- Mass Market Paperback: 96 pages
- Publisher: Penguin USA (P) (July 1987)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 014009735X
- ISBN-13: 978-0140097351
- Product Dimensions: 19 x 12.7 x 1 cm
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 1,459,867 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
| ||||||||||||||||||
Did you know you can trade in your old books for an Amazon.co.uk Gift Card to spend on the things you want? Plus, get an extra £5 Gift Certificate when you trade in books worth £10 or more before June 30, 2012. Visit the Books Trade-In Store for more details. |
Product details |
More About the Author
Tag this product(What's this?)Think of a tag as a keyword or label you consider is strongly related to this product.
Tags will help all customers organise and find favourite items. |
Sell a Digital Version of This Book in the Kindle Store
If you are a publisher or author and hold the digital rights to a book, you can sell a digital version of it in our Kindle Store.
Learn more
What Other Items Do Customers Buy After Viewing This Item?
Customer Reviews
There are no customer reviews yet on Amazon.co.uk.
5 star
4 star
3 star
2 star
1 star
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
5 reviews
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
The Color of Thought
1 July 2006
Format:Hardcover
Auster is not an easy read, but he himself admits this comparing himself to Thoreau and Walden, he intimates that you have to read him slowly to get all of the nuances.
The story itself appears simple (and mimics some of 'City of Glass'), White hires Blue to watch Black and report each week what Black has done. (White has rented two apartments that front on each other from across a steet..Orange Steet.) What Blue and Black don't know is that they have been hired to watch each other. Blue spends almost a year watching Black do nothing more than write a novel. My guess is that Black is writing the novel to keep himself busy, in the same way that Blue makes up stories in his head but never puts them to pen. In the end, Blue steals Blacks manuscript (after beating him up), reads it and leaves his apartment.
If the colors (say of light) are metaphors (duh!), white is the absense of substance, Black is the total of all colors of light and Blue is the shadow of Black. Since Blue and Black are the complement to each other, one is the stronger and the other is the follower. In the end the follower terminates the leader and leaves unfulfilled.
There are three strong hint as to what Auster is trying to get at in this story (IMHO). First is that like Walden by Thoreau there is a lot more there than meets the eyes you just have to look for it. Second is the story by Hawthorne of the man who spends years away from his family but is watching them from afar but late is welcomed back. Third, the movie 'Out of the Past' with Robert Mitchum which is about a private detective. If you take some time to look at all three, this book with be much easier to understand.
Contemplation is everything and nothing says the sparrow to the crow.
The story itself appears simple (and mimics some of 'City of Glass'), White hires Blue to watch Black and report each week what Black has done. (White has rented two apartments that front on each other from across a steet..Orange Steet.) What Blue and Black don't know is that they have been hired to watch each other. Blue spends almost a year watching Black do nothing more than write a novel. My guess is that Black is writing the novel to keep himself busy, in the same way that Blue makes up stories in his head but never puts them to pen. In the end, Blue steals Blacks manuscript (after beating him up), reads it and leaves his apartment.
If the colors (say of light) are metaphors (duh!), white is the absense of substance, Black is the total of all colors of light and Blue is the shadow of Black. Since Blue and Black are the complement to each other, one is the stronger and the other is the follower. In the end the follower terminates the leader and leaves unfulfilled.
There are three strong hint as to what Auster is trying to get at in this story (IMHO). First is that like Walden by Thoreau there is a lot more there than meets the eyes you just have to look for it. Second is the story by Hawthorne of the man who spends years away from his family but is watching them from afar but late is welcomed back. Third, the movie 'Out of the Past' with Robert Mitchum which is about a private detective. If you take some time to look at all three, this book with be much easier to understand.
Contemplation is everything and nothing says the sparrow to the crow.
Less emotionally draining than part one, but still very good
14 Mar 2012
Format:Mass Market Paperback
Shorter and less bleak than City of Glass. It visits the same themes of mirrored identities and breakdowns in communication, the perils of trying to work your way into other people's lives. Yet this was less draining than Part 1, perhaps because the characters are a bit more distant, more abstract. At times it can even be a bit humorous. I'm very curious to see what it all leads up to in The Locked Room.
Missing the color of Auster's best characters
8 Feb 2007
Format:Hardcover
This small novella is the second unit of the 'New York Trilogy' It is the mediocre work wedged in between two extraordinary ones. The device of giving the major characters of the work color- names (i.e. Blue is the detective paid by White to watch Black) seems to me abstract and ineffective. One of the great strengths of Auster's writing is his capacity to create incredibly interesting characters, whose lives and stories we want to know more about. Here Blue sits too long watching and waiting for Black to give himself away.
I know that there are many hidden meanings and connections in this work, as there are in all Auster's work. I know I missed most of them. But nonetheless I would claim that great art has to appeal first of all on the surface level, and that here Auster misses the mark.
I know that there are many hidden meanings and connections in this work, as there are in all Auster's work. I know I missed most of them. But nonetheless I would claim that great art has to appeal first of all on the surface level, and that here Auster misses the mark.
Were these reviews helpful?
Let us know
Customer Discussions
|
This product's forum
Active discussions in related forums
Search Customer Discussions
|
Related forums
|
Listmania!
Look for similar items by category
Look for similar items by subject
Feedback
- Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
- I am the Author, and I want to comment on my book.
- I am the Publisher, and I want to comment on this book.
