A mind-boggling metanovel which reminded me of Bored to Death sometimes, but which is WAY weirder. ( )

Astounding. Read it in one sitting (or rather standing. I found it's easier to concentrate reading when I'm leaning on the door frame and occasionally gazing outside to look at the plants and the sky.) It's exhilarating to finally finish reading something after being in a reading slump these past few months.

The theme that is immediately apparent is that of the double. Doppelgangers, aliases, that whole thing. The discussions about the words are interesting. The Paul Stillman character was interesting. One of the main character's discussions with Peter Stillman reminded me of that episode in Garcia Marquez's 'Cien Anos ...' (R.I.P.) where the people were stricken by the sickness of forgetting. The episode about the child suffering for the greater good reminds me of the story 'Those Who Walk Away from Omelas' by Le Guin. The episode where the character tried to minimize his eating to focus more on the job, reminded me of Kafka's 'A Hunger Artist.' Keeping up with the theme of the double is the structure of the book itself. Paul Auster writes a book about an author (Daniel Quinn) who writes detective stories under an alias, who somehow gets hired by a woman, who assumed he was a detective named Paul Auster (again the whole double thing). And it gets crazier from there.

Overall the story very much lived up to the hype I've been reading about. This is the second story of his I've read after Moon Palace.

( )

En medio de la noche, alguien llama por teléfono a Daniel Quinn, un escritor de novelas policíacas que firma bajo pseudónimo y que, descorazonado, ha renunciado a su carrera como poeta. La voz al otro lado de la línea pregunta insistentemente por un investigador, un tal Paul Auster, y quiere encomendarle una misión. Como si se tratara del protagonista de una de sus novelas, Quinn decide dejarse llevar por la casualidad, y asumir la identidad de detective, como si te tratara del protagonista de una de sus novelas. Las pesquisas le llevarán hasta Stillman, un curioso personaje que requiere protección para salvar su propia vida. Para ello el detective se perderá en el laberinto de la realidad y de las calles de Nueva York. Con Ciudad de cristal, la inauguración de La trilogía de Nueva York, Paul Auster reinventó el género policiaco con una aventura quijotesca y un diálogo sobre la identidad y la realidad contemporáneos.

Because City of Glass is the first book in a trilogy, I'm going to write my review in sections, each an impression after completing one book of the three. I'm also going to delay rating the book, since the conclusion of each book is (hopefully) clarified by the contents of the successive books.

Part I
City of Glass is an odd book. A quirky book. If you like Stranger Than Fiction and/or The Eyre Affair, you should enjoy this book.

There is one main character in the book, Daniel Quinn. Or four, because Quinn, the protagonist, is an author using the nom de plume William Wilson to write detective fiction about his private eye Max Work. Quinn receives several late night phone calls for Paul Auster (in true Shoeless Joe and The Razor's Edge fashion, the real author interjects his name into the story), who is some sort of detective. Quinn decides to masquerade as Auster and tail Peter Stillman père to prevent him from killing Peter Stillman fils.

Peter Stillman père is a lunatic. So is fils, although only as a result of père's religiously-influenced actions rather than a defect of his own biology. Fils' wife, Virginia, is a lunatic. Quinn becomes a lunatic. In fact, you will probably feel like a lunatic at the conclusion of the novel, after you have successfully weaved your way through multiple intellectually interesting discussions of religion and literature. You have to sift carefully through these digressions to separate fact from fiction and keep track of the plethora of characters who share names and/or initials.

You are not prepared for City of Glass to end, except through your tactile awareness as you read that you are physically nearing the last page, and through the clever usage of Quinn's red notebook in the storyline. When you finish reading, you want to immediately begin Ghosts, because you are simply left hanging as far as what happened to Quinn, and to Peter Stillman and his wife. You also find yourself wondering who the hell told this story, because after 128 pages of third-person narrative, a first-person narrator suddenly interjects himself into the final few pages to explain the novel's events.

Actually, the first-person narrator doesn't explain the events. He doesn't know what became of anyone, and he imparts his lack of knowledge to us in an intriguing, enticing way that makes you want to find out.

Part II
What? The? Hell?

Studs Lonigan managed to show up in all three books of his trilogy. Granted, he is the namesake of the series, so we should expect him. Dunstan Ramsay is present in all three books of the Deptford Trilogy. Nick Jenkins, et al are present for all TWEVLE books in A Dance to the Music of Time.

Disconcertingly, only New York makes a repeat appearance in the second book of this trilogy. Neither Quinn, nor Wilson, nor Work - not even Auster - make even the barest of cameos in Ghosts. So this review will be short, and I fear that my uneasiness with the ending of City of Glass will only increase, that the mystery of what happened to Quinn and the Stillmans will not be answered, and I will have to downgrade this novel, failing as it does to conclude in a satisfying manner.

Part III
Well.

Peter Stillman finally reappears in The Locked Room. The mysterious "I" at the end of the first two novels finds Stillman in Paris, chases him down on foot, and gets beat up by him for his trouble. Quinn also reappears - actually, only makes a non-appearance, in that he can't be located. Neither of these events seems critical to the trilogy's denouement.

"I", it turns out, is the author of all three books (although we are never provided his name). He claims, near the end of The Locked Room, that the stories told in all three novels "are finally the same story". Which feels true in a sense. All three are shrouded in mystery about one or more of the main characters, mysteries that will remain cryptic.

I read an interview with Paul Auster, in which he's questioned on the links between the trilogy and the post-modern movement that was coming to the front at the time the novels were written. Auster downplays the influence of that movement on his work, but you can see the reason for the question if you're familiar with post-modernism or have read Calvino or similar novelists.

City of Glass is a well-written, somewhat entertaining book. I wouldn't include it in my list of must-read books, regardless of whether it's judged on its own merits or as part of the trilogy, because its unresolved plot leaves me unsure of what the book is supposed to be about. ( )

Nogal verouderd verhaal, niet echt spannend maar wel onderhoudend, een paar goede ideeën...
In het Engels gelezen, als taaloefening.
Niet van plan om de trilogie uit te lezen... ( )