“The story is not in the words; it's in the struggle.”
― Paul Auster, The New York Trilogy



REVIEW 1: City of Glass

An interesting PoMo novella. Auster's first novel/second book/first of his 'New York Trilogy', 'City of Glass' is simultaneously a detective novel, an exploration of the author/narrative dynamic, and a treatise on language. I liked parts, loved parts, and finished the book thinking the author had written something perhaps more interesting than important.

My favorite parts were the chapters where Auster (actual author Auster) through the narrator Quinn acting as the detective Auster explored Stillman's book: 'The Garden and the Tower: Early Visions of the New World'. I also enjoyed the chapter where Auster (character Auster) and Quinn (acting as detective Auster) explored Auster's (character Auster) Don Quixote ideas. Those chapters reminded me obliquely (everything in City of Glass is oblique) of Gaddis.

In the end, however, it all seemed like Auster had read Gaddis wanted to write a PoMo novel to reflect the confusing nature of the author/narrator/translator/editor role(s) of 'Don Quixote', set it all in Manhatten, and wanted to make the prose and story fit within the general framework of a detective novel. He pulled it off and it all kinda worked. I'll say more once I finish the next two of the 'New York Trilogy'.

REVIEW 2: Ghosts

An uncanny valley of Gaddis IMHO. 'Ghosts', the second book in Auster's 'New York Trilogy' reminds me what I both like and don't like about MFA writers. Often clever and grammatically precise but they don't say so much. If they were painters their perspective would be perfect and their posters would sell, but the pigment or texture or something between the edges is just missing that undercurrent of something to give a real shit about.


REVIEW 3: The Locked Room

Not much to add that I haven't already written in my reviews of Auster's first two 'New York Trilogy' novels. In 'The Locked Room' Auster dances with the same themes, with slightly different variations. The novellas are more brothers to each other instead of cousins. In a lot of ways he reminds me of an earlier generations' Dave Eggers. There is definitely a lot of talent latent in the guy. He certainly can write, but unlike Fitzgerald who was able to tell a similar themed story in his novels and still provide weight. I just didn't feel the gravity. It was like Camus couldn't really decide whether to kill the Arab, didn't know if he cared or not, so he just walked around and killed himself but made the Arab watch.

I don't know. That may not be right. I'll probably just delete this review anyway. Only Otis will read it and I've asked him to delete all my reviews he doesn't like anyway. How do I guarantee this? Well, I could talk about Otis. I could tell you that there are things about author Auster, unrelated to his books I just don't like (who lives in NY Anyway?). He is a bad behaving author (untrue). He keeps sending me his manuscripts and wants me to say nice things about his work (untrue). I don't know. Is Auster married? Maybe, I'll go and console his wife now.

My first Auster. Read at the urging of McCaffery's 100.

Very pleased with it. Not blown out of the water nor struck by any particularly new paths for fiction. But nonetheless time well spent.

Will welcome more Auster in the future of course but don't anticipate myself getting carried away and immersed as I often enough do.

I'll describe briefly a reflection. Reading this I had the experience of not anticipating where the next sentence was headed so my eyes and attention remained where they should, word to word ; sentence to sentence. This in stark contrast to my recent experience skim=reading a 400 page novel in a few hours wherein I seemed to see coming exactly what was what appeared next, the next word the next sentence not needing to be read because the previous words and sentences predicted them completely. Also in contrast in the other direction, that experience of reading I deeply treasure and seek out, that experience of utter bafflement, not only not anticipating the next sentence, the next word, but not even anticipating what I've already read, not fully comprehending what the hell is going on and where we're headed and where we've been. Sentences which can be read and reread and which not only don't become easily interpreted into banalities but which on each revisit would or do deepen the bafflement. The art of fiction is not 'complete and full understanding, full grasping and mastering' but rather that experience of deepening the estrangement, befuddlement. This one experiences in texts like Finnegans Wake and Prae and Women & Men and Larva. This is what I want out of fiction, language which moves with the depth and complexity and infinity of a Bach or Beethoven or Wagner.

Auster is a good read.

عاشقش شدم
بخونید بعد برید تحلیلاشو بخونید
ولش نکنید فقط.چون داستانش پست مدرنه و لایه هایی داره که باید با تمرکز بخونید و تحلیل بشه.
برام خلاصه کتاب ، تو جمع بندی کتاب استیلمن بود.درباره امریکا و بهشت موعود و بابل.دوبار خوندمش بازم میخونم.

In Auster's seminal work he demonstrates his incredible understanding, his deep comprehension of both the City of New York and of human nature.  The book is in three parts, and they are distinct.  Yet each part is only a part of the inner nightmare that makes up the story of one who is hiding.  The three together make a whole; completing the message of his thoughts.

The book takes the form of a detective story.  The first part/book is about a man hired as a private detective to watch a man.  He is hired to watch this man because he is a threat to those who hired him.  They live in fear that this man will come after them and kill them.  He goes so far as to hide out in an alley for months, watching, waiting to see when the man will come.  Yet he never does.

The second part/book is a more abstract version of the first.  Rather than use actual names for the characters, they are instead called by colors; Blue, Gray, Green, Violet, etc.  As he moves through this story and the entire book, he shows his mastery of the knowledge of the City of New York in ways that most of us only contemplate.  He shows the lives of beggars, strangers, non-existent personages; that yet do exist in form and touch and shadow, but never truly interact in a real and tangible way with anyone that they meet.

In his third part/book, things start to fall into place.  We find a man who is living in an almost dream state.  He goes through life without really touching it; without really tasting it; without really feeling it.  He goes on a search, a journey to find another.  And when he does not find him, he tries to forget and go back to his life.

But throughout, we see a man hiding.  He hides from everything.  He hides from people and things.  He tries to rationalize this hiding in many ways.  Yet, he is not totally able to do so.  Not until he realizes, that he is hiding from himself.  Only then does he understand that his quest was self made.  Then he understands that one can disappear within oneself for as long as one wants; forever in fact.  Because one can fear no one or no thing more than one can fear oneself.  To lie to yourself is the ultimate lie, to hide from yourself is the ultimate disappearance.  This message is what Auster so ably conveys in his "New York Trilogy."  And the City of New York is truly a magical and wondrous place to illustrate his point.  It is in this City that those who hide from themselves are so plentiful and obvious.  It is also in this City that those of true greatness come to fruition.  Auster's book is recommended for all readers who have a great desire and sense of introspection; a desire to understand those things that they try to hide from, yet cannot.  It will surely live on as one of his greatest works, and a superb example of modern fiction.

Upon learning of Auster's passing, I dug out the texts I owned and looked to complete my collection. For some reason, I did not already own this collection. Having just finished THE LOCKED ROOM, and reflecting on the other two novels my takeaway is this: if one were to take each of these novels and boil them down to a series of bullet-points, the would seem intriguing. One might think that each novel could be interesting if fleshed out from the bullet-points. However, the premise of each does not evolve into a promise kept. I found each novel kind of a chore to get through. Not every book has to be one's cup of tea, and I will read Auster's other works. Fingers crossed for something engaging.

I have read around 8 books by Paul Auster. Considering I like maybe half of these should tell you that the ones I liked, I liked a lot! This is by far my favourite Paul Auster book! All three mini-stories are amazing! I enjoy re-reading this book as well. Definitely worth it for any fan of Paul Auster... and the best place to start for someone who wants to read something of his! Its a classic.

Türkçesi vardı bunu orijinal dilde almak istedim ama cep boyutunda geldi.

Aunque se desarrolla en Nueva York, poco tiene de trilogía esta original, excéntrica y disparatada novela en la que historias paralelas (o no) nos permiten seguir como un mismo personaje (¿o son distintos?) afronta un problema, aparentemente detectivesco, pero que pronto se muestra como algo mucho más profundo.

Salud mental, el transcurrir del tiempo, la literatura, y hasta la siempre infructuosa búsqueda del sentido de la vida son algunos de los temas tratados con maestría por Auster en esta genial obra. Un libro para leer despacio pero con frecuencia, saboreando un puñado de páginas al día recreándose en la elección de palabras, los inesperados giros y la gloriosa ambientación.

have been enjyoing reading this book since i first recieved  it .i am so indebted to your kind assistance and professional services

Paul Auster’s novel, The New York Trilogy, is a unique blend of metafiction and mystery, with a definitive detective, noir flavor and vibe. There is a common bond within all three tales in that there is a sense of isolation experienced within the main character’s point of view as they head towards an unseen destination in their investigation/search. At points, the protagonist, in looking for someone or something, is forced to look inwardly, sometimes painfully and truthfully, at themselves.

In “City of Glass”, author Quinn assumes the role of “detective” as he tries to locate and find the whereabouts of the elder Peter Stillman. Stillman allegedly wreaked severe psychological damage on his son, Peter Stillman. The case and search take on a life of its own as Quinn becomes immersed in this case to the point of breakdown and obsession. Auster captures the frustration of Quinn during his search: “…there seemed to be no substance to the case. Stillman was a crazy old man who had forgotten his son. He could be followed to the end of time, and still nothing would happen.”

“Ghosts”, the second of the trilogy and my favorite of the three, is quite a colorful read (in more ways than one). A man named Blue is hired by a guy named White to tail another man named Black (make sense). In much the same manner as “City of Glass”, there is the sense that the one doing the tracking must get into the head of the one they are tracking. They must come up with their own theories, and Blue does not know enough about Black so must take this on in a forceful way, delve into the makeup of Black: “They only way for Blue to have a sense of what is happening is to be inside Blacks’ mind to see what his is thinking, and that of course is impossible.” After much speculating and wondering, things shift quite suddenly in the second part of the plot and we have interaction between Blue and Black that takes us to a sudden conclusion.
“It seems to me now that Fanshawe was always there. He is the place where everything begins for me, and without him I would hardly know who I am.” So begins the final installment in the trilogy, “The Locked Room.” The Locked Room focuses on the search for a writer named Fanshawe, who has been missing for six months. Fanshawe’s wife contacts an acquaintance from Fanshawe’s childhood to help look for the writer. Eventually, things get more complicated when she asks, as a favor, for him to critique her husband’s writings. Becoming fully immersed in the case, the narrator suddenly seems to assume the role of Fanshawe, marrying his wife and trying to get his works published. The narrator takes on much of who Fanshawe is. As the narrator gets closer to understanding more, he begins to question a sense of his own identity.

I found The New York Trilogy to be a breath of fresh air, very non-traditional and unique.

There is ambiguity and vagueness to all three novellas, and that is perfectly fine. It forces the readers to be much like the main characters, and assume their own conclusions. And much like the main character in each of the plots, I pushed myself to read on, looking for clues and meanings within. Auster allows room for the reader to interpret, discuss, and think about, much of what goes on.

I don't believe any other reviewer here could claim they'd done justice to this novel or made even 50% sense of what it's all about with such a limited number of words and I'm definitely not going to try.
That's because these 3 stories are almost impossible to deconstruct satisfactorily, although I personally did enjoy trying. But as simple reading material, you won't just be getting an engrossing read, you'll also be forced to think, because while the questions are never-ending here, the answers are never as forth-coming.
So, the only difinitive analysis I can offer is that you certainly won't be dissappointed with this collection of inter-connected short stories that are an engrossing and original read and should not be missed. Brilliant in fact!

Book came in mint condition, the cover and the pages are a bit wrinkled but it’s just to achieve that old-timey book aesthetic so it’s not actually damage. This edition contains the three books that comprise Auster’s New York trilogy in an easy to carry, very readable format.