batbones's review against another edition
5.0
Here is delivered a mystery that is half mystery and half a questioning of the mystery genre. The Literary Review's christening of it as a "metaphysical thriller" (quoted on the back cover) is not a misnomer. In increasing generality, it brings into consideration the significance of actions, signs, and ultimately, the representation of reality, the straining of words to meet and fix the Real. The New York Trilogy is made of three mysterious stories that are mystery stories in all appearances, fulfilling the characteristics and expectations of the genre. However, where archetypal mysteries are labyrinthine but definite, moving in a twisting but single line, like a loopy piece of string, towards a happy, tied-with-a-bow, conclusion, here the assumed trajectory fails the reader and the seeking protagonist, as straight paths have the habit of turning into Mobius strips, the detective and the idea of detection challenged and countered by either the sheer volume of life's discrete details, or the trouble of producing/understanding a life. The seemingly unrelated trio of stories, strung together (as the reader halfway through is apt to think) almost precariously by the sole theme of an obsessive, messy search for Something, abruptly click into place with the rapidly of a well-oiled door. This book asks for the reader's patience and attention to the very end - the reader is encouraged to hold and withhold questions and doubts; it is in "The Locked Room" that everything falls together with quiet, final, brilliance. In what does not, in those jagged edges and gaps that fact and documentation do not seam and fill, are plainly fictions, this Trilogy openly admits, or, as I have come to think of it as I reached the last page, a ghostly shell of a house haunted by questions.
jvs2000's review against another edition
adventurous
mysterious
reflective
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
rebeccazh's review against another edition
read for school. this is a postmodernist/anti-detective novel
saeed82's review against another edition
5.0
سالها قبل در شرایطی کاملا جدید بودم. داشتم تغییر می‌کردم. می‌دانستم که دارم تبدیل به تعریفی تازه از خودم می‌شوم. این کتاب را به همراه وداع با اسلحه و اپرای شناور و سی کتاب دیگر فروختم تا بتوانم بلیط و خرج چند روز را جور کنم. آن موقع نخوانده بودمش و نمی‌دانستم اصل کتاب درباره‌ی هویت آدمها است. نمی‌دانیم کِی و به چه تبدیل می‌شویم. آیا دست خودمان است یا جبری محض؟
استر رو دوست دارم
استر رو دوست دارم
paper_prose's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
mayamcc's review against another edition
challenging
dark
mysterious
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
“but lost chances are as much a part of life as chances taken, and a story cannot dwell on what might have been.”
this was an interesting take on the traditional detective novel, loved the links between the books (especially in the last one) and the fact that paul auster himself is a character. however, it got so tiring reading three whole books about people throwing away their lives. it made me very frustrated, even thinking about it now is too much… and for that reason my rating is probably lower than it should be.
this was an interesting take on the traditional detective novel, loved the links between the books (especially in the last one) and the fact that paul auster himself is a character. however, it got so tiring reading three whole books about people throwing away their lives. it made me very frustrated, even thinking about it now is too much… and for that reason my rating is probably lower than it should be.
ominousevent's review against another edition
Aha! It had been quite a while since I'd read any postmodern lit, and this was an enjoyable return. (Maybe a good warmup for House of Leaves, which is next in my from-the-library queue?)
City of Glass, the first book in the trilogy, is one of those books that had been on my list for so long I don't remember anything about how it got there. Happening to see the trilogy in one volume when I visited the library for something else (The Talented Mr Ripley, which is not irrelevant) was a blessing, as the intertextual links would not have been as easy to pick up on if I had read the books further apart in time. As it was, my uncertainty over whether something in The Locked Room was referring back to something in City of Glass came to a perfect end when I realised it was actually something in The Talented Mr Ripley I was thinking of. The refrigerator that appeared not long after could not have come at a better time.
This trilogy is clever and interesting and had very little emotional effect on me.
City of Glass, the first book in the trilogy, is one of those books that had been on my list for so long I don't remember anything about how it got there. Happening to see the trilogy in one volume when I visited the library for something else (The Talented Mr Ripley, which is not irrelevant) was a blessing, as the intertextual links would not have been as easy to pick up on if I had read the books further apart in time. As it was, my uncertainty over whether something in The Locked Room was referring back to something in City of Glass came to a perfect end when I realised it was actually something in The Talented Mr Ripley I was thinking of. The refrigerator that appeared not long after could not have come at a better time.
This trilogy is clever and interesting and had very little emotional effect on me.
kurtwombat's review against another edition
5.0
Usually the term TRILOGY means the continuation of a certain plot or the lives of certain characters for good or ill depending on whether the author actually has more story to unfold. Often it may be justified to toss around the accusation of a “money grab”. Sometimes however something greater is afoot. My favorite trilogy is John Dos Passos’ USA TRILOGY. Dos Passos mixes experimental techniques (interviews, song lyrics, headlines, stream of consciousness, character biographies—and this was in the ‘30’s) with straight narrative to achieve a greater impact than if he had carried along down a straight line. I have shambled through many trilogies since reading Dos Passos 25 years ago, but nothing came close to creating the same power and buzz for me until I read Paul Auster’s NEW YORK TRILOGY. Auster too seems to be creating his own techniques to tell his tale. Each of the three books is loosely structured as a detective story. Very quickly, the mystery changes…and then changes again. What seems straightforward slowly bends in different directions. You could read each novel and argue that you have read the same thing three times…or make the opposite argument as well. When I think of the books I see three giant arrows pointing toward an empty center. Not empty, but something I can’t yet see. Each book is from the point of view of it’s detective. They proceed logically but as what they seek starts to shift, so does their logical footing. Each book starts as a lark, but soon shudders into darkness. Is this darkness the absence of love…or the penalty of imposing order on chaos…or even the personal hell awaiting writers facing blank sheets? Auster’s creation is marvelous. It seems kindred to Dos Passos and at the same time existing in a world we haven’t caught up to yet.