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Auggie Wren's Christmas Story

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A timeless, utterly charming Christmas fable, beautifully illustrated and destined to become a classic.

When Paul Auster was asked by The New York Times to write a Christmas story for the Op-Ed page, the result, "Auggie Wren's Christmas Story," led to Auster's collaboration on a film adaptation, Smoke. Now the story has found yet another life in this enchanting illustrated edition.

It begins with a writer's dilemma: he's been asked by The New York Times to write a story that will appear in the paper on Christmas morning. The writer agrees, but he has a problem: How to write an unsentimental Christmas story? He unburdens himself to his friend at his local cigar shop, a colorful character named Auggie Wren. "A Christmas story? Is that all?" Auggie counters. "If you buy me lunch, my friend, I'll tell you the best Christmas story you ever heard. And I guarantee every word of it is true."

And an unconventional story it is, involving a lost wallet, a blind woman, and a Christmas dinner. Everything gets turned upside down. What's stealing? What's giving? What's a lie? What's the truth? It's vintage Auster, and pure pleasure: a truly unsentimental but completely affecting tale.

36 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1,1990

This edition

Format
36 pages, Hardcover
Published
November 2, 2004 by Henry Holt and Co.
ISBN
9780805077230
ASIN
0805077235
Language
English

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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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Rating(4 / 5.0, 100 votes)
5 stars
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100 reviews All reviews
Profile Image for Kimberly .
RK_Revolt
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
March 26,2025
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Cuando al tratarse de decoración se dice que menos es mas, pienso que en los libros también se puede aplicar, después de todo las palabras adornan aquello que queremos contar, y este cuentito tiene las palabras justas para que sea bello en su sencillez.
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LucySky
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
March 26,2025
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Cuento corto que se lee en un suspiro y sin pestañear. Tiene ese encanto de los cuentos navideños, pero sin llegar a la sensiblería de historias más profundas y dramáticas. Desde un trasfondo cotidiano, elogia el arte de contar historias.

El relato es muy muy breve, pero puede dividirse en dos partes. Si bien la primera me ha parecido casi poética y nos enseña a mirar la vida con otros ojos, la segunda parte tiene cierto regusto a fábula y es propiamente el cuento navideño.
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DevLog
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
March 26,2025
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El cuento de Navidad de Auggie Wren empieza con la premisa de tener que escribir un cuento de Navidad, pero no saber por dónde ir. Es el personaje Auggie Wren quien le ofrece al autor una historia que contar.
"Comprendí que Auggie estaba fotografiando el tiempo, el tiempo natural y el tiempo humano, y lo hacía instalándose en una minúscula esquina del mundo y deseando que fuera suya, montando guardia en el espacio que había elegido para sí"
El cuento se puede dividir en dos momentos. El primero, que nos presenta a Auggie Wren y su actividad diaria: tomar fotografías a un pequeño rincón, donde captura tiempo y espacio, pero más que eso, le permite asumir un lugar, su lugar, estar atento y presente para percibir aquello que muchas pasa desapercibido.

"Pero por otra parte, ¿cómo podía nadie proponerse escribir un cuento de Navidad que no fuera sentimental?"
La segunda parte propone un giro presentando la historia navideña en sí: cómo Auggie obtuvo su cámara fotográfica, que no fue precisamente un regalo... Pero que sí involucra regalar, compartir, dar, precisamente en Navidad. Ese contacto que buscamos en fechas especiales.
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ODY55EY
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
March 26,2025
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ოგი რენი ჩემს ცხოვრებაში ერთმა კარგმა ადამიანმა შემოიყვანა, მალევე ოგიც და ეგ კარგი ადამიანიც, ჩემთვის მნიშვნელოვან მოვლენად იქცნენ. არცერთი შობა ოგის გარეშე.
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LewsTherin
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
March 26,2025
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1/1/2021
مجموعة قصصية من الأدب الأمريكي المعاصر تجمع بين بول اوستر و ايديا ديفيس
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sofie24
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
March 26,2025
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My first review for the Christmas Spirit Challenge is going to be a mini-review for a mini book. Michelle, our lovely hostess, sent me Paul Auster's Auggie Wren's Christmas Story as part of my prize package for a previous year's challenge. It is a slim volume with a lovely Christmas fable--without Santa or reindeer or snowmen or Christmas trees. The most holiday-type thing in the story is a very unconventional Christmas dinner. How can this be?

It is a tale about a writer who has been asked by The New York Times to write a Christmas story to be featured on Christmas morning. But he doesn't want to write one of those mushy, gushy, sentimental stories that serve as "wishfulfillment dreams, fairy tales for adults." He wants an unsentimental Christmas story even though he knows it is "a contradiction in terms, an impossibility, an out-and-out conundrum. One might as just as well try to imagine a racehorse without legs, or a sparrow without wings." So, the next time he ventures into his favorite cigar store, he tells his friend Auggie Wren his troubles. Auggie tells him that if he'll buy him lunch, he'll tell him the best Christmas story ever. The best because it's absolutely true.

This is Auggie's story about a shoplifter, a lost wallet, a blind grandmother, and that unconventional Christmas dinner that I mentioned above. It is a fable that encourages us to question whether a lie can ever serve as the truth and who is the giver and who is the taker. Auggie learns a little something about himself and what Christmas might really mean. ★★★★ for a surprisingly lovely unconventional Christmas story.

First posted on my blog My Reader's Block. Please request permission before reposting. Thanks.
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