Leviathan - Paul Auster

To be honest, a bit disappointing compared to his others. A bit of a slog. The intricacy and complexity of the story is impressive, but another word for "intricate and complex" would be "convoluted". Excellent characters though, and some interesting ideas. Also, the entire story, almost, is told in "wide angle" mode - summaries covering lots of time rather than moment-by-moment scenes. Despite the book's other faults, this works perfectly well. Auster is yet another great writer you have to denounce if you believe totally in the "show don't tell" rule.

Man In The Dark - Paul Auster

SPOILER WARNING!!

Austerrific, what else is there to say? (Also, writing this one book later so memory of specifics not great). All very self-reflective; stories within stories, etc. The revelation of how the son died was devastatingly powerful, despite the fact that I had guessed 30 or so pages in advance. The way he approaches the subjects he writes about (war, in this case) is so original and unexpected that you barely realise what it's all about until after you've finished reading it.

The New York Trilogy - Paul Auster

No idea what to say about it. Baffling but brilliant. The complexity of both the prose and the stories, the strands of narrative and ideas that grow and branch out in all directions, makes it like a living organism. But "what's going on?" is the main impression I'm left with. Like a David Lynch film, it's as frustrating as it is compelling. Who's the narrator? Is it the same person in all three stories. Seems to be. How much of each story physically happened? Maybe it was all metaphor, maybe it's a book about a man alone in a room and that's all. Will re-read.

Oracle Night - Paul Auster

Another damn good one. My first encounter with Auster apart from a graphic novel (City of Glass, I think). This reminded me very much of Murakami: a similar writing style and the same kind of weird, not-quite-coherently related events, and an odd supernatural premise lurking beneath a very human sort of story. I read it in three or four sessions - very rare for me. Looking forward to coming back to this author.