4 ⭐️ / 5⭐️

Después de 80 años, finalmente pude terminar este libro. Me tomó tanto tiempo porque lo empecé a leer en la peor etapa de un estudiante de Letras: en época de parciales. Cuando empiezan los parciales es una seguidilla tortuosa que se convierte en tener que preparar finales y lo último que uno quiere hacer es sentarse a leer más libros, aunque sean por placer.
La primera cosa que encuentro como positiva de este libro son los relatos. Uno entra a este libro sabiendo que aquello que está por leer son simplemente vivencias de personas relacionadas con ciertos temas: la muerte, los animales, los sueños, meditaciones, entre otros. Es decir, no son cuentos complejos y que requieren mucha atención o análisis profundo. Por lo tanto, fue una lectura que encajó perfecto con la época en la que lo empecé a leer.
Otro aspecto destacable es la sensibilidad litetararia de Paul Auster que logró recopilar narraciones de lo más especulares. Hay algunas que son tan impresionantes e imposibles, que por momentos te dejás llevar y te olvidás que estás leyendo algo que se supone que pasó de verdad. Recordás que es real cuando llegás al final y te encontrás con el nombre de la persona que lo vivió.
Como sucede con cualquier libro que recopila cuentos o relatos breves, hay algunos con los que uno resuena más. Creo que eso es lo normal. Sin embargo, Creía Que Mi Padre Era Dios guarda una coherencia y una cohesión que lo hace destacable. El hecho de que Auster decida reunir estas vivencias según temas comunes, anticipa qué es lo que encontraremos en estos relatos. Y la selección que hace el autor confirma que tenía una visión como editor: mostrar distintas realidades de la sociedad estadounidense.
Nada, claramente lo disfruté mucho

I found it hard to believe, sometimes.

این کتابی بود که با تردید خریدمش. شنیده بودم داستان کوتاهه. الان فکر می کنم کاش زودتر خریده بودمش.فوق العادس، این که می بینی زندگی بعضی وقت ها چقدر ساده و بعضی وقت ها چقدر پیچیس.لذتی که کتابای استر به ادم میده با هیچی عوض نمیکنم.

Amazing how many different experiences can be captured in these short selections. I found them exceedingly rich and could not read them all at once.

A superb collection of stories from 'ordinary folk', not remarkable so much for the stories themselves as for the voices, the themes and the sweeping portraite of generations of Americans. Across the enormous distances of the USA and from world war 2 vets to the young of the 21st century, the unity and diversity of experiences is powerful to read. Auster's introduction, a model of prefatory essay writing, says this all better than I can of course, and we can see his love of conincidence through the selection of works which make it into the book - those 'stranger than fiction' moments which so many of these first-time authors have taken the opportunity to record. Auster's organisation of the stories is powerful also - midway through the section on Death the emotional harrowing of story after story takes its toll, but we are lifted into Dreams immediately after and that macro-level shaping shows, in many ways, Auster's narrative artistry at its finest.
To summarise - how can you summarise such a diverse collection, spanning a continent and four generations of non-authors who noentheless had a story to share? Nothing short of brilliant.

Collected stories from a show Auster ran on NPR. Real folks telling real stories with an extraordinary twist, these were the only qualifications. Lends narrative credence to the fact that people are endlessly varied and endlessly fascinating. Highly highly recommended.

Paul Auster is the editor of this book.

This book contains many of the hundreds and hundreds of personal stories submitted to NPR's National Story Project. They are varied and most are truly interesting to read.

I have longed believed that everyone of us has a story or stories to tell about events in our lives.
This book certainly validates my perspective. I found it to be informative and delightful in many
ways.

I wished it could have gone on and on.

When I grab this book from the shelf of my roommate(which has been there for a thousand years), I never thought this would be one of my favorite books. The stories tell truth about life, love, what we passionate about, and what is important in our lives. My most enjoyed chapters were Families, Slapstick, Strangers, War, Love, Death, and Dreams. I would say this is perfect bathroom book. I read one or two stories every time when I use the bathroom(or Loo in fancy English). I would totally recommend this book. The short heartwarming stories will lift up your spirit.

I'd never heard of this book before or of NPR's National Story Project. The book contains about a hundred recollections by people around the country of moments that impacted their lives or memories that they still think about years later. Each story ranges from a single paragraph or two to three pages. While some of the stories fall flat, most are interesting and some are incredibly insightful, painful, funny, etc. The extent of the fascinating stories that people from all around the country submitted is reason enough for the 5-star rating.

3 y media estrellas. Esta colección de relatos verídicos editados por Paul Auster me llevó de regreso a mis días de infancia cuando, en la sobremesa, mi padre contaba historias de su vida. Hay aquí un compendio de esos relatos domésticos que se atesoran en las familias y que, a fuerza de ser reales, dibujan un cuadro en el que cabe entera la naturaleza humana.

This compilation of real stories has a very particular magic. The fact that they are true tales of personal expirences shared by real people and in their own words, as a reader makes you approach and enjoy it in a different way.
There is a recent web page, based on the idea of this book, which could be an interesting project: link:Nubyee.
Thank you

So many voices, one after the other in quick succession. Many of them stick to my mind: sweet, sorrowful, tragic, exciting, magical, strange. Short but sweet in the most pure sense - stories, moments, feelings, memories - bringing delight, smiles, and incredible sadness. Coincidences is clearly a theme for Auster's picks, not surprisingly - in many accounts, people are connected by an invisible but powerful string.

Robert McGee:
I knew what was wrong. The job was like a noose around my neck; I was being strangled by the wrong life. (63)

Tony Powell:
I remember it as a day of wrath and embarrassment. Dad's nose was in total control of our itinerary ... We wanted to eat lunch in the picnic area beneath the weeping-willow trees; Dad's nose threw a fit and asked us if we were all out of our minds.' (137)

Lion Goodman:
I decided to look at my assassin, to look death in the face. I picked up my head and turned my eyes toward him. He was shocked. Jumping up from his seat, he shouted, "Why aren't you dead, man? You're supposed to be dead!" (196-97)

Dede Ryan:
Above all, the martini is cold. Not just cold. Siberian cold. Hypothermic. There is not ice in evidence, but the idea of ice is embedded in every sweet swallow. How could something so cold impart such warmth? (359)

Ameni Rozsa:
Its sound is our guardian angel; ubiquitous but unassuming. We move about our business while radio patiently follows. Its persistence soothes even our most sudden and sharp-edged isolations, softens the space between our souls and the ever-distant walls.
...
I stopped listening to the radio. I once again began to think of time alone as something to spend or will away, rather than something I could stretch myself across. (378-79)