mazza57's review against another edition
3.0
It is difficult to rate this book. I love the work of Paul Auster but this feels very different. It is a shortish book the "meat" of which is really in the second section. I found Part 1 difficult to get into, although it definitely finished dangling by a thread and the third part felt like it was merely dotting the i's and crossing the t's. It isn't my favourite of his books but it still was well worth the read
_mallc_'s review against another edition
3.0
A couple of thoughts:
1. Auster is brilliant. There is no doubt about that. The way that he layers his stories and makes strange parallels between the different characters is always surprising and innovative. On top of that he has a way of challenging the reader to question what they are reading, whether it is actually the novel or something "inside" the novel which is quite incredible.
2. That said, he almost always creeps the hell out of me. This book is no exception. It left me in quite the funk. Beware.
1. Auster is brilliant. There is no doubt about that. The way that he layers his stories and makes strange parallels between the different characters is always surprising and innovative. On top of that he has a way of challenging the reader to question what they are reading, whether it is actually the novel or something "inside" the novel which is quite incredible.
2. That said, he almost always creeps the hell out of me. This book is no exception. It left me in quite the funk. Beware.
aineg's review against another edition
4.0
Very good read but left with a lot of unanswered questions about who did what.
mono_86's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
ayrana's review against another edition
challenging
dark
mysterious
reflective
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.25
okenwillow's review against another edition
4.0
Encore un régal comme à chaque fois que je lis Paul Auster. Là encore, (ou là surtout), il excelle à nous perdre dans une narration des plus originales. On débute par le récit à la première personne du jeune Adam Walker, avant de poursuivre avec un autre narrateur, extérieur et étranger à l’aventure que Walker nous relate. Un jeu de double, de vérités déformées, joué par des personnages complexes et tourmentés. Les relations entre eux sont loin d’être simples ou saines. L’intrigue ne manque pas d’intérêt mais la construction du récit est si élaborée qu’elle passionne autant que le propos. C’est un peu une histoire dans une histoire, comme toujours chez Auster des mises en abîme vertigineuses et maîtrisées, des épisodes de la vie de Walker relatés de manières différentes pour mieux brouiller les pistes. Paradoxalement, Invisible ne sera pas mon préféré d’Auster, il y manque je ne sais quoi, malgré le plaisir et l’intérêt que j’ai eu à le lire.
feimineach's review
4.0
Paul Auster seldom fails to please and Invisible was no different: strong characterisations, beautiful writing, and engaging narrations. That's really all I need in any novel.
cherylcheng00's review against another edition
4.0
Each of the several floors is identical to all the others: an immense windowless space filled with row upon row of towering gray metal shelves, all of them stuffed to capacity with books, thousands of books, tens of thousands of books, hundreds of thousands of books, a million books, and at times even you, who love books as much as anyone on this earth, become stupefied, anxious, even nauseated when you consider how many billions of words, how many trillions of words those books contain. You are shut off from the world for hours every day, inhabiting what you come to think of as an airless bubble, even if there must be air because you are breathing, but it is dead air, air that has not stirred in centuries, and in that suffocating environment you often feel drowsy, drugged to the point of semiconsciousness, and have to fight off the urge to lie down on the floor and go to sleep. (99)
He is trying to write something cogent about the work of George Oppen, a contemporary American poet whom he greatly admires. He copies out these lines from Oppen's most recent book, This in Which:
Impossible to doubt the world: it can be seen
And because it is irrevocable
It cannot be understood, and I believe that fact is lethal. (182)
He finds the gloom indoors rather pleasant—a soothing gloom, as it were, a companionable gloom, a gloom one could converse with for hours. He puts down his pen, scratches his head, exhales. Unbidden, a forgotten verse from Ecclesiastes comes roaring into his consciousness. And I gave my heart to know wisdom, and to know madness and folly... As he jots down the words in the right-hand margin of his poem, he wonders if this isn't the truest thing he has written about himself in months. (201)
He is trying to write something cogent about the work of George Oppen, a contemporary American poet whom he greatly admires. He copies out these lines from Oppen's most recent book, This in Which:
Impossible to doubt the world: it can be seen
And because it is irrevocable
It cannot be understood, and I believe that fact is lethal. (182)
He finds the gloom indoors rather pleasant—a soothing gloom, as it were, a companionable gloom, a gloom one could converse with for hours. He puts down his pen, scratches his head, exhales. Unbidden, a forgotten verse from Ecclesiastes comes roaring into his consciousness. And I gave my heart to know wisdom, and to know madness and folly... As he jots down the words in the right-hand margin of his poem, he wonders if this isn't the truest thing he has written about himself in months. (201)
nerissa's review against another edition
5.0
What's not to like.. Wonderfully open-ended, multiple narrative perspectives, stories-within-stories, facts blending with fiction, clashing testimonies and a lot of meta-fiction to keep the thinker in me going..
A great sample of its metafictive analysis can be found here.
I would read it again, just for the amazing prose and the fact that it left me thinking I missed something important!
And a great quote : "Never nothing but the dream of nothing / Never anything but the dream of all"
A great sample of its metafictive analysis can be found here.
I would read it again, just for the amazing prose and the fact that it left me thinking I missed something important!
And a great quote : "Never nothing but the dream of nothing / Never anything but the dream of all"