Last week I finished reading “Man in the Dark” by Paul Auster.
Listed as Amazon.Com’s product description, and also the synopsis on the dust jacket, here is a rundown on the plot:
Seventy-two-year-old August Brill is recovering from a car accident in his daughter’s house in Vermont. When sleep refuses to come, he lies in bed and tells himself stories, struggling to push back thoughts about things he would prefer to forget - his wife’s recent death and the horrific murder of his granddaughter’s boyfriend, Titus. The retired book critic imagines a parallel world in which America is not at war with Iraq but with itself. In this other America the twin towers did not fall and the 2000 election results led to secession, as state after state pulled away from the union and a bloody civil war ensued. As the night progresses, Brill’s story grows increasingly intense, and what he is so desperately trying to avoid insists on being told. Joined in the early hours by his granddaughter, he gradually opens up to her and recounts the story of his marriage. After she falls asleep, he at last finds the courage to revisit the trauma of Titus’s death.
I have wanted to give another Auster novel a try given my hot-and-cold feeling of “The New York Trilogy” a few months back. I thought this one would be best, given it’s short length. I would even call this a novella by today’s standards.
Paul Auster
Auster is a challenging author. I am sure there is more to each story I have read then what seems on the surface. And from what I see in this, there are mostly themes of mortality and loneliness. But at times the book also seems schizophrenic. The story that August is making up to keep himself entertained is one of the most interesting aspects of the story. Yet it ends abruptly. I can live with the style of ending, but it ended too soon. There are also sections where August is talking with his granddaughter Katya and the nature of their conversation is that of a love story, so to speak, with August recounting his courtship and life with his wife Sonia.
There is part of me that feels so much more could have been explored. This could have turned into a 700 page epic. Auster could have gone deeper into Katya especially. Though maybe it was best kept at the 180 pages. At times I felt that it was just meandering about, not sure of it’s direction. It follows through only one night of the characters’ lives, but explores much more. (With the right touch, it could have worked for 700 pages, with the various flashbacks). It’s quite strange.
I get the feeling that Auster fans may like this more then I would. Maybe after reading more of his work I will be able to see more into this one. But for now it was a nice, quick read, but has me puzzled.
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