The Brooklyn Follies by Paul Auster

The Brooklyn Follies and I spent four glorious days together. I wish it would have lasted longer, but it had to end sometime. This is one of those books that took me in from the start. Paul Auster has this gift that makes me wish I could abandon all of my commitments and simply sit outside and read his books for days on end.

Brooklyn has long been known for the possibility of second chances since immigrants began flocking to New York in the late 1800's. It seems that this is a timeless curiosity, as Auster implies the borough still has this special hold on it's inhabitants. But here is the thing about The Brooklyn Follies, it's not a book I can summarize in a way that will draw you in unless I give the good parts away. So, you'll have to settle for the generalization that this novel is gracefully strange and compelling, so full of human truths, you can't help but connect with it.

When you've lived as long as I have, you tend to think you've heard everything, that there's nothing left that can shock you anymore. You grow a little complacent about your so-called knowledge of the world, and then, every once in a while, something comes along that jolts you out of your smug cocoon of superiority, that reminds you all over again that you don't understand the first thing about life.

Of the Auster I've read, this is my favorite. If you enjoy an interesting and suspenseful story with a deeper meaning behind it, you will certainly enjoy this book. If you identify with themes of redemption, second chances, and the power of human connections, then read this. There are also wonderful bookish details embedded throughout that I can't imagine any bibliophile would be disappointed with this novel.

She had the story, and when a person is lucky enough to live inside a story, to live inside an imaginary world, the pains of this world disappear. For as long as the story goes on, reality no longer exists.

Publisher: Picador, 2006