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The Brooklyn Follies: A Novelby Paul Auster
Synopses & ReviewsPublisher Comments:From the bestselling author of Oracle Night and The Book of Illusions, an exhilarating, whirlwind tale of one man’s accidental redemption Nathan Glass has come to Brooklyn to die. Divorced, estranged from his only daughter, the retired life insurance salesman seeks only solitude and anonymity. Then Nathan finds his long-lost nephew, Tom Wood, working in a local bookstore—a far cry from the brilliant academic career he’d begun when Nathan saw him last. Tom’s boss is the charismatic Harry Brightman, whom fate has also brought to the “ancient kingdom of Brooklyn, New York.” Through Tom and Harry, Nathan’s world gradually broadens to include a new set of acquaintances—not to mention a stray relative or two—and leads him to a reckoning with his past. Among the many twists in the delicious plot are a scam involving a forgery of the first page of The Scarlet Letter, a disturbing revelation that takes place in a sperm bank, and an impossible, utopian dream of a rural refuge. Meanwhile, the wry and acerbic Nathan has undertaken something he calls The Book of Human Folly, in which he proposes “to set down in the simplest, clearest language possible an account of every blunder, every pratfall, every embarrassment, every idiocy, every foible, and every inane act I had committed during my long and checkered career as a man.” But life takes over instead, and Nathan’s despair is swept away as he finds himself more and more implicated in the joys and sorrows of others. The Brooklyn Follies is Paul Auster’s warmest, most exuberant novel, a moving and unforgettable hymn to the glories and mysteries of ordinary human life. Review:"Nathan Glass, a retired life insurance salesman estranged from his family and facing an iffy cancer prognosis, is 'looking for a quiet place to die. Someone recommended Brooklyn.' What he finds, though, in this ebullient novel by Brooklyn bard Auster (Oracle Night), is a vital, big-hearted borough brimming with great characters. These include Nathan's nephew, Tom, a grad student turned spiritually questing cab driver; Tom's serenely silent nine-year-old niece, who shows up on Tom's doorstep without her unstable mom; and a flamboyant book dealer hatching a scheme to sell a fraudulent manuscript of The Scarlet Letter. As Nathan recovers his soul through immersion in their lives, Auster meditates on the theme of sanctuary in American literature, from Hawthorne to Poe to Thoreau, infusing the novel's picaresque with touches of romanticism, Southern gothic and utopian yearning. But the book's presiding spirit is Brooklyn's first bard, Walt Whitman, as Auster embraces the borough's multitudes — neighborhood characters, drag queens, intellectuals manqu, greasy-spoon waitresses, urbane bourgeoisie — while singing odes to moonrise over the Brooklyn Bridge. Auster's graceful, offhand storytelling carries readers along, with enough shadow to keep the tale this side of schmaltz. The result is an affectionate portrait of the city as the ultimate refuge of the human spirit." Publishers Weekly (Starred Review) (Copyright Reed Business Information, Inc.) Synopsis:From the bestselling author of "Oracle Night" and "The Book of Illusions," comes an exhilarating, whirlwind tale of one man's accidental redemption. About the AuthorPaul Auster is the bestselling author of Oracle Night, The Book of Illusions, and Timbuktu. I Thought My Father Was God, the NPR National Story Project anthology, which he edited, was also a national bestseller. His work has been translated into thirty languages. He lives in Brooklyn, New York. What Our Readers Are SayingAdd a comment for a chance to win!
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