In this Rclaustrophobic allegoryS ("Publishers Weekly"), a man pieces together clues to his past--and the identity of his captors--when he wakes in an unfamiliar chamber equipped with cameras, a manuscript, and a haunting set of photographs. Unabridged. 1 MP3 CD.
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In this Rclaustrophobic allegoryS ("Publishers Weekly"), a man pieces together clues to his past--and the identity of his captors--when he wakes in an unfamiliar chamber equipped with cameras, a manuscript, and a haunting set of photographs. Unabridged. 1 MP3 CD.
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Add this copy of Travels in the Scriptorium to cart. $39.23, good condition, Sold by Bonita rated 4.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Newport Coast, CA, UNITED STATES, published 2007 by Tantor Audio.
I am a huge fan of Paul Auster - indeed, he's one of my all-time favorite authors. And this novel (so short it's almost a novella) starts out with all the surreal promise many of his books fulfill - an unnamed old man wakes up in a room, with no memory of how he's gotten there and only small clues around the room to help guide him through his day.
That day gets odder but in many ways more mundane (long passages about the man we begin to call Mr. Blank wondering where the closet door is, etc.) and eventually we do get a payoff - slightly - on who he is and why he is there. But it's a pretty mild payoff.
What makes me lean towards not recommending this book is that, if anything, I'm the target audience for this book. It's not just an Auster work, he references characters from many of his prior books - only by name and without context, so it wouldn't be noticeable by someone who isn't a fan. (Or, in many cases for me, for someone who hasn't read those specific works in a long time.) It's very "inside baseball" and clever by about half.
Paul Auster has loads of great novels, and two of his more recent efforts, The Brooklyn Follies and Oracle Night are both superior to this. I'd pass, and cross my fingers that he'll return to form with his next work.
