Book Review
Nov. 15th, 2011 08:42 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
kenjariSunset Park
by Paul Auster
I got this book through one of the giveaways on Goodreads. I'd signed up for it even though the blurb didn't make the book sound that interesting, because my sister really likes Auster, and thought it would be worth a read in any case. Set in the winter of 2008, it's mainly about Miles Heller, 28 year old who dropped out of college, severed his relationship with his family, and has spent seven years drifting aimlessly through America due to his guilt over his step-brother's accidental death. When Miles falls in love in Florida, the circumstances of the relationship cause him to return to New York, where he lives with three others as squatters in an abandoned house in Brooklyn. Auster also weaves in the stories of Miles' father Morris, and his housemates Bing, Ellen, and Alice.
I ended up finding Sunset Park extremely compelling, which I credit entirely to Auster's skill as a writer. His prose is both evocative and economical, and he has a way of drawing you into his characters and their stories. I ended up being extremely interested in these people, sometimes in spite of themselves, and I cared about what happened to them. Auster also does a great job of evoking the sense of uncertainty, bleakness, and dislocation of this recession.
The only thing I didn't like was the ending, not because it leaves a lot unresolved, but because it has Miles a little too willing to give into despair and hopelessness.
by Paul Auster
I got this book through one of the giveaways on Goodreads. I'd signed up for it even though the blurb didn't make the book sound that interesting, because my sister really likes Auster, and thought it would be worth a read in any case. Set in the winter of 2008, it's mainly about Miles Heller, 28 year old who dropped out of college, severed his relationship with his family, and has spent seven years drifting aimlessly through America due to his guilt over his step-brother's accidental death. When Miles falls in love in Florida, the circumstances of the relationship cause him to return to New York, where he lives with three others as squatters in an abandoned house in Brooklyn. Auster also weaves in the stories of Miles' father Morris, and his housemates Bing, Ellen, and Alice.
I ended up finding Sunset Park extremely compelling, which I credit entirely to Auster's skill as a writer. His prose is both evocative and economical, and he has a way of drawing you into his characters and their stories. I ended up being extremely interested in these people, sometimes in spite of themselves, and I cared about what happened to them. Auster also does a great job of evoking the sense of uncertainty, bleakness, and dislocation of this recession.
The only thing I didn't like was the ending, not because it leaves a lot unresolved, but because it has Miles a little too willing to give into despair and hopelessness.
