So there is that guy who grows up, moves to New York and then ends up living in Central Park for a while.

Doesn't sound interesting? Yep, I admit I wouldn't have bought the book, but it was given to me and I cannot NOT read a book when you give it to me. I am now convinced that Paul Auster could make everything, well, maybe not interesting in a literal sense, but he makes you want to know. I couldn't stop reading, but if you ask me what I liked about this book, I come up blank. The closest I come is to say that it is an expertly told story that I needed to read at the time I did read it.

There's also that description of the protagonist living in his appartment (whe he still has one) without furniture, building everything out of the boxes full of books that his uncle left him, and then starting to sell off the books one by one in order to be able to afford food, a description that will stay with me, because I love the idea of owning nothing but books, and I love how it tore my heart a little when he sold them. Which was just another thing I didn't like about the passive, unlikeable Fogg, but even my dislike for the main character didn't make me want to devour this book any less.

Coclusion: You don't have to like Auster to admit that he is a genius.

Dit was mijn eerste Auster; ik ben omvergeblazen. Auster rijgt een handvol excentrieke levens zo moeiteloos aaneen dat je alles voor waar aanneemt, hoe onwaarschijnlijk de vertellingen ook zijn.

'Of course he was telling the truth. His facts might not always have been correct, but he was telling the truth.'

3.5 J'ai beaucoup aimé le style de l'auteur et toutes ces histoires, rencontres qui se mêlent mais malheureusement j'ai peu apprécié le personnage de Fogg. Je reste curieuse de lire d'autre titres de l'auteur.

A bit too contrived and far-fetched plot-wise.
Not to mention it was set as a compulsory reading at University by some teacher rooting for it.


Matching Soundtrack :
Codex - Radiohead

Slickly written but forgettable and possibly entirely pointless.

I have a feeling Moon Palace will fade quickly from memory just like The New York Trilogy, which I enjoyed at the time but struggle to recall anything of substance about less than a year after finishing it. There’s a vaguely similar central character – obsessive, ascetic, self-destructive – and a series of coincidences and callbacks, the point of which completely defeated me.

It falls somewhere mid-way between fiction and philosophy but doesn’t quite satisfy on either level: I didn’t care about any of the main characters and didn’t find any particularly interesting insights on the human condition. In the hands of a lesser writer it may well have been actively irritating but Auster is so good that he could render a shopping list stylish (although it would probably feature only bread and milk, written over and over again in tiny letters, leaving the shopper groping vainly for some meaning behind it all).

Curiously, some of the motifs that irritate me in Auster – self-indulgent men from lower-middle class backgrounds doing pointless obsessive things like sitting in bushes or down wells for weeks at time – I find enjoyably quirky in Haruki Murakami, with whom Auster shares many stylistic similarities. Does this mean that willful obscurity and introspection is inherently more interesting in a Japanese writer than an American one, or merely that I’m some sort of literary racist? Either way, I’ll probably go back to Murakami before Auster.

окрім звичних людських героїв, все інше описане, теж стає повноцінними персонажами. бейсбол і Нью-Йорк, парк, книги, мистецтво, природа. ці образи хапають читача, не відпускаючи протягом усієї книги.

Пол Остер майстерно змальовує звичайних людей, яких ми легко можемо уявити, поспівчувати їм або з осудом цокнути. і така дотичність до звичайного робить історію незвичайною.

так, моментами може здатися, що аж занадто багато бід на плечах головного героя, але потім ти обертаєшся, дивишся навкруги, читаєш новини і розумієш, що все таки реалістично.

а ще тут є моє улюблене: bookception! книга в книзі, а потім теж в книзі, тим часом, коли хтось ще пише книгу, яку інший вже читає.

цікаво вишукувати всі приховані дрібнички та схожості між автором та героями його книг.

як зауважив головний герой Марко про одну з книг, яку він читав — що та історія побудована на зручних випадковостях. чи те саме можна сказати і про Moon Palace? і так, і ні.

книга Остера чим починається, тим і закінчується, що робить роман замкненим. багато подій перегукується між собою, що створює цикл. і це все разом створює магічно-меланхолійну атмосферу.

знімаю бали за другорядного героя росіянина, згадки толстоєвських. розумію, що в кожній другій книзі вестернів це є. але не розумію, чому треба підкреслювати саме росіян, якщо майже завжди національна приналежність героїв впливає аж на нічого. тобто, конкретно в книзі Moon Palace якби замість росіянина був швейцарець, то катастрофи не сталось би. акцент заради акценту. а зараз такі акценти для мене тригер.

тим не менш, хочеться, аби книги Пола Остера були українською (на додачу до Нью-Йоркської трилогії і 4321). хочеться, аби побільше людей познайомилось з цим чудовим письменником.

Paul Auster scrive bene, fluido, gradevole. Ti può ammaliare. Però talora capita che ti fermi e ti chiedi: ma che razza di storia mi sta propinando? Si sa che Auster, oltre che per l'inventiva prorompente, si caratterizza per l'insistenza sul ruolo dominante del caso nella vita dell'uomo: ma in questo “Moon Palace” si succedono situazioni, coincidenze, sviluppi tanto inverosimili da ingenerare un crescendo di perplessità e rifiuto. Fino ad un accostamento, sicuramente ingeneroso ma irrefrenabile, a certe telenovele nelle quali perfetti sconosciuti si incontrano fortuitamente e qualche puntata dopo scoprono di essere padre e figlio, fratello e sorella, nonno e nipote: ecco, “Moon Palace” è una lettura ideale per chi ama cose e casi del genere.

Aș citi Paul Auster, descoperit anul acesta, săptămâni întregi, fără să mă satur. M-am scufundat în cartea asta captivată de personajele excentrice și de scrisul inteligent, de poveste, de hazul tandru cu care sunt relatate tragediile, cumva ca o succesiune de valuri aparent zdrobitoare, dar insignifiante, în repetiţiile lor, în alte și alte contexte existenţiale, sub lumina unei luni nepăsătoare. O căutare melancolică de sine, nesfârșită, a indivizilor, și o comedie a lumii cu ororile ei, de asemenea, repetitive, în fundal. M-am gândit deseori citind că e o carte scrisă cu o incredibilă poftă, cu un fel de bucurie deșănţată, ca medicament și ca o formă de răspăr ostentativ și de libertate în faţa marilor tristeţi și a nesfârșitelor șanse ratate. Minunată! ❤️

Everything in this books shouts to me: "I WANT TO BE LITERATURE! I WANT TO BE POETIC! DON"T YOU GET IT YET? YOU KNOW WHAT? I WILL ADD SOME MOON REFERENCES! AND I ADD SOME MORE. AND MORE. AND MORE."

Όπως έχω ξαναπεί, αγαπώ τον Ωστερ ακόμη και στα μέτρια του. Θεωρώ ότι "ζωγραφίζει" εξαιρετικούς χαρακτήρες και απολαμβάνω τη γραφή του. Όμως σε αυτό εδώ το βιβλίο, μου φάνηκαν κάπως παρατραβηγμενα τα πράγματα, οι συμπτώσεις, το πως ο πρωταγωνιστής παρόλα τα δεινά του κατέληγε σε διάφορες στιγμές της ζωής του με πολλά χρήματα, τύχη, ταξίδια, ανθρώπους να τον λατρεύουν, από το πουθενά... Κάπου όλο αυτό το βρήκα υπερβολικό..

التجربة الأولى مع بول أوستر ، لن تكون الأخيرة ، أبدع في رسم التفاصيل ، انها رواية عن عدم الهزيمة ، عن الأستمرار عن المحاولة مرة أخرى ، عن الحياة و الحب و الرغبة في الأستمرار ، أعجبتني رغم وجود دراما واضحة
الترجمة رائعة عن المركز القومي للترجمة

A rich tale of loss, grief and finding one's place in this world. Told in the unique and elaborate prose that is Paul Auster's style, the book is full of extraordinary journeys lived by four primary characters. The book explores father-son relationships quite deeply - whether it is through exploring the absence of one or one that is built from proxy.

In ways that they never imagined, their lives have converged. Each of these characters has made some defining decisions in their humble attempt to use the cards they are dealt.

The downside is the prose. In some parts I thought the descriptive writing style held the plot back from its organic development. Auster also has a tendency to jump from a plot point to an anecdote from a character and this shift is difficult to keep track of.