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Leviathan

paul auster

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New York Times bestselling author Paul Auster (The New York Trilogy) opens Leviathan with the tearing of a bomb explosion and the death of one Benjamin Sachs. Ben’s one-time best friend, Peter Aaron, begins to retrospectively investigate the transformation that led Ben from his enviable stable life, to one of a recluse. Both were once intelligent, yet struggling novelists until Ben’s near-death experience falling from a fire escape triggers a tumble in which he becomes withdrawn and disturbed, living alone and building bombs in a far-off cabin. That is, until he mysteriously disappears, leaving behind only a manuscript titled Leviathan, pages rustling in the wind.

275 pages, Paperback

First published January 1,1992
Literary awards
prix médicis étranger, 
Places
new york city new york, 

This edition

Format
275 pages, Paperback
Published
September 1, 1993 by Penguin Publishing Group
ISBN
9780140178135
ASIN
0140178139
Language
English
Characters More characters

More editions

About the author

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paul auster

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Paul Auster was the bestselling author of 4 3 2 1, Bloodbath Nation, Baumgartner, The Book of Illusions, and The New York Trilogy, among many other works. In 2006 he was awarded the Prince of Asturias Prize for Literature. Among his other honors are the Prix Médicis Étranger for Leviathan, the Independent Spirit Award for the screenplay of Smoke, and the Premio Napoli for Sunset Park. In 2012, he was the first recipient of the NYC Literary Honors in the category of fiction. He was also a finalist for the International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award (The Book of Illusions), the PEN/Faulkner Award (The Music of Chance), the Edgar Award (City of Glass), and the Man Booker Prize (4 3 2 1). Auster was a member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters and a Commandeur de l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres. His work has been translated into more than forty languages. He died at age seventy-seven in 2024.

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Community Reviews

Rating(4.1 / 5.0, 99 votes)
5 stars
37(37%)
4 stars
34(34%)
3 stars
28(28%)
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99 reviews All reviews
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chewliechan
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
March 26,2025
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Cuando te metes entre pecho y espalda una buena cantidad de libros de este señor en poco tiempo comienzas a ver patrones, personajes y temas recurrentes. En este libro están todos los que abraza y abrazará el señor Auster. Un muy buen retrato coral de una sociedad que ha perdido su brújula.
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DYED
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
March 26,2025
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Adesso "4321" è passato dall'essere un desiderio all'essere un bisogno.
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Vashti
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
March 26,2025
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Es una lectura muy amena y ocasiones me parece que es una obra brillante. El problema que surge me suele surgir con Auster es que al final, la mayoría de sus libros, me parecen malas historias. Y no es precisamente por la temática o por el contenido de la misma, sino por la forma de contarlas. Creo que la forma que tiene de entender la ficción está muy alejada de la mía y eso hace que a veces me haga pensar que estoy leyendo muy malo, una especie de libelo. Supongo que es una impresión errónea, puesto que en otras ocasiones soy capaz de discernir la calidad de la lectura que propone pero, insisto, siempre me deja un poco frío.
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Strawberry82
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
March 26,2025
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A great writer was grappling with an ambitious subject, masterfully treated.
First, it is a perfect construction, an upside-down thriller that gives the dead man's identity and goes back to his story told by his best friend, who leads the investigation among the key characters, especially women who were essential to them both, doubles too. The narrator recounts with thoroughness and depth a few years of life in turmoil in this little world of the American intelligentsia of the Reagan years and their lost dreams. It is also the explanation of the genesis of a story with the strokes of chance, the vain research, the intersecting stories, and everything that will ultimately deliver a book to a publisher or the FBI. Magnificent!
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Viewed
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
March 26,2025
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In terms of American writers, Auster stands up there being so unique, a writer one must read at least once. He’s remarkably talented here and his originality continues to impress me.

Leviathan literally means the biggest of its kind, and was also a sea monster from the Old Testament. Knowing such things illuminates Auster’s reasoning behind titling his book as such.

In this tale, Peter Aaron’s friend, Ben Sachs-a once-promising author-accidentally blows himself up along a rural road using a homemade bomb. Though it’d been years since Peter had communicated with his best-friend, he takes it upon himself to tell the story of how Ben had come to such an alarming and unusual end. Since Sachs had been working on an abandoned novel called Leviathan, Peter (and Auster) calls his book the same. Peter recounts his first meeting with Ben, and from there writes about their lives spent together and apart, along with all the friends and lovers that entered their lives and changed their fates with the smallest of intricacies and nuances. Peter hopes to finish his book and elucidate the public on Ben and his bomb-making before the Feds bring shame upon Sachs’ name.

I was totally drawn into this story, and that's what Auster is all about, he is storyteller. I want to make it abundantly clear that I consider most of Auster’s books worth looking at. Even Auster’s weaker still leaves fans wanting more. Leviathan was utterly interesting and a page-turner, but where this differs slightly from his other work, there is far more chance of this actually happening in the real world.

Leviathan employs regular Auster themes such as isolation, the complexity of interpersonal relationships, and the desire to discard an identity and begin anew. Leviathan also focuses on the ironic intersections and coincidences in life, and Auster weaves and melds seemingly meaningless occurrences early in the novel into rather important plot devices all the way to the story’s end. The three-fold meaning of the book’s title alone illustrates the care Auster takes in layering his ironies.

Stayed in my mind long after reading, and have since read again. I would say it's him at his best, it's one I would certainly recommend for anybody yet to read him , because it's far easier to comprehend. Written in the 90's, it still says a lot about America of today. A great novel.
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vilosove
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
March 26,2025
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Eigentlich hat auch dieser Roman alles, was man an Paul Auster liebt. Schrullige Protagonist:innen, eine Storyline voller Zufälle, die (meist) geschickt verwoben, die Handlung vorantreiben, autofiktionale Elemente.

Nur hat es mich ab Sachs' Unfall ungefähr in der Mitte des Buches nicht mehr so mitgenommen ... Insgesamt ist mir der Text auch etwas zu verkopft - ich habe mich teilweise durch seitenlange Abwägungen oder Erklärungen, wieso (oder auch nicht) etwas passiert sein könnte, gequält.

Die Konstruktion trägt entscheidend dazu bei. Die Geschichte wird von Erzähler Peter als Rückblende erzählt, während er an einem Memoir über seinen Freund schreibt. Peter kann seine Informationen dabei nur aus Gesprächen mit Sachs und anderen Protagonist:innen schöpfen.
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Nuheber
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
March 26,2025
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Четох, пулих се, прегледах ревюта - да не би да съм пропуснала нещо, но не - тази книга е пълна безсмислица.

Пол Остър има хубав, зрял стил на писане, но отдавна не бях попадала на толкова похабен талант. Историята, героите и постъпките им нямаха никакъв смисъл, просто случайно брауново движение на някакви човечета-дебили, но с претенция за дълбочина. Явно имаше някакви препратки към Унабомбъра, но какво от това? Чела съм по-смислени статии за развитието на Качински от тези близо 300 страници пълнеж, в които непрекъснато ти обещават, че ще ти разкрият някаква мистерия, че ще се стигне до някакъв смислен финал и обяснение, но вместо това накрая се чувстваш само измамен от липсата на каквато и да е логика в разказа и в еволюцията на героите.

А да не казвам колко ме дразни авторовият похват на знаещ-бъдещето лирически герой, който подмята въдички от типа на "той още не знаеше, че тази дреболия Х ще обърка целия му живот/ще доведе до невероятна трагедия/нещо си друго драматично" и т.н. Жалки опити да се задържи вниманието на читателя. Пълен кьорфишек.
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Devil17
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
March 26,2025
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Had to read it for a book club I go, but in all honesty, I couldn't get into the book. Slow, tedious, uninteresting. Didn't enjoy the prose or the characters.
Ended up flipping pages and finally stoppes reading almost at half the book.
Definitely, not for me.
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