נכנסתי לספרייה העירונית כי רציתי להימלט מהחום
ויצאתי עם הספר הזה.

הוא הראשון שתפס לי את העין במדף הספרים (אולי בגלל הצבע הבולט והפשוט של הכריכה שלו).

זה ספר שמרגיש כמו שיחה עם חבר/ה בבית קפה.
זה ספר שיגרום לכם להבין עד כמה החיים הם רצף של אירועים לא צפויים.
לא בהכרח אזכור את כל הסיפורים הקצרים, אבל אזכור עד כמה הם סחפו אותי

אומנם לא קראתי אף ספר של פול אוסטר קודם לכן, אבל עכשיו אני דיי סקרנית לגביו.


עם כמה שהספר הזה קטן, החוויות שמסופרות בו מרגישות גדולות מהחיים.

Čitajući ove lijepe anegdote iz Austerova života, kao i one zanimljive iz života njegovih bližnjih, koje je zapisao u bilježnicu, jasnije mi je kako je nastala Newyorška trilogija, koju smatram remek djelom, suvremenim klasikom američke književnosti. Auster je opsjednut sinkronicitetima iz svog i života bližnjih, slučajnostima koje su nevjerojatne i neobične.

Rekla bih da su ove crtice i zapisi vrlo lijepi, a istovremeno jednostavni i nepretenciozni.
Većina završava nekim pozitivnim tonom, zadovoljstvom i čuđenjem pisca nad onim što nazivamo sitnicama koje život znače.

(review in English below)

Duas estrelas muito benevolentes. Tive em conta o facto de eu, à partida, não gostar de contos e também de não estar habituada a este formato de audiolivro, porque a verdade é que não gostei.

As histórias são, quase todas, episódios da própria vida do autor, sem qualquer relevância ou motivo de interesse para além do facto de algumas incluírem estranhas coincidências. Duas ou três histórias menos banais foram-lhe contadas por outras pessoas.

Se isto tivesse sido escrito por um qualquer autor menos conhecido, tenho a certeza de que nunca teria sido publicado.

Uma das coisas que mais me irritou neste audiolivro foi o facto de ser lido por uma mulher, quando as histórias são contadas na primeira pessoa pelo autor, que é, como todos sabemos, um homem! Além disso, não gostei particularmente da forma como esta senhora lê.

Enfim, não posso recomendar a ninguém...

Two very forgiving stars. I bore in mind that I'm not a fan of short stories in general and also that I'm not used to audiobooks, because in fact I didn't like it.

The stories are, almost all of them, anecdotes taken from the author's life experience, with no relevance or interest whatsoever besides the fact that some of them include strange coincidences. Two or three less trivial episodes were told to him by others.

If this book had been written by some less known author, I'm pretty sure it would never have been published.

One thing that I found most annoying in this audiobook was that it's read by a woman, even if the stories are told in the first person by the author, which is, as we all know, a man! Also, I really didn't like the way this lady reads.

Oh well, I can't recommend it to anyone...

Me ha gustado mucho porque son historias reales que te muestran todas las coincidencias que pueden ocurrir a lo largo de la vida y como el azar juega un papel muy importante. Me gusta muchísimo como escribe Paul Auster.

Cuando era niño y armaba algo con esos bloques que eran imitaciones de lego, me desesperaba si no encontraba alguna pieza que buscaba. Podía tirarme al suelo para atisbar debajo de los muebles, sacar cojines y cajones, desordenar toda la casa y nada. Fue una dolorosa primera lección de frustración.

Con el tiempo, imposibilitado de concluir mi construcción, me resignaba dedicándome a algo diferente: pintar con crayolas, ver TV, agarrar un libro, fingir que sabía leerlo. Imbuido en otra actividad, pasando del cuarto a la sala o camino a la cocina por un vaso de agua, ante mi vista aparecía en un rincón random el ladrillito añorado.

Ese recuerdo se me venía a la mente al leer este compilado de 13 relatos cortos (2-3 páginas), todos supuestamente verídicos, que tienen como hilo conductor la vida del autor desde su juventud vagabundeando en Europa, su regreso a Nueva York, pasando por su primer matrimonio, su hijo, su segundo matrimomio, etc. El otro hilo es el azar, las casualidades increíbles, aquellas que conectan personas o situaciones a través de décadas y miles de kilómetros de distancia. Aunque a veces esta repetitiva insistencia cansa como un mismo neumático pinchado.

Quizás exista un tercer hilo: que es inútil buscar un sentido a la existencia, como es inútil buscar en general. Al final, las cosas aparecen sea una moneda, un libro o la chica ideal. La lección que uno aprende en la infancia, fulminadora y furibunda como un rayo, es clara: no hay que obsesionarse con buscar. Podemos construir nuestros castillos incluso sin la pieza faltante y quedará mejor aún.

El interesante prólogo del libro se divide también en 13 partes (contando las fuentes) ¿coincidencia? ¿No es ese guarismo símbolo de infausto azar?

3,5
Paul Auster ile tanışmak için iyi bir kitap bence. İçindeki hikayeleri sevdim. Zaten kısacık bir kitaptı. Amaa sonu böyle ne bileyim garip bir şekilde havada kaldı. Son hikaye daha güzel olabilirdi bencee.

Gold. Not two days ago, I was complaining to a friend about having to read genre fiction instead of beautiful writing during my morning commute because it was more suited to the constant interruptions and stop-and-go of the tube. And then, this book fell into my hand.

Auster's bite-size true stories are intense and powerful, capturing lovely moments of chance and possibility in just a few pages each. "Perhaps it is a way to remind myself that I know nothing, that the world I live in will go on escaping me forever."

Oh, Paul Auster! I love this man so much. The simplicity his writing is just beautiful, and the stories themselves- all of which are about extraordinary moments or coincidences- kind of restored my faith in humanity, in fate, in life. It's so wonderful to know that moments like this exist, and that someone has taken the time to recall them. It's rare that I stumble upon a coincidence as profound as some of the ones in this book (Nazi prison guard's daughter falls in love with prisoner's son, a generation later in a completely different country, for example), but I feel inspired to start keeping track of the little ones from now on.

"Pero, hace menos de dos meses, descubrí que los libros no se terminan nunca, que es posible que las historias continúen escribiéndose a sí mismas sin autor" Un libro muy corto pero con historias entretenidas.

This slim book has three parts: short descriptions of coincidental happenings in Auster's life; his short essays on some writers, artists and French poetry and interviews with himself. The snippets of unbelievable coincidences were nice to read but not too thrilling if you've read his work before. The French poetry analysis I skipped cos I have no deep interest in that subject. But the interviews. Those were really insightful and they make me understand his work so much better now. For example:

"When I write, the story is always uppermost in my mind, and I feel that everything must be sacrificed to it. All the elegant passages, all the curious details, all the so-called beautiful writing - if they are not truly relevant to what I am trying to say, then they have to go. It's all in the voice. You're telling a story, after all, and your job is to make people want to go on listening to your tale. The slightest distraction or wandering leads to boredom. "

This is why despite his books being very good stories I still feel hollow after reading them. It is the lack of atmosphere. Those minute details, gestures, colours of the wallpaper - whatever descriptions are what create the fictional world where the characters operate. He also mentions that he often imagines the same places when he reads - whenever a house is his childhood house etc. I am frankly shocked of such limited imagination especially considering that his stories are often highly imaginative and a collision of unbelievable coincidences.

He also talks about how his biggest influence has been fairy tales. How oral storytelling tradition is pure and how novels are going further and further from telling the story because they are so crammed with descriptive information. I myself very much enjoy rich language in novels, long descriptions, of nature, people's appearances etc. Of course, a novel that is laconic in style does not have to be devoid of emotion (think James Salter). It is about the right words.

There is more talk about how all his work is related to his own experiences and some badmouthing of critics who have not been kind on his work. Unfortunately, this makes him come across as quite an egocentric person. Overall, I do recommend the interviews in the book if you want to make more sense of his work and see where it comes from also some of the little story snippets were quite fun. The rest is just okay.

Breve y exquisito.

Very enjoyable little collection of true stories. Most are based around coincidence, all are short, some told to him, some happened to him. Many are remarkable in their content, all are told remarkably well.