρό μπέρδεμα στο δεύτερο κεφάλαιο, στο οποίο προσπαθούσα να ξεχωρίσω τις τέσσερις εκδοχές της ζωής του ήρωα, απλά δεν μπορούσα να το αφήσω από τα χέρια μου.
Σε αυτό φυσικά βοήθησε η πραγματικά υπέροχη αφήγηση- σε τρίτο πρόσωπο μεν, αλλά από την οπτική γωνία του κεντρικού ήρωα. Η αφήγηση αποτελείται αρκετά συχνά, από μακροσκελείς προτάσεις, τις οποίες όμως χρησιμοποιεί με ανάλαφρο ύφος, με μία έντεχνη παιδικότητα και κέφι, σε κάποια σημεία λυρικότητα και φυσικά χρησιμοποιώντας ένα υπέροχο λεξιλόγιο. Εδώ να αναφέρω την καταπληκτική δουλειά την οποία έκανε η μεταφράστρια Μαρία Ξυλούρη. Χωρίς να έχω εικόνα του πρωτότυπου έργου, με ευκολία μπορώ να πω ότι μετέδωσε όλη αυτή την αίσθηση που έχουν τα μεγάλα κλασικά Αμερικάνικα μυθιστορήματα. Επίσης βοήθησε η χρονική ροή στο βιβλίο. Ο συγγραφέας χρησιμοποιεί ρητά μια χρονική ακολουθία, την οποία και αναφέρει με ημερομηνίες, με αρκετά μεγάλη συχνότητα. Δεν υπάρχει πουθενά πισωγύρισμα ή πηδήματα μέσα στον χρόνο.
Αυτό το έργο είναι ένα μεγαλεπήβολο εγχείρημα, το οποίο είναι ογκώδες, πολύπλευρο, βαθύ σε νοήματα και ταυτόχρονα διασκεδαστικό και απολαυστικό στην ανάγνωση.
https://wordpress64426.wordpress.com/...
Το πρώτο κεφάλαιο μας γνωρίζει με την οικογένεια Φέργκιουσον, λίγα πράγματα για τον παππού και την γιαγιά του κεντρικού ήρωα και αρκετά περισσότερα για τους γονείς.
Τα υπόλοιπα κεφάλαια είναι αφιερωμένα στον Άρτσι Φέργκιουσον ή απλώς “Φέργκιουσον”, όπως συνηθίζει να τον προσφωνεί ο αφηγητής της ιστορίας.
Ο Άρτσι γεννήθηκε στο Newark το 1947, από τη Ρόουζ και τον Στάνλει Φέργκιουσον. Αυτό για τον αναγνώστη είναι δεδομένο. Τίποτα άλλο όμως δεν μένει δεδομένο. Ενώ οι χαρακτήρες των ηρώων παραμένουν ως έχουν ως προσωπικότητες, κάποια γεγονότα στη ζωή τους δημιουργούν τέσσερα πιθανά μονοπάτια. Στα επόμενα κεφάλαια λοιπόν, παρακολουθούμε 4 πιθανές εκδοχές της ζωής του Άρτσι, μια φωτιά, μια μετακόμιση, μια ληστεία κ.ο.κ. Μικρές αρχικά αποκλίσεις, που στην πορεία θα οδηγήσουν σε μεγαλύτερες αποκλίσεις. Υπέροχο τέχνασμα, από ένα συγγραφέα ο οποίος στο παρελθόν μας έχει δώσει μικρά δείγματα αυτής της ιδέας.
Γύρω από αυτό το τέχνασμα παρακολουθούμε τον ήρωα να μεγαλώνει, να ωριμάζει, να προβληματίζεται, να ερωτεύεται και σε κάποιες περιπτώσεις να πολιτικοποιείται σε μία εποχή αναβρασμού και συνεχών αλλαγών στο κοινωνικό και πολιτικό σκηνικό της Αμερικής των 50’s- 60’s.
Ο πόλεμος στο Βιετνάμ, τα πολιτικά και κοινωνικά δικαιώματα, δολοφονίες ισχυρών προσώπων, τίποτα δεν περνάει απαρατήρητο και αφιλτράριστο από το νου του Άρτσι και φυσικά του συγγραφέα.
Επίσης υπάρχουν πάμπολλες αναφορές για τον κινηματογράφο, την μουσική, το μπέιζμπολ και πολλά πολλά ακόμη αμερικάνικα χόμπι. Αυτό το έργο είναι ένας μικρός θησαυρός για τους νοσταλγούς του αμερικάνικου ονείρου, όπως αυτό διαμορφώθηκε μέσα στις χρυσές δεκαετίες.
Δεν πρέπει όμως να σταθούμε μόνο σε αυτό. Ναι, το μυθιστόρημα είναι ένας φόρος τιμής στην Αμερική μίας άλλης εποχής, αλλά κυρίως είναι φόρος τιμής στη νιότη. Ο Auster ως νοσταλγός της παιδικής ηλικίας, περιγράφει με ακρίβεια και τρυφερή νοσταλγία κάθε σκέψη, κάθε ανάμνηση και εικόνα του νεαρού του ήρωα. Άλλωστε δεν είναι τυχαίο ότι το έργο κλείνει όταν ο ήρωας διανύει μόλις την δεύτερη δεκαετία της ζωής του.
Όπως καταλάβατε το έργο είναι πολύπλευρο και φυσικά μεγάλο σε όγκο και νοήματα. Παρόλα αυτά είναι ευκολοδιάβαστο και πολύ ευχάριστο στην ανάγνωση. Όταν ξεπέρασα ένα μικρό μπέρδεμα στο δεύτερο κεφάλαιο, στο οποίο προσπαθούσα να ξεχωρίσω τις τέσσερις εκδοχές της ζωής του ήρωα, απλά δεν μπορούσα να το αφήσω από τα χέρια μου.
Σε αυτό φυσικά βοήθησε η πραγματικά υπέροχη αφήγηση- σε τρίτο πρόσωπο μεν, αλλά από την οπτική γωνία του κεντρικού ήρωα. Η αφήγηση αποτελείται αρκετά συχνά, από μακροσκελείς προτάσεις, τις οποίες όμως χρησιμοποιεί με ανάλαφρο ύφος, με μία έντεχνη παιδικότητα και κέφι, σε κάποια σημεία λυρικότητα και φυσικά χρησιμοποιώντας ένα υπέροχο λεξιλόγιο. Εδώ να αναφέρω την καταπληκτική δουλειά την οποία έκανε η μεταφράστρια Μαρία Ξυλούρη. Χωρίς να έχω εικόνα του πρωτότυπου έργου, με ευκολία μπορώ να πω ότι μετέδωσε όλη αυτή την αίσθηση που έχουν τα μεγάλα κλασικά Αμερικάνικα μυθιστορήματα. Επίσης βοήθησε η χρονική ροή στο βιβλίο. Ο συγγραφέας χρησιμοποιεί ρητά μια χρονική ακολουθία, την οποία και αναφέρει με ημερομηνίες, με αρκετά μεγάλη συχνότητα. Δεν υπάρχει πουθενά πισωγύρισμα ή πηδήματα μέσα στον χρόνο.
Αυτό το έργο είναι ένα μεγαλεπήβολο εγχείρημα, το οποίο είναι ογκώδες, πολύπλευρο, βαθύ σε νοήματα και ταυτόχρονα διασκεδαστικό και απολαυστικό στην ανάγνωση.
https://wordpress64426.wordpress.com/...
January 22, 2024
Absolut excepțională.
Are 1070 de pagini și doar vreo 3000 de fraze, și chiar dacă nu se întâmplă mare lucru mereu, ritmul prozei lui Auster e perfect - nu te grăbește, dar nici nu te lasă să lâncezești, iar felul în care găsește chestii extraordinare de spus despre orice eveniment mărunt, și să o țină astfel timp de peste o mie de pagini mi se pare ceva magnific.
M-am îndrăgostit de toți cei patru Fergusoni în feluri diferite și am trăit alături de ei viețile pe care le-au trăit (cât le-au trăit), iar efortul autorului de a scrie o poveste (mă rog, patru chiar) în acest fel, cu atenție milimetrică la detalii de tot felul mi s-a părut ceva demn de cărțile de istorie.
Ca și alte cărți masive (la propriu și la figurat) precum Blonde, The Executioner's Song, Of Human Bondage, The Border Trilogy, The Scar sau tetralogia Rabbit (știu că-s romane distincte, dar sunt atât de bine închegate încât le tratez ca pe o singură entitate), 4321 e una dintre poveștile acelea care te năruie fizic și emoțional până reușești să o dai gata, dar pe care o s-o duci cu tine multă vreme după aceea.
E prima carte scrisă de Auster pe care o citesc, dar probabil va fi și singura pentru multă vreme, pentru că nu-mi pot închipui că celelalte ar putea să o surclaseze în vreun fel și vreau să păstrez în minte experiența ei cât de mult posibil.
Are 1070 de pagini și doar vreo 3000 de fraze, și chiar dacă nu se întâmplă mare lucru mereu, ritmul prozei lui Auster e perfect - nu te grăbește, dar nici nu te lasă să lâncezești, iar felul în care găsește chestii extraordinare de spus despre orice eveniment mărunt, și să o țină astfel timp de peste o mie de pagini mi se pare ceva magnific.
M-am îndrăgostit de toți cei patru Fergusoni în feluri diferite și am trăit alături de ei viețile pe care le-au trăit (cât le-au trăit), iar efortul autorului de a scrie o poveste (mă rog, patru chiar) în acest fel, cu atenție milimetrică la detalii de tot felul mi s-a părut ceva demn de cărțile de istorie.
Ca și alte cărți masive (la propriu și la figurat) precum Blonde, The Executioner's Song, Of Human Bondage, The Border Trilogy, The Scar sau tetralogia Rabbit (știu că-s romane distincte, dar sunt atât de bine închegate încât le tratez ca pe o singură entitate), 4321 e una dintre poveștile acelea care te năruie fizic și emoțional până reușești să o dai gata, dar pe care o s-o duci cu tine multă vreme după aceea.
E prima carte scrisă de Auster pe care o citesc, dar probabil va fi și singura pentru multă vreme, pentru că nu-mi pot închipui că celelalte ar putea să o surclaseze în vreun fel și vreau să păstrez în minte experiența ei cât de mult posibil.
November 19, 2020
يجب أن تقرأ هذه الرواية بكل حواسك
"كما قال صديقك العزيز إدغار آلان بو مرة وهو يكتب إلى كاتب طموح : كن جريئاً-اقرأ أكثر- اكتب أكثر- انشر القليل-ابتعد عن العقول الضيقة-ولاتخش شيئاً."
يأخذنا أوستر في ملحمته هذه لنتعرف على آرتشي فيرغسون ولكي نتابع كيف ينمو هذا الشاب في ستينيات القرن الماضي بكل مظاهراتها وحروبها وحركات الحقوق المدنية بالإضافة إلى المشاكل الطبيعية التي نواجهها عند البلوغ من الجنس والنساء والرجال ومحاولة اكتشاف أهدافنا في الحياة. لكن وهذه -لكن- كبيرة نحن لا نتابع آرتشي فيرغسون واحد بل نتابع أربع آراتشيين مفرغسين معاً لكل واحد منهم مصير وحياة مختلفة بناء على خيارات لم يقم هو باختيارها بل فقط صدفة أو آله –أختر الذي يعجبك- .
"ليس ثمة طريقة واحدة فحسب لكتابة كتاب جيد."
يستغل أوستر الأكوان المتعددة والخيال الروائي بأسوأ طريقة يمكن لكاتب فعلها. فنحن نتابع حياة فيرغسون في أربع بيئات وأربع ظروف حياتية مختلفة. فهو مرة غني ومرة فقير ومرة يتيم ومرة أخرى غني. ففي كل عالم أو كون من هذه العوالم يسلك فيرغسون سلوك مختلف ويعيش حياة مختلفة ويفعل أشياء مختلفة لكن هناك شيئان فقط ثابتان في كل العوالم والتي ينجذب أليها جميع الفراغس في كل الأكوان كما ينجذب رائد فضاء سيء الحظ نحو ثقب أسود في فلم خيال علمي فاشل, وهذان الشيئان هما الأدب والكتابة فكل هذا الشخصيات على اختلاف شخصياتها تلجئ نحو الكتابة كملجئ فأحدهم صحفي والأخر شاعر وواحد كاتب سيرة ذاتية والأخير روائي. والكتب الكتب الكتب أن هذه الرواية هي عبارة عن جنة الكتب ففيها ستتعرف على عشرات بل مئات الروائيين والكتب من كل ثقافات العالم كُتاب لم نسمع بهم أبداً سياسيين ذهبوا طي النسيان شعراء نساهم الشعب, كل هؤلاء في هذه الرواية حتى أن الرواية تحوي قصصاً قصيرة داخلها.
"والشيء الوحيد الذي يمتلكه السجناء,ولا يمتلكه الآخرون هو الوقت, مقدار كبير من الوقت,اقرئي الكتب يا روز. ابدأي بتثقيف نفسك."
أن هذه الرواية كثيفة, مادياً ومعنوياً. فهي حقاً كبيرة وطويلة بالمعنى الحرفي وتحوي الكثير من الجمل الطويلة والفقرات الأطول. لكنها أيضاً تحوي حياة أربعة كائنات بشرية كاملة في كتاب واحد فلا بد أن يكون هذا الكتاب كثيف بالمعلومات والتفاصيل, وخصوصا في النصف الأول عندما كان الفراغس صغار ويخوضون معركة الحياة السخيفة لتحديد ذواتهم. فهذا الجزء كان كثيف بالمشاعر والوصف الدقيق للأحاسيس والرغبات والأفكار. أما النص الثاني فهو الجزء السريع والممتع أنه الجزء الذي ستحتاج إلى أن يكون العم غوغول قريب منك عند قرأته. فهنا ينقلنا أوستر ليس فقط إلى وعي شخص أخر بل إلى وعي أمة في فترة متقلبة جداً في منطقة متقلبة جداً. وهذا يعني الكثير من الأسماء والحوداث التاريخية بالأضافة لكثير من الكتُاب والناشطين المدنيين الذين يحاول أوستر حشرهم في هذاه الرواية. فأوستر العاشق لنيويورك وباريس يأخذ هاتين المدينتين ويجعلهما مسرح لأحداثه السياسية مع التظاهرات ضد حرب فيتنام وحركة الحقوق المدنية ونشوء حركات حقوق المرأة وأحداث العنف والمجازر في نيويورك وحرب السود والبيض. فأوستر ينزع من ذاكرته ويضيف الكثير من خياله ليصنع لنا لوحة واقعية وثرية بالتفاصيل من تلك الفترة الفاصلة في تاريخ أمريكا وحقوق الإنسان. لذلك لا يمكن قراءة هذه الرواية من دون الانغماس قليلا في نيويورك وباريس لذلك أنصحكم حقا بالسفر إلى باريس ونيويورك أثناء قراءة هذه الرواية... لحظة واحدة نحن عرب نحن لا نقوم بمثل هذه الأمور. حسناً لحسن الحظ هناك دائما وودي آلن الذي رافقني في أثناء قراءتي لهذه الرواية الطويلة وأنصحكم به وبالخصوص هذه الأفلام:
Midnight in Paris (2011)
Manhattan (1979)
Annie Hall (1977)
"قالت أيمي. بانغلوس تفاؤولي أبله, وأنا تشاؤمية ذكية, أعني التشاؤمي الذي يملك ومضات تفاؤلية. يكاد ما يحصل أن ينحو إلى الأسوأ, لكن, ليس دائما, كما ترى, لا شيء يتصف ب دائما للأبد, لكنني دائما أتوقع الأسوأ, وحين لا يقع الأسوأ, أصبح جذلة حتى لأبدو كالتفاؤلي."
أن هذه الرواية حقاً من أفضل ما قرأت مؤخراً وقد عزز من هذه التجربة الترجمة الجيدة للعمل وبالخصوص ملاحظات المترجم القليلة فهو لم يحاول أن يشرح كل شيء مما يفسد الرواية بل ترك الكثير على القارئ لكي يبحث عنه بنفسه.
"وبينما تمددت جثته الهامدة على الأرض المشبعة بالماء, استمر المطر بالهطول عليه, واستمر الرعد بالدوي, ومن طرف المعمورة الأول إلى طرفها الآخر, لزم الآلهة الصمت."
"المدرسة هي المدرسة, أي أنها ليست شيئا يستمتع به أي شخص كثيراً. تذهبين أليها, لأنك يجب أن تذهبي."
"لكن الشخص يحتاج إلى روح, لينجز أصغر شيء في هذا العالم,"
"دخلت أنجي إلى غرفة الطعام مع الحلوى, وحين نظر فيرغسون إلى وعا��ه من حلوى الشوكولا, تساءل لماذا لا يوجد قانون يسمح للأطفال بتطليق أهلهم؟"
"كانت الرسالة مقتضبة:
عزيزي آرتشي:
أكرهك.
مع الحب. إيمي."
"قال المدرب مارتينو:الشيء الثابت الوحيد في هذا العالم هو الخراء,يا بني. أننا نغوص فيها حتى الكاحل كل يوم,لكن, أحياناً, حين يصل حتى ركبنا أو خصورنا, فعلينا أن ننتشل أنفسنا منه, ونستمر بالتقدم. وأنت مستمر بالتقدم , يا آرتشي, أحترمك لأجل ذلك, "
"إنه شيء جميل ألا تشعر بالخجل لأنك مختلف."
"وعندما لا يقدر المرء على التنفس,فإنه يشعر بالذعر, والذعر شيء قريب من الجنون,"
May 9, 2018
A Portrait of the American Artist as a Young Man
So, he takes up enough space for four people the way that I see people do in fast food joints. Four diverging versions of the same precocious young writer, or five if you count Auster.
So, he takes up enough space for four people the way that I see people do in fast food joints. Four diverging versions of the same precocious young writer, or five if you count Auster.
September 17, 2018
4 3 2 1 forse è un romanzo autobiografico, almeno in parte lo è sicuramente: sia Archie Ferguson sia Paul Auster sono nati nel 1947, entrambi hanno studiato alla Columbia, hanno vissuto a Parigi, si sono stabiliti a New York, entrambi amano guardare il baseball e scrivere storie.
La caratterizzazione dei personaggi è ottima in tutte le storie. Di sicuro non si può non affezionarsi ad Archie, gioire per i suoi successi, soffrire per i suoi fallimenti. Ma per quanto gli saremo affezionati non possiamo non scrollare la testa quando compie delle scelte discutibili, perché di sicuro Archie non è perfetto, e meno male: questo lo rende uno di noi, lo rende reale.
L’assurdo, continuò Sydney, era che non aveva mai considerato le donne, era sempre andata matta per i maschi e anche adesso che conviveva con una donna da quasi tre anni non si considerava una lesbica, era semplicemente una persona innamorata di un’altra persona, e siccome l’altra persona era bella e fascinosa e unica al mondo, cosa cambiava se era innamorata di un uomo o di una donna?
Come può cambiare la vita di un uomo se il destino ti pone di fronte ad uno scenario differente, una possibilità differente, una scelta differente? Un romanzo nuovo che pone però una domanda già nota. È impossibile non pensare, per quanto siano differenti, al film Sliding Doors del 1998. In quel caso Peter Howitt si è ‘limitato’ a creare due possibili storie, mentre Auster arriva a ben quattro destini differenti.
L’unica costante a questo mondo è la merda, ragazzo mio. Ci stiamo con i piedi a mollo ogni giorno, ma a volte, quando arriva alle ginocchia o anche più su, devi solo tirarti fuori e andare avanti.
Quattro vite diverse che però presentano alcune costanti: Amy, la quale, a seconda della storia può presentarsi come amica, o essere una cugina acquisita, un’amante o addirittura la sorellastra di Archie. Questo non cambierà le cose: Amy resterà per Archie il suo più grande amore. Amore paragonabile a quello che lui prova per la scrittura, per il cinema e i libri. Altre costanti delle numerose vite di Archie.
C’è forse qualcuno tra voi che non si è mai chiesto: “E se…?”
Io me lo chiedo spesso, credo sia normale.
E se non avessi scelto il liceo, se non fossi capitata in quella classe, se non avessi stretto amicizia con quella persona, avrei mai condiviso la mia vita con quello che sarà il mio futuro marito tra qualche mese?
E se non avessi scelto di cambiare la mia vita, cercando di realizzare i miei sogni, ora, invece di scrivere qualche riga su 4 3 2 1, cosa starei facendo?
E se non avessi mai avuto la passione per la lettura, ora cosa farei nella vita?
E se quella volta avessi reagito invece di subire e basta, sarebbe cambiato qualcosa?
E se…?
Sto dicendo che non saprai mai se hai fatto la scelta sbagliata.
4 3 2 1 è un romanzo potente che non parla solo di destino, fato, decisioni e scelte, affronta infatti anche temi importanti: dal più ‘semplice’ rapporto tra genitori e figli, alla guerra in Vietnam, un argomento di spessore nella seconda parte del romanzo, dove Archie è cresciuto: è un ragazzo-uomo alle prese con scelte difficili, politiche e non; si parla di amicizia e sessualità, in tutte le sue sfaccettature; si parla di prostituzione, odio razziale e morte.
Credevo nel progresso e nella ricerca di un domani migliore. Avevamo sconfitto la poliomielite, no? Poi avremmo sconfitto anche il razzismo. Il movimento per i diritti civili era la pillola magica che avrebbe trasformato l’America in una società senza discriminazioni. Dopo quel pungo, il tuo pugno, mi sono svegliato su un sacco di cose. Ormai sono così sveglio che appena penso al futuro mi viene la nausea.
Insomma, si trattano tantissimi temi importanti, su cui spesso non è facile prendere posizione e questo è Archie: un ragazzo cresciuto che spesso non sa decidere, se il cuore gli dice una cosa, la testa gliene dice un’altra quindi, cosa scegliere? Chi scegliere? Tutto questo rende 4 3 2 1 un’opera attuale, nonostante si riferisca ad eventi passati.
[…] e come potevi imparare qualcosa se parlavi solo con chi la pensava esattamente come te?
Questo è il terzo romanzo che leggo di Paul Auster (potete trovare la recensione de L’invenzione della solitudine qui e la recensione di Trilogia di New York qui) e, nonostante la mole, nonostante la quantità di cose raccontate, nonostante la portata del romanzo che lo può rendere complicato, 4 3 2 1 è stato per me il romanzo più semplice di Auster. Una scrittura magistrale che rende l’autore capace di scrivere periodi lunghi anche mezza facciata, ma chiari e comprensibili dall’inizio alla fine.
Dopo più di 900 pagine di libro Archie è a tutti gli effetti uno di famiglia. Può essere tuo fratello, tuo cugino, tuo nipote, tuo amico. È vero, è sincero. Lo ami, eppure a volte lo prenderesti a sberle. Vorresti fosse il tuo compagno di banco. Vorresti avere la sua creatività per scrivere storie di fantasia o articoli di giornale. Archie non lo puoi invidiare, è impossibile, lo puoi solo amare. Puoi solo sperare che Archie esista veramente e che nella sua vita ci sia un lieto fine perché sì, perché se lo merita. Perché gli vuoi bene. Perché quando chiudi il libro, quando lo finisci e lo riponi in libreria piangi per Archie. Piangi perché non leggerai più nulla su di lui. Piangi perché è come se un membro della famiglia se ne fosse andato, lentamente. Come se si fosse sfocato a poco a poco, diventando sempre più trasparente per poi scomparire del tutto. Che poi non è vero. Non è scomparso sul serio, ormai Archie è dentro di te. Passeranno i giorni, ma continuerai a pensare a lui. Continuerai a chiederti cosa starà facendo in quel momento, cosa starà leggendo, con chi starà discutendo, cosa starà scrivendo, con chi sarà andato al cinema (probabilmente da solo). Insomma, Archie è ancora lì con te, non scomparirà mai.
La caratterizzazione dei personaggi è ottima in tutte le storie. Di sicuro non si può non affezionarsi ad Archie, gioire per i suoi successi, soffrire per i suoi fallimenti. Ma per quanto gli saremo affezionati non possiamo non scrollare la testa quando compie delle scelte discutibili, perché di sicuro Archie non è perfetto, e meno male: questo lo rende uno di noi, lo rende reale.
L’assurdo, continuò Sydney, era che non aveva mai considerato le donne, era sempre andata matta per i maschi e anche adesso che conviveva con una donna da quasi tre anni non si considerava una lesbica, era semplicemente una persona innamorata di un’altra persona, e siccome l’altra persona era bella e fascinosa e unica al mondo, cosa cambiava se era innamorata di un uomo o di una donna?
Come può cambiare la vita di un uomo se il destino ti pone di fronte ad uno scenario differente, una possibilità differente, una scelta differente? Un romanzo nuovo che pone però una domanda già nota. È impossibile non pensare, per quanto siano differenti, al film Sliding Doors del 1998. In quel caso Peter Howitt si è ‘limitato’ a creare due possibili storie, mentre Auster arriva a ben quattro destini differenti.
L’unica costante a questo mondo è la merda, ragazzo mio. Ci stiamo con i piedi a mollo ogni giorno, ma a volte, quando arriva alle ginocchia o anche più su, devi solo tirarti fuori e andare avanti.
Quattro vite diverse che però presentano alcune costanti: Amy, la quale, a seconda della storia può presentarsi come amica, o essere una cugina acquisita, un’amante o addirittura la sorellastra di Archie. Questo non cambierà le cose: Amy resterà per Archie il suo più grande amore. Amore paragonabile a quello che lui prova per la scrittura, per il cinema e i libri. Altre costanti delle numerose vite di Archie.
C’è forse qualcuno tra voi che non si è mai chiesto: “E se…?”
Io me lo chiedo spesso, credo sia normale.
E se non avessi scelto il liceo, se non fossi capitata in quella classe, se non avessi stretto amicizia con quella persona, avrei mai condiviso la mia vita con quello che sarà il mio futuro marito tra qualche mese?
E se non avessi scelto di cambiare la mia vita, cercando di realizzare i miei sogni, ora, invece di scrivere qualche riga su 4 3 2 1, cosa starei facendo?
E se non avessi mai avuto la passione per la lettura, ora cosa farei nella vita?
E se quella volta avessi reagito invece di subire e basta, sarebbe cambiato qualcosa?
E se…?
Sto dicendo che non saprai mai se hai fatto la scelta sbagliata.
4 3 2 1 è un romanzo potente che non parla solo di destino, fato, decisioni e scelte, affronta infatti anche temi importanti: dal più ‘semplice’ rapporto tra genitori e figli, alla guerra in Vietnam, un argomento di spessore nella seconda parte del romanzo, dove Archie è cresciuto: è un ragazzo-uomo alle prese con scelte difficili, politiche e non; si parla di amicizia e sessualità, in tutte le sue sfaccettature; si parla di prostituzione, odio razziale e morte.
Credevo nel progresso e nella ricerca di un domani migliore. Avevamo sconfitto la poliomielite, no? Poi avremmo sconfitto anche il razzismo. Il movimento per i diritti civili era la pillola magica che avrebbe trasformato l’America in una società senza discriminazioni. Dopo quel pungo, il tuo pugno, mi sono svegliato su un sacco di cose. Ormai sono così sveglio che appena penso al futuro mi viene la nausea.
Insomma, si trattano tantissimi temi importanti, su cui spesso non è facile prendere posizione e questo è Archie: un ragazzo cresciuto che spesso non sa decidere, se il cuore gli dice una cosa, la testa gliene dice un’altra quindi, cosa scegliere? Chi scegliere? Tutto questo rende 4 3 2 1 un’opera attuale, nonostante si riferisca ad eventi passati.
[…] e come potevi imparare qualcosa se parlavi solo con chi la pensava esattamente come te?
Questo è il terzo romanzo che leggo di Paul Auster (potete trovare la recensione de L’invenzione della solitudine qui e la recensione di Trilogia di New York qui) e, nonostante la mole, nonostante la quantità di cose raccontate, nonostante la portata del romanzo che lo può rendere complicato, 4 3 2 1 è stato per me il romanzo più semplice di Auster. Una scrittura magistrale che rende l’autore capace di scrivere periodi lunghi anche mezza facciata, ma chiari e comprensibili dall’inizio alla fine.
Dopo più di 900 pagine di libro Archie è a tutti gli effetti uno di famiglia. Può essere tuo fratello, tuo cugino, tuo nipote, tuo amico. È vero, è sincero. Lo ami, eppure a volte lo prenderesti a sberle. Vorresti fosse il tuo compagno di banco. Vorresti avere la sua creatività per scrivere storie di fantasia o articoli di giornale. Archie non lo puoi invidiare, è impossibile, lo puoi solo amare. Puoi solo sperare che Archie esista veramente e che nella sua vita ci sia un lieto fine perché sì, perché se lo merita. Perché gli vuoi bene. Perché quando chiudi il libro, quando lo finisci e lo riponi in libreria piangi per Archie. Piangi perché non leggerai più nulla su di lui. Piangi perché è come se un membro della famiglia se ne fosse andato, lentamente. Come se si fosse sfocato a poco a poco, diventando sempre più trasparente per poi scomparire del tutto. Che poi non è vero. Non è scomparso sul serio, ormai Archie è dentro di te. Passeranno i giorni, ma continuerai a pensare a lui. Continuerai a chiederti cosa starà facendo in quel momento, cosa starà leggendo, con chi starà discutendo, cosa starà scrivendo, con chi sarà andato al cinema (probabilmente da solo). Insomma, Archie è ancora lì con te, non scomparirà mai.
April 30, 2018
"...ενα βιβλιο ονειρων.ενα βιβλιο για τις αμεσες πραγματικοτητες μπροστα στη μυτη του Φ.ενα αδυνατο βιβλιο που δε γινοταν να γραφτει και σιγουρα θα κατεληγε ενα χαος απο τυχαια, ασυνδετα θραυσματα, ενας σωρος απο ανουσιοτητες.γιατι να επιχειρήσει να κανει τετοιο πραγμα?γιατι να μην επινοησει απλως αλλη μια ιστορια και να την πει οπως θα την ελεγε οποιοσδηποτε αλλος συγγραφέας? Επειδη ο φεργκιουσον ηθελε να κανει κατι διαφορετικο.επειδη ο φεργκιουσον δεν ενδιαφεροταν πια να λεει απλες ιστοριες.επειδη ο φεργκιουσον ηθελε να δοκιμαστει κοντρα στο αγνωστο και να δει αν μπορούσε να βγει ζωντανος απο τη μαχη."
Αυτη η φραση οπως καταλαβαινετε, προερχεται απο το βιβλιο του Ωστερ 4 3 2 1 και αυτη η φραση δινει ισως πολλες απαντησεις σχετικα με τα "τι" και "πως" που σχετιζονται με αυτο.ειναι ενα βιβλιο λοιπον που καταρχας -σε οτι με αφορα- αν μου ελεγες διαβασε το και μαντεψε το συγγραφεα πολυ δυσκολα θα μαντευα τον Auster.βασικα ο μονος τροπος να το μαντεψω θα ηταν απο καποια στοιχεια, ονοματα και χαρακτηρες που εχουμε ξαναδει σε βιβλια του, κατα τα αλλα τιποτα δε θυμιζει τις απιστευτες ιστοριες του .ειναι κακο αυτο? Καθε αλλο.ισα ισα σε κανει να θαυμασεις ακομη περισσοτερο αυτον τον συγγραφεα που στην ηλικια που βρισκεται και με ολα οσα εχει γραψει δειχνει οτι εχει κι αλλα να πει.ολοκληρο το βιβλιο μοιαζει να ειναι ενα τεραστιο ημερολογιο εμπειριων και ιδεων του, με 1 (ή 4) πρωταγωνιστη που υπερσυμπαθησα, με δευτερευοντες χαρακτηρες τον εναν καλυτερο απο τον αλλο, με "ταξιδια" σε αμερικη, παρισι που σε κανουν να αισθανεσαι διαβάζοντας οτι εισαι εκει, με πληθωρα πληροφοριων πανω σε πολιτικη, λογοτεχνια, μουσικη και κινηματογραφο που κανουν την αναγνωση του βιβλιου μαζι με σημειωματατιο στο πλάι απαραιτητο συνδυασμο.ειναι ενα Μεγαλο Μυθιστορημα.και δε μιλω μονο για τον ογκο του βιβλιου-που ηταν και το μονο αρνητικο που βρηκα καθως η βολικη αναγνωση του ηταν μια επικινδυνη και αδυνατη αποστολη-αλλα και για την λογοτεχνικη αξια του.θαυμαζω παντα τους ανθρωπους και συγκεκριμενα τους συγγραφεις που εχουν τεραστιο φασμα γνωσεων και ενδιαφεροντων και στο περνανε αυτο , οχι κανοντας συνεχες name dropping σε ασχετα σημεία, αλλα ενσωματωνοντας τις πληροφοριες μεσα στην ιστορια και εμπλουτιζοντας τη με ενδιαφερον.ο Auster κανει ακριβως αυτο και οσο ακατορθωτο κι αν ακουγεται για αλλους, θεωρω πως ο ιδιος κατορθωσε να γραψει ενα βιβλιο 1200 κ κατι σελιδων, εκ των οποιων καμια δεν ηταν βαρετη.
Αυτη η φραση οπως καταλαβαινετε, προερχεται απο το βιβλιο του Ωστερ 4 3 2 1 και αυτη η φραση δινει ισως πολλες απαντησεις σχετικα με τα "τι" και "πως" που σχετιζονται με αυτο.ειναι ενα βιβλιο λοιπον που καταρχας -σε οτι με αφορα- αν μου ελεγες διαβασε το και μαντεψε το συγγραφεα πολυ δυσκολα θα μαντευα τον Auster.βασικα ο μονος τροπος να το μαντεψω θα ηταν απο καποια στοιχεια, ονοματα και χαρακτηρες που εχουμε ξαναδει σε βιβλια του, κατα τα αλλα τιποτα δε θυμιζει τις απιστευτες ιστοριες του .ειναι κακο αυτο? Καθε αλλο.ισα ισα σε κανει να θαυμασεις ακομη περισσοτερο αυτον τον συγγραφεα που στην ηλικια που βρισκεται και με ολα οσα εχει γραψει δειχνει οτι εχει κι αλλα να πει.ολοκληρο το βιβλιο μοιαζει να ειναι ενα τεραστιο ημερολογιο εμπειριων και ιδεων του, με 1 (ή 4) πρωταγωνιστη που υπερσυμπαθησα, με δευτερευοντες χαρακτηρες τον εναν καλυτερο απο τον αλλο, με "ταξιδια" σε αμερικη, παρισι που σε κανουν να αισθανεσαι διαβάζοντας οτι εισαι εκει, με πληθωρα πληροφοριων πανω σε πολιτικη, λογοτεχνια, μουσικη και κινηματογραφο που κανουν την αναγνωση του βιβλιου μαζι με σημειωματατιο στο πλάι απαραιτητο συνδυασμο.ειναι ενα Μεγαλο Μυθιστορημα.και δε μιλω μονο για τον ογκο του βιβλιου-που ηταν και το μονο αρνητικο που βρηκα καθως η βολικη αναγνωση του ηταν μια επικινδυνη και αδυνατη αποστολη-αλλα και για την λογοτεχνικη αξια του.θαυμαζω παντα τους ανθρωπους και συγκεκριμενα τους συγγραφεις που εχουν τεραστιο φασμα γνωσεων και ενδιαφεροντων και στο περνανε αυτο , οχι κανοντας συνεχες name dropping σε ασχετα σημεία, αλλα ενσωματωνοντας τις πληροφοριες μεσα στην ιστορια και εμπλουτιζοντας τη με ενδιαφερον.ο Auster κανει ακριβως αυτο και οσο ακατορθωτο κι αν ακουγεται για αλλους, θεωρω πως ο ιδιος κατορθωσε να γραψει ενα βιβλιο 1200 κ κατι σελιδων, εκ των οποιων καμια δεν ηταν βαρετη.
May 14, 2018
One of those books that don’t simply keep you good company but, for the time it takes to read them, they’re as close to you as your very thoughts. Just as one can’t get rid of one’s thoughts, one can’t help but feel the warmth emanating from its pages. Simply put, I didn’t want it to end. I dreaded the moment when I’d turn the last page and the inevitable fate of every book in the world would compel me to put it on the shelf. It’s not just that it had gripped me, although it certainly had. It’s also those little completely personal things, completely out of the author’s control or knowledge, that surround a book and give it a whole new kind of power over you. Things such as certain events that take place in your life and which seem to lend it their flavor, or the place where you read It and seems to irrevocably absorb its flavor, or, even more so, the manner in which it ended up in your hands. Situations and even persons forever marked by a story and the other way around.
I don’t know if it’s indeed a masterpiece or if in 50 years’ time it will be considered a classic but it sure is one hell of a piece of literature. Auster shows his magnificent talent in storytelling by crafting such a complex story without ever letting the reader lose grip or feel confused. Story-wise, as much as I was enjoying it, I didn’t actually know how brilliant it really was until I reached the final pages and the prefix meta was given a whole new meaning. Four lives of a single person passed before my eyes along with all that usually comes with a life and what an impact it had on me as I witnessed the course each one of them took as a result of choices and coincidence. So well-made, so devoid of cheap pretensions and so painfully true and beautiful. No choice but to be affected, no choice but to experience it with all my senses and, ultimately, no choice but to love it.
I don’t know if it’s indeed a masterpiece or if in 50 years’ time it will be considered a classic but it sure is one hell of a piece of literature. Auster shows his magnificent talent in storytelling by crafting such a complex story without ever letting the reader lose grip or feel confused. Story-wise, as much as I was enjoying it, I didn’t actually know how brilliant it really was until I reached the final pages and the prefix meta was given a whole new meaning. Four lives of a single person passed before my eyes along with all that usually comes with a life and what an impact it had on me as I witnessed the course each one of them took as a result of choices and coincidence. So well-made, so devoid of cheap pretensions and so painfully true and beautiful. No choice but to be affected, no choice but to experience it with all my senses and, ultimately, no choice but to love it.
May 1, 2024
Spirali, cornici e cerchi concentrici
Tutti, prima o poi (e magari qualcuno con masochista insistenza) hanno stuzzicato la memoria della propria vita immaginando risvolti differenti.
Potremmo chiamarlo il gioco dei se…
...decisioni diverse che portano su strade differenti.
Così Auster racconta quattro versioni della vita di Archie Fergusson.
Una dichiarazione reiterata di amore eterno per la Letteratura che ci si presenta con tutto il suo potere piegando destini, forgiando caratteri, costruendo mondi possibili.
Scrivere, infatti, è un bisogno che ritorna in ogni vita di Fergusson.
Prendendo in mano, però, questo libro c’è qualcosa in più per il lettore che può diventare attivo e partecipe in questa storia decidendone la modalità:
seguire le pagine o seguire le esistenze.
La lettura diventa così non solo un piacere fine e a se stesso ma un’azione significante.
Dunque, quattro storie, diverse modalità di lettura ma anche un doppio fondo d’interpretazione.
Io, personalmente non ho potuto fare a meno di pensare che qui non si trattava solo di un romanzo sul mondo delle possibilità, di curve non girate o porte non aperte.
”Ferguson si era sempre sentito dire da tutti che la vita somigliava a un libro, una storia che cominciava a pagina 1 e andava avanti finché l’eroe non moriva a pagina 204 o 926, ma ora che il futuro immaginato per se stesso stava cambiando, stava cambiando anche la sua interpretazione del tempo. Il tempo, si rese conto, andava sia avanti sia indietro, e siccome nei libri le storie potevano solo andare avanti, la metafora del libro non stava in piedi. Al limite, la vita era piú simile alla struttura di un rotocalco…”
Leggendo si fa avanti un pensiero con forma interrogativa: *
e se il mondo fosse composto da due regni, il visibile e l’invisibile?
Questa è un’altra modalità di lettura: Fergusson nelle sue varie salse convive in un sorta di parallelismo spazio-temporale.
E’ il 1954, Archie Fergusson ha 7 anni questo è il momento del bivio.
In ogni storia sterminati elenchi di libri, di film di brani musicali e relative citazioni…
Lo sfondo storico politico (Rosemberg/Nixon/Martin Luther King/Malcom X/Vietnam/le rivolte studentesche…) che coinvolge in modo differente.
E poi…
New York
Leggere (abbastanza, tanto, tantissimo)
Scrivere (giornalista, poeta, recensore, scrittore)
Amare (Amy: ”…un capriccio narrativo nella storia delle loro vite…”
Il padre (amore e odio)
Lo sport (baseball/basket)
La Musica
I film
Parigi
Con risvolti differenti questi rimangono i cardini fondamentali perché, pur nella molteplicità del possibile, non possiamo cambiare noi stessi ma solo dare una piega diversa.
Auster si spezzetta.
Non si sottrae delegando un’idea letteraria al mondo della fantasia ma ci si butta a capofitto e in tutta evidenza riconosciamo episodi (almeno quelli ufficiali e noti) della sua stessa biografia e così una sperimentazione letteraria diventa pura metanarrazione.
Una lettura che mi ha suscitato emozione e piacere.
” (…) si era prefissato, ovvero raccontare la storia della vita di una persona senza raccontarla come una storia continua, procedendo per momenti slegati che entravano nel vivo di un’azione, un pensiero o un impulso, per poi saltare al successivo, e malgrado i vuoti e i silenzi che restavano, Ferguson immaginava che il lettore ricostruisse mentalmente i frammenti isolati di modo che l’accumulazione delle scene si risolvesse in qualcosa di simile a una storia, o a qualcosa di piú che una semplice storia: un lungo romanzo in miniatura (…)”
* Ammetto che questi pensieri sono stati stuzzicati da una serie tv che danno su Netflix e che consiglio vivamente: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=knxkX...
EDIT 01/05/2024
RIP. 💔💔💔
Tutti, prima o poi (e magari qualcuno con masochista insistenza) hanno stuzzicato la memoria della propria vita immaginando risvolti differenti.
Potremmo chiamarlo il gioco dei se…
...decisioni diverse che portano su strade differenti.
Così Auster racconta quattro versioni della vita di Archie Fergusson.
Una dichiarazione reiterata di amore eterno per la Letteratura che ci si presenta con tutto il suo potere piegando destini, forgiando caratteri, costruendo mondi possibili.
Scrivere, infatti, è un bisogno che ritorna in ogni vita di Fergusson.
Prendendo in mano, però, questo libro c’è qualcosa in più per il lettore che può diventare attivo e partecipe in questa storia decidendone la modalità:
seguire le pagine o seguire le esistenze.
La lettura diventa così non solo un piacere fine e a se stesso ma un’azione significante.
Dunque, quattro storie, diverse modalità di lettura ma anche un doppio fondo d’interpretazione.
Io, personalmente non ho potuto fare a meno di pensare che qui non si trattava solo di un romanzo sul mondo delle possibilità, di curve non girate o porte non aperte.
”Ferguson si era sempre sentito dire da tutti che la vita somigliava a un libro, una storia che cominciava a pagina 1 e andava avanti finché l’eroe non moriva a pagina 204 o 926, ma ora che il futuro immaginato per se stesso stava cambiando, stava cambiando anche la sua interpretazione del tempo. Il tempo, si rese conto, andava sia avanti sia indietro, e siccome nei libri le storie potevano solo andare avanti, la metafora del libro non stava in piedi. Al limite, la vita era piú simile alla struttura di un rotocalco…”
Leggendo si fa avanti un pensiero con forma interrogativa: *
e se il mondo fosse composto da due regni, il visibile e l’invisibile?
Questa è un’altra modalità di lettura: Fergusson nelle sue varie salse convive in un sorta di parallelismo spazio-temporale.
E’ il 1954, Archie Fergusson ha 7 anni questo è il momento del bivio.
In ogni storia sterminati elenchi di libri, di film di brani musicali e relative citazioni…
Lo sfondo storico politico (Rosemberg/Nixon/Martin Luther King/Malcom X/Vietnam/le rivolte studentesche…) che coinvolge in modo differente.
E poi…
New York
Leggere (abbastanza, tanto, tantissimo)
Scrivere (giornalista, poeta, recensore, scrittore)
Amare (Amy: ”…un capriccio narrativo nella storia delle loro vite…”
Il padre (amore e odio)
Lo sport (baseball/basket)
La Musica
I film
Parigi
Con risvolti differenti questi rimangono i cardini fondamentali perché, pur nella molteplicità del possibile, non possiamo cambiare noi stessi ma solo dare una piega diversa.
Auster si spezzetta.
Non si sottrae delegando un’idea letteraria al mondo della fantasia ma ci si butta a capofitto e in tutta evidenza riconosciamo episodi (almeno quelli ufficiali e noti) della sua stessa biografia e così una sperimentazione letteraria diventa pura metanarrazione.
Una lettura che mi ha suscitato emozione e piacere.
” (…) si era prefissato, ovvero raccontare la storia della vita di una persona senza raccontarla come una storia continua, procedendo per momenti slegati che entravano nel vivo di un’azione, un pensiero o un impulso, per poi saltare al successivo, e malgrado i vuoti e i silenzi che restavano, Ferguson immaginava che il lettore ricostruisse mentalmente i frammenti isolati di modo che l’accumulazione delle scene si risolvesse in qualcosa di simile a una storia, o a qualcosa di piú che una semplice storia: un lungo romanzo in miniatura (…)”
* Ammetto che questi pensieri sono stati stuzzicati da una serie tv che danno su Netflix e che consiglio vivamente: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=knxkX...
EDIT 01/05/2024
RIP. 💔💔💔
January 7, 2020
That’s enough - I can’t read this shit anymore! When a book starts to feel like a weight around the neck, like it’s work, when you look at the number of pages left and groan - yeah, that’s the time to walk away from it. So I’m calling it at page 480 out of 870 or so - no more. No more 4321, no more Paul Auster in fact. I used to be a huge fan but not anymore. 4321 has convinced me that former me was plain wrong about him or he used to be good and he’s just deteriorated shockingly in his old age.
4321 is the same story told four slightly different ways. So, yes, it’s repetitive but kinda interesting in the slight changes that happen in each that leads to completely different trajectories. And then the repetitions became too much for me.
These are the stories of Archie Ferguson (basically Paul Auster - like nearly all his books, he’s the protagonist) and his family. Born in the 1940s, he comes of age in the early ‘60s, the time of JFK etc. and the book actually wasn’t bad at first - there’s a reason I made it past the halfway point. The stories of Archie’s father and his scheming brothers were alright. Where things got unbearable is where I gave up - Archie as a teenager and Auster seems to have completely stalled in this time zone where it seems like I’ve been reading about the Archies masturbating, fucking their cousins, fucking their schoolmates, fucking prostitutes, dreaming about fucking all of the above, for forever and a fucking day!
To say the least: this shit isn’t interesting, Paul Auster. That’s the main complaint - I just can’t read another irritating page about Archie pining for whoever and then rubbing one out or going to the brothel or whatever. I get it, teenagers = horny lil bastards!
The second and only other one thing I’ll mention? The obnoxiously lengthy sentences. I contemplated copying out an example here so you’d get an idea of just what I’m talking about but I cannot be bothered - just take my word for it that the sentences are literally page-long, and sometimes multi-pages long. Honestly. It’s so unnecessary. FFS, put a full stop in there instead of endless commas! And so much of the shit Auster writes is utterly irrelevant tripe - details that add absolutely nothing to the already glacial narrative! It’s not so bad that you can’t follow what he’s saying but, my word, the sentences don’t need to be this long - punctuation exists for a good reason.
This novel didn’t need to be 870-ish pages long. The narratives aren’t so different that there needed to be four different versions. They’re not even compelling enough to warrant one narrative! 4321 is Auster’s longest novel to date but I think this book shows why he’s so much more effective in shorter novels - unedited, he is an utter bore, rambling on tediously to no end or goal about his youth to no-one’s edification or entertainment. Don’t trouble yourself with this ponderous garbage.
4321 is the same story told four slightly different ways. So, yes, it’s repetitive but kinda interesting in the slight changes that happen in each that leads to completely different trajectories. And then the repetitions became too much for me.
These are the stories of Archie Ferguson (basically Paul Auster - like nearly all his books, he’s the protagonist) and his family. Born in the 1940s, he comes of age in the early ‘60s, the time of JFK etc. and the book actually wasn’t bad at first - there’s a reason I made it past the halfway point. The stories of Archie’s father and his scheming brothers were alright. Where things got unbearable is where I gave up - Archie as a teenager and Auster seems to have completely stalled in this time zone where it seems like I’ve been reading about the Archies masturbating, fucking their cousins, fucking their schoolmates, fucking prostitutes, dreaming about fucking all of the above, for forever and a fucking day!
To say the least: this shit isn’t interesting, Paul Auster. That’s the main complaint - I just can’t read another irritating page about Archie pining for whoever and then rubbing one out or going to the brothel or whatever. I get it, teenagers = horny lil bastards!
The second and only other one thing I’ll mention? The obnoxiously lengthy sentences. I contemplated copying out an example here so you’d get an idea of just what I’m talking about but I cannot be bothered - just take my word for it that the sentences are literally page-long, and sometimes multi-pages long. Honestly. It’s so unnecessary. FFS, put a full stop in there instead of endless commas! And so much of the shit Auster writes is utterly irrelevant tripe - details that add absolutely nothing to the already glacial narrative! It’s not so bad that you can’t follow what he’s saying but, my word, the sentences don’t need to be this long - punctuation exists for a good reason.
This novel didn’t need to be 870-ish pages long. The narratives aren’t so different that there needed to be four different versions. They’re not even compelling enough to warrant one narrative! 4321 is Auster’s longest novel to date but I think this book shows why he’s so much more effective in shorter novels - unedited, he is an utter bore, rambling on tediously to no end or goal about his youth to no-one’s edification or entertainment. Don’t trouble yourself with this ponderous garbage.
January 1, 2017
I received this huge, 866 page Advance Reading Copy a few weeks ago but decided to save it for my end of the year vacation (stay-cation). And I'm so glad I did because once I started it, I wanted, needed, to stay immersed in it.
The novel is the coming of age story of Archie Ferguson and starts off with 4 different versions of his life. Set mostly in New York and New Jersey, It is also about the political and cultural and social climate of the 1950s and 1960s.
I had 4 or 3 or 2 or 1 running stories of Archie in my head for ten days and was deeply involved in all of them. It is fascinating the way the different Archies sometimes merged in my mind. Because really - although different events changed him in different ways, all of the Archies were essentially the same person. The idea of a novel following more than one possible life path isn't new -I can think of two that I've read - "Aquamarine" by Carol Anshaw and "The Post-Birthday World" by Lionel Shriver - but Auster's 4-3-2-1 structure is more interesting and added a level of tension and foreboding.
I enjoy reading doorstoppers during my winter vacation. Last year I read, "A Little Life," and the year before, "The Goldfinch." Although "4-3-2-1" is not a page-turner like those novels, it is very, very compelling. The narrative pace is necessarily slowed down because of the way Auster writes. His novel is a discourse about ideas and literature and film and art. A few times it got bogged down by lectures, i.e. about the history of Columbia's student protests, but I am willing to be patient with Auster. And it was worth it. A great book.
The novel is the coming of age story of Archie Ferguson and starts off with 4 different versions of his life. Set mostly in New York and New Jersey, It is also about the political and cultural and social climate of the 1950s and 1960s.
I had 4 or 3 or 2 or 1 running stories of Archie in my head for ten days and was deeply involved in all of them. It is fascinating the way the different Archies sometimes merged in my mind. Because really - although different events changed him in different ways, all of the Archies were essentially the same person. The idea of a novel following more than one possible life path isn't new -I can think of two that I've read - "Aquamarine" by Carol Anshaw and "The Post-Birthday World" by Lionel Shriver - but Auster's 4-3-2-1 structure is more interesting and added a level of tension and foreboding.
I enjoy reading doorstoppers during my winter vacation. Last year I read, "A Little Life," and the year before, "The Goldfinch." Although "4-3-2-1" is not a page-turner like those novels, it is very, very compelling. The narrative pace is necessarily slowed down because of the way Auster writes. His novel is a discourse about ideas and literature and film and art. A few times it got bogged down by lectures, i.e. about the history of Columbia's student protests, but I am willing to be patient with Auster. And it was worth it. A great book.
March 1, 2018
4.5*
Eίναι το πρώτο αλλά σίγουρα όχι το τελευταίο βιβλίο του Όστερ που διαβάζω.Μπορεί αρχικά να το φοβήθηκα λίγο γιατί ήταν πολύ μεγάλο και φαινόταν αρκετά μπερδεμένο λόγω των τεσσάρων διαφορετικών ιστοριών με τα ίδια πρόσωπα αλλά με τη βοήθεια κάποιων σημειώσεων,που ευτυχώς σκέφτηκα απο την αρχή να κρατήσω,τελικά η ανάγνωση ήταν εύκολη και απολαυστική.
Τέσσερις ιστορίες,τέσσερις Φέργκιουσον,τέσσερις διαφορετικές πορείες ζωής.Το βιβλίο εστιάζει στον Φέργκιουσον και μόνο σε αυτόν και ενώ είναι γραμμένο σε τρίτο πρόσωπο έχει την αίσθηση της πρωτοπρόσωπης αφήγησης.Όλοι οι υπόλοιποι χαρακτήρες υπάρχουν μόνο όταν αλληλεπιδρούν μαζί του και μόλις απομακρυνθούν απο αυτόν χάνονται απο το κάδρο.Αυτό θα μπορούσε να είναι τρομερά κουραστικό σε ένα τόσο μεγάλο βιβλίο και πολύ εύκολα θα μπορούσε ο αναγνώστης να βαρεθεί να ακούει για τον Φέργκιουσον και τα προβλήματα του αλλά με ένα μαγικό τρόπο ο Όστερ κρατάει το ενδιαφέρον μέχρι το τέλος με τη δύναμη της γραφής του.Γράφει υπέροχα,οι μακροσκελείς προτάσεις του έχουν κάτι το μελωδικό και υπάρχουν στιγμές που με μερικές λέξεις κάνει το στομάχι σου να σφίγγεται και την καρδιά σου να χτυπάει λίγο πιο γρήγορα.
Πέρα απο τον Φέργκιουσον οι δυο πιο ενδιαφέροντες χαρακτήρες για μένα είναι η Amy το αντικείμενο του πόθου του,και η Rose η μητερα του.Δυο πολύ δυναμικές γυναίκες για τις οποίες θα ήθελα να ξέρω περισσότερα και πολύ εύκολα θα διάβαζα άλλες τόσες ιστορίες απο το το δικό τους POV αρκεί να ήταν γραμμένες απο τον Όστερ.
Ενα πολύ γοητευτικό στοιχείο του βιβλίου είναι οτι η αφήγηση είναι γεμάτη με αναφορές σε ταινίες,μουσική,ποίηση και βιβλία.Τόσοι τίτλοι που το βιβλίο μοιάζει με μια πολύ ενδιαφέρουσα reading list.
Επίσης είναι γεμάτο με αναφορές σε γεγονότα που έγιναν στη Νέα Υόρκη και στην ευρύτερη περιοχή κατα τη διάρκεια του πολέμου του Βιετνάμ όπως εξεγέρσεις σε φυλακές,πανεπιστήμια,γειτονιές ή βομβιστικές επιθέσεις και πορείες.Γεγονότα για τα οποία γνώριζα ελάχιστα ή και τίποτα και ειδικά προς το τέλος με κούρασαν λίγο ,κυρίως γιατί οι πληροφορίες έπεφταν βροχή και λίγο χάθηκα.
Eίναι το πρώτο αλλά σίγουρα όχι το τελευταίο βιβλίο του Όστερ που διαβάζω.Μπορεί αρχικά να το φοβήθηκα λίγο γιατί ήταν πολύ μεγάλο και φαινόταν αρκετά μπερδεμένο λόγω των τεσσάρων διαφορετικών ιστοριών με τα ίδια πρόσωπα αλλά με τη βοήθεια κάποιων σημειώσεων,που ευτυχώς σκέφτηκα απο την αρχή να κρατήσω,τελικά η ανάγνωση ήταν εύκολη και απολαυστική.
Τέσσερις ιστορίες,τέσσερις Φέργκιουσον,τέσσερις διαφορετικές πορείες ζωής.Το βιβλίο εστιάζει στον Φέργκιουσον και μόνο σε αυτόν και ενώ είναι γραμμένο σε τρίτο πρόσωπο έχει την αίσθηση της πρωτοπρόσωπης αφήγησης.Όλοι οι υπόλοιποι χαρακτήρες υπάρχουν μόνο όταν αλληλεπιδρούν μαζί του και μόλις απομακρυνθούν απο αυτόν χάνονται απο το κάδρο.Αυτό θα μπορούσε να είναι τρομερά κουραστικό σε ένα τόσο μεγάλο βιβλίο και πολύ εύκολα θα μπορούσε ο αναγνώστης να βαρεθεί να ακούει για τον Φέργκιουσον και τα προβλήματα του αλλά με ένα μαγικό τρόπο ο Όστερ κρατάει το ενδιαφέρον μέχρι το τέλος με τη δύναμη της γραφής του.Γράφει υπέροχα,οι μακροσκελείς προτάσεις του έχουν κάτι το μελωδικό και υπάρχουν στιγμές που με μερικές λέξεις κάνει το στομάχι σου να σφίγγεται και την καρδιά σου να χτυπάει λίγο πιο γρήγορα.
Πέρα απο τον Φέργκιουσον οι δυο πιο ενδιαφέροντες χαρακτήρες για μένα είναι η Amy το αντικείμενο του πόθου του,και η Rose η μητερα του.Δυο πολύ δυναμικές γυναίκες για τις οποίες θα ήθελα να ξέρω περισσότερα και πολύ εύκολα θα διάβαζα άλλες τόσες ιστορίες απο το το δικό τους POV αρκεί να ήταν γραμμένες απο τον Όστερ.
Ενα πολύ γοητευτικό στοιχείο του βιβλίου είναι οτι η αφήγηση είναι γεμάτη με αναφορές σε ταινίες,μουσική,ποίηση και βιβλία.Τόσοι τίτλοι που το βιβλίο μοιάζει με μια πολύ ενδιαφέρουσα reading list.
Επίσης είναι γεμάτο με αναφορές σε γεγονότα που έγιναν στη Νέα Υόρκη και στην ευρύτερη περιοχή κατα τη διάρκεια του πολέμου του Βιετνάμ όπως εξεγέρσεις σε φυλακές,πανεπιστήμια,γειτονιές ή βομβιστικές επιθέσεις και πορείες.Γεγονότα για τα οποία γνώριζα ελάχιστα ή και τίποτα και ειδικά προς το τέλος με κούρασαν λίγο ,κυρίως γιατί οι πληροφορίες έπεφταν βροχή και λίγο χάθηκα.
May 5, 2024
masterpiece /ˈmɑːstəpiːs/ noun
a work of outstanding artistry, skill, or workmanship.
Пол Остър твърди, че кариерата му на писател през целия му живот го е водила до създаването на 4 3 2 1 - неговият магнум опус. След като прочетох послендата страница на романа бих казал същото за себе си - че всичко, което съм чел, гледал досега - ме е водило по-близко до разбирането и пълното потапяне в това, което Пол Остър прави с 4 3 2 1.
Повествованието е рагърнато и в същото време не бих казал, че имаше и една излишна дума. Историята непрекъснато става по-голяма, героите стават по-големи и изведнъж вече не са само продукт на твоето а въображение, а заживяват извън него. Това го правят точно книгите, които определям като "изключителни". Честно казано няма вече интерес да чета неща, които са под това ниво. Така че имайте едно на ум - Пол Остър може да бъде опасен :)
Втората световна война, Корейската война, Кенеди, Убийството на Кенеди, Линдън Джонсън, Виетнамската война, Лятото на любовта, култа на Чарлз Менсън, смъртта на Шарън Тейт, скандалното отразяване на студентските протести в Колумбийския университет от Ню Йорк Таймс, разклащането на морала в журналистиката, лийкването на секретните документи на Пентагона, които уличават правителството на САЩ в лъжи за Виетнанмската война още от 50-те години, изкуплението на Ню Йорк Таймс, дефинирането на про-анти война подръжниците и тяхната (групова) самоличност, радикализацията, Черните пантери, феминизма, расизма, тероризма, стрелбата на Валъри Соланас срещу Анди Уорхол, Ричард Никсън, творчеството във времена, в които света гори.
Ако всички тези изброени събития говорят нещо на един читател, бих се обзаложил, че ще му е интересно да се потопи в реалността, която ги е създала, да я деконструктуира и вероятно ще се почуства така както аз, докато разлиствах страниците една след друга.
Ако не - то Пол Остър ще бъде най-добрият спътник - умен, дружелюбен, приповдигнат, който да го прекара през тях.
Това е най-любимият ми роман за последните години.
a work of outstanding artistry, skill, or workmanship.
Пол Остър твърди, че кариерата му на писател през целия му живот го е водила до създаването на 4 3 2 1 - неговият магнум опус. След като прочетох послендата страница на романа бих казал същото за себе си - че всичко, което съм чел, гледал досега - ме е водило по-близко до разбирането и пълното потапяне в това, което Пол Остър прави с 4 3 2 1.
Повествованието е рагърнато и в същото време не бих казал, че имаше и една излишна дума. Историята непрекъснато става по-голяма, героите стават по-големи и изведнъж вече не са само продукт на твоето а въображение, а заживяват извън него. Това го правят точно книгите, които определям като "изключителни". Честно казано няма вече интерес да чета неща, които са под това ниво. Така че имайте едно на ум - Пол Остър може да бъде опасен :)
Втората световна война, Корейската война, Кенеди, Убийството на Кенеди, Линдън Джонсън, Виетнамската война, Лятото на любовта, култа на Чарлз Менсън, смъртта на Шарън Тейт, скандалното отразяване на студентските протести в Колумбийския университет от Ню Йорк Таймс, разклащането на морала в журналистиката, лийкването на секретните документи на Пентагона, които уличават правителството на САЩ в лъжи за Виетнанмската война още от 50-те години, изкуплението на Ню Йорк Таймс, дефинирането на про-анти война подръжниците и тяхната (групова) самоличност, радикализацията, Черните пантери, феминизма, расизма, тероризма, стрелбата на Валъри Соланас срещу Анди Уорхол, Ричард Никсън, творчеството във времена, в които света гори.
Ако всички тези изброени събития говорят нещо на един читател, бих се обзаложил, че ще му е интересно да се потопи в реалността, която ги е създала, да я деконструктуира и вероятно ще се почуства така както аз, докато разлиствах страниците една след друга.
Ако не - то Пол Остър ще бъде най-добрият спътник - умен, дружелюбен, приповдигнат, който да го прекара през тях.
Това е най-любимият ми роман за последните години.
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