Das war mit leichtem Abstand immer mein Lieblings-Auster. Spannend, unterhaltsam, magisch, philosophisch.

A road trip, some high stakes poker, and indentured servitude. Sure, why not?

The Music of Chance moves along at a rapid clip. Characters speak back and forth at each other like that one scene in Reservoir Dogs, and the actual narration feels kind of like some old Texan going on and on, missing out some of the details but hitting the important notes. It's an odd style but it's really quite engaging, and I only found myself stopping due to other personal obligations.

Reading some of the responses and reviews it seems that there's a lot of discussion about the metaphor and meaning of the book, but that doesn't feel like the most important aspect of it to me. There's undoubtedly some recurring themes but to me the most important (and engaging) elements are the interactions, the dialogue, the general atmosphere of the whole thing. It sets a really consistent tone quickly and dips in there for a good while until a very particular thing happens to flip it all on its head and change the feeling.

The abruptness is sure to put some people off, and that's not just in terms of the ending, but if you can get over that (and there's not much to get over, in terms of page count), you may very well find yourself having a good time.

A friend spoke to me once of "concretizing the metaphor" when trying to write evocative and symbolically pregnant prose. Auster manages to do that very effectively in almost all of his works, and The Music of Chance is no exception. No one reading this work could help but be struck by the three cases of concrete metaphor on display here. The first is Stone's City of the World. The second is Flower's museum of unwanted objects, but the third and most compelling is surely The Wall. William Jennings Bryan once said, "Destiny is no matter of chance. It is a matter of choice: It is not a thing to be waited for, it is a thing to be achieved." Auster shows that choice, chance and destiny are not nearly the separate things that Bryan may imagine them to be. That it may be our choices that put us on destiny's path and that chance may play a role in us fullfilling our destiny, but also that it is our choice to be the victim of chance or the author of our own destiny.

Paul Auster,beyzbol maçı bile anlatsa,beş yıldız alır benden.Hayranıyım kendisinin...

De esos libros que no acaban hasta que acaban y que no sueltas hasta que acabas y te dices que no es lo mejor de tu vida pero que tu vida era mejor mientras lo leías.

Пол Остър от началото до края. Интересно.

This book left with so much thinking to do and had so many philosophical metaphors that I ended up pushing it on my friends, fully thinking that I had their best interest in mind. But when I actually, thought about it I realized that what I really wanted was someone to discuss the book with. I wanted to talk about the characters and the metaphor and what it was all really trying to say.
Yeah, this is a fabulous book. It deals with existentialism, freedom and captivity, chance and coincidence and obsession. Most of all I feel this book deals with how one should live one's life. Whether to except things as they come or to struggle for what you want. Man, there's so much to this book. I'm just going to stop here, but don't miss this one.

With the exception of The New York Trilogy, I have only read Paul Auster’s later works and he has never disappointed me. I knew that his early works are even better so I was glad to finally have a chance to read ‘The Music of Chance’

It is fantastic.

Jim Nashe is a man who is disillusioned with life. After a long spell on the road and a hefty inheritance he decides to pack it all in and spend the rest of his days travelling.

His troubles begin when he befriends a gambler called Jack Pozzi and they plan to play a game of cards with two rich people. Things do not turn out as they seem and jack and Jim have to repay the eccentric duo by building a wall ( the stones were from a destroyed Irish castle).

At first things go well but Jack rebels and this leads him to commit certain actions which affect his destiny and Jim’s as well.

Like I said this book kept me stuck to my chair. It focuses on chance and circumstances but also is about the absurdity of life. There are many existentialist tones, especially with Jack’s way of reasoning. Plus it’s written beautifully.

I would also say – up to this point it’s also the best Auster novel I have read and a very good place to start if you haven’t delved into his novels yet.

The person who recommended this to me really, really loves it, so I suppose I went in with high expectations - but I didn't feel they were met. The writing is often excellent, and I'm sure Auster is saying many things on many subjects, but I did not enjoy it, and did not feel it hung together well as a story. I felt no connection to or sympathy for any of the characters and the tale seemed to simply meander. I freely admit that I don't have much interest in reading rambling prose about someone driving around aimlessly, or the blow-by-blow of a poker game, or the technicalities of building a wall, so perhaps this is simply very much not a novel for me.

giudizi in un haiku

e ti porta via
il caso se ti prende
inaspettato

"Die Musik des Zufalls" ist ebenso kurz wie merkwürdig. Paul Auster, meisterlicher Autor in schwermütigen Charaktergeschichten und surrealen Wendungen, nutzt hier die missliche Position zweier Männer zu einem sehr andersartigen Stück über Werte, Schulden und Vergeltung. Mehrfach wird die Geschichte komplett auf den Kopf gestellt, das eigentlich langsame Tempo an einigen Stellen extrem beschleunigt. Und wenn am Ende das Buch so abrupt endet wie es begann, dann hat sicher weder ein Kreis geschlossen noch sind die Rätsel gelöst.

Aber genau diese Umstände machen diese Geschichte auch so faszinierend. Ich mag es sehr, wenn Auster sich in solche Konstrukte stürzt und diese ohne Vorwarnungen auseinanderreisst. Und seiner Sprache ist es schliesslich auch hier zu verdanken, dass man bei jeder Beschreibung und jedem Dialog mehr als nur gut unterhalten wird und schnell mitfiebert.

Another strange but absorbing read from one of America's finest, its a little on the short side but is instantly recognisable as Auster. Featuring oddball eccentric characters and elements of The Brothers Grimm and Samuel Beckett, its quite a straight forward story basically about a couple of guys losing a game of poker then building a wall as a way to clear the debt, its told in a way that makes it feel like a surreal fable. There is also a shocking ending I didn't see coming. For fans it's a worthy read, although not his best.