"I am alone in the dark, turning the world around in my head as I struggle through another bout of insomnia, another white night in the great American wilderness." So begins Paul Auster's brilliant, devastating tale about the many realities we inhabit as wars flame all around us. Seventy-two-year-old August Brill is recovering from a car accident in his daughter's house in Vermont. When sleep refuses to come, he lies in bed and tells himself stories, struggling to push back thoughts about things he would prefer to forget – his wife's recent death and the horrific murder of his granddaughter's boyfriend, Titus. The retired book critic imagines a parallel world in which America is not at war with Iraq but with itself. In this other America the twin towers did not fall, and the 2000 election results led to secession, as state after state pulled away from the union, and a bloody civil war ensued. As the night progresses, Brill's story grows increasingly intense, and what he is so desperately trying to avoid insists on being told. Joined in the early hours by his granddaughter, he gradually opens up to her and recounts the story of his marriage. After she falls asleep, he at last finds the courage to revisit the trauma of Titus's death. Passionate and shocking, Man in the Dark is a story of our moment, an audiobook that forces us to confront the blackness of night even as it celebrates the existence of ordinary joys in a world capable of the most grotesque violence.
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"A great new Auster experience. I loved this book and the insight into story-telling. On the downside, I was starting to expect a near-fantastic experience and found that line of plot a little unresolved. I read the book in more than one sitting, but it was past 4 AM when I finished it!" — Roxana (5 out of 5 stars)
"A great new Auster experience. I loved this book and the insight into story-telling. On the downside, I was starting to expect a near-fantastic experience and found that line of plot a little unresolved. I read the book in more than one sitting, but it was past 4 AM when I finished it!"
“Auster's rueful monotone...seems perfectly suited for a character yanked out of 2007 and into an alternate, post-apocalyptic America... [He] does better than any actor could in articulating his skewed imagination.
With just the right pace and modulation, [Auster] reveals events that explain the complex mind of the memorable protagonist.
Auster's appropriately detached narration penetrates the mind of retired book critic August Brill, who is recovering from a recent injury and the loss of his wife.... Auster's mesmerizing performance captures the listener as he delivers his hypnotic tale of political intrigue.
" Unfortunately not one of Paul Auster's best. "
" I love the surrealism in this novel and the way the author tells the story of what some of us do to avoid thinking about our own lives in those wee hours of the night. "
" I found this book fairly inventive for fiction, collapsing several worlds and their plots into one reality and holding them together with one character. It's definitely worth reading. "
" Was kind of slow to read and a little bit depressing. But conceptually a very interesting book. "
" Auster's best work to date. The musings of a wounded man with insomnia, discussions of love, war, violence, just incredible, really. Auster paced it perfectly and comes away with a short but sweet work of art. "
" A very small book - perhaps more of a novella than a novel. However, this a great story! There are layers upon layers which all come together in the end. "
" This probably only deserved three stars, but the fourth is for the potential I saw in it for it to be the book I wanted to read. "
" He does write really well, although the particular book "
" original mix of philosophy and fantasy...one of Auster's best... "
" I liked Brooklyn Follies more but this was the exactly right moment for me to read this. "
" extra star for bring short "
" Paul Auster is one of my favorite authors. If you like his style this book will not disappoint. "
Paul Auster is the bestselling author of The New York Trilogy and many other critically acclaimed novels. He was awarded the Prince of Asturias Prize in 2006. His work has been translated into more than forty languages. He lives in Brooklyn, New York.
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