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Sunset Park [Hardcover]

Paul Auster
3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (25 customer reviews)

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Book Description

4 Nov 2010

In the sprawling flatlands of Florida, 28-year-old Miles is photographing the last lingering traces of families who have abandoned their houses due to debt or foreclosure.

Miles is haunted by guilt for having inadvertently caused the death of his step-brother, a situation that caused him to flee his father and step-mother in New York 7 years ago.

What keeps him in Florida is his relationship with a teenage high-school girl, Pilar, but when her family threatens to expose their relationship, Miles decides to protect Pilar by going back to Brooklyn, where he settles in a squat to prepare himself to face the inevitable confrontation with his father that he ahs been avoiding for years.

Pulsing with the energy of Auster's previous novel, INVISIBLE, SUNSET PARK is as mythic as it is contemporary, as in love with baseball as it is with literature. It is above all, a story about love and forgiveness - not only among men and women, but also between fathers and sons.



Product details

  • Hardcover: 320 pages
  • Publisher: Faber and Faber (4 Nov 2010)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 0571258786
  • ISBN-13: 978-0571258789
  • Product Dimensions: 16.5 x 24.2 cm
  • Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (25 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 232,062 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Review

'You cannot but read on. Auster is a natural storyteller and a great stylist.' --Time Out

'This is Auster, so nothing turns out as you expect ... Compelling.' --Sunday Telegraph

'Intense and engrossing.' --Times Literary Supplement

'A gripping, carefully judged novel, as always from Paul Auster.' --Evening Standard

'Intense and engrossing.' --Times Literary Supplement

'Urgent, spare novel that probes ideas of personal responsibility and self-determination.' --Financial Times

'Intense and engrossing.' --Times Literary Supplement --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

Book Description

A compelling story of love and forgiveness, from the bestselling author of Invisible and The Book of Illusions.

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews
12 of 13 people found the following review helpful
3.0 out of 5 stars Bit of a let down but still worth the read... 14 Feb 2011
By AnisaND
Format:Hardcover
I would characterise myself as a die hard Paul Auster fan, I have read everything he has ever written. Unfortunately I have found his recent works haven't left me quite as satisfied as his classics such as New York Trilogy and Oracle Night. His prose is still utterly compelling and I find that from the first page I am drawn in and want to read more. The substance of works such as this one is however somewhat lacking. I agree with an earlier critic that the characters weren't sufficiently developed or compelling, that there were too many and that the focus of the book was a little confused. And so, I reached the end with a sigh of disappointment, glad to have read the book but not happy with the emptiness it left me with. I will ofcourse buy his next work and probably the one after that as soon as is it published, but (and I hate to say this) my admiration for Mr. Auster may be on the wane.
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
2.0 out of 5 stars We need to talk about Paul... 15 Sep 2011
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
I read an interview with Paul Auster shortly after the release of Sunset Park,and he intimated that maybe writing wasn't as important to him as it use to be,and that he didn't know if he would write anymore.This book for me highlights that attitude.I found this slow,dull and ultimately pointless.The characters were very two dimensional and I just didn't care about any of it.It seems as though he just chucked in a couple of life changing events that shaped the protaganists life and filled in the gaps.It was almost like reading someone trying to copy Auster. I loved "Invisible", I though that was typical Auster class.But this left me feeling let down and a bit pissed off to be honest.Lazy.I hope his best years aren't behind him.Come on Paul give us something worthy of your name.
Having said all that,I'd imagine people new to Auster may find this ok,fair enough, but if you're one of them, do me a favour and pick up New York Trilogy and compare.There is no comparison.It's two different writers.One full of ideas, the other who can't be bothered anymore.
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15 of 18 people found the following review helpful
4.0 out of 5 stars Auster's best in quite a while 17 Nov 2010
By Gazza
Format:Hardcover
After a recent run of good, but not quite great, novels Paul Auster returns with his strongest work in years. Beautifully and sparingly written, regular readers will enjoy the recurring Auster themes - broken relationships within families, the collection of seemingly junk items, isolation, another side of America. The characters live outside of the pages - in contract to some of his recent books. It's not the New York Trilogy or even The Music of Chance but there are strong signs here that Auster is almost back on the form that made him one of the most important writers of the 80s and 90s.
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars A Great Read 30 Jan 2011
By NLC
Format:Hardcover
This novel was a local book club choice and is the first time I have read Paul Auster. I found the book a fantastic read that I would recommend to others. The author has several quirks (such as sentences that run for 1.5 pages) but in the context used it proved to be a really effective device. One of my fellow book club members did comment that the ending seemed rather abrupt, almost as if the book had run its alloted number of pages and then was closed quickly, but that didn't spoil it for me, it just gave me greater reign to imagine what might have happened next.
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9 of 11 people found the following review helpful
By unlikely_heroine VINE™ VOICE
Format:Hardcover
I find Paul Auster's writing highly readable and thought-provoking but for me, not everything he does entirely works. So it is with "Sunset Park", ostensibly a book about how the global economic crisis of 2008 impacts a set of characters squatting in a dilapidated building in the area of New York that gives the book its title, although really the focus is less on finances and economics and more on relationships - romances, sexual encounters, family interactions and friendship.

I raced through this novel as Auster's prose held my attention, even if at times his subjects - e.g. erotic drawings, baseball, the father-son dynamic - were not ones that really spoke to me. Some readers may have an issue with the less than structured narrative, jumps in perspective and the nature of the denouement, but my real criticism of the book would be of its characters. Too many are introduced and a number are insufficiently developed, rendering them unconvincing. Father and son Morris and Miles Heller ring true, together with Miles's actress mother, but Ellen and particularly Alice, the female contingent at the Sunset Park house, are not particularly well-drawn. Personally I didn't really buy the Bing character at all. And whilst Miles leaves an impression on the reader, for me it was hard to see why everyone around him warmed to him so much and wanted his approval; that didn't really strike a real chord with me, either.

Having made criticisms of the characterisation, I'll return to the engaging writing as a good reason to pick this book up, although it doesn't show Auster at his most imaginative, experimental or original, which means longstanding fans might find it one of his lesser works and those new to his novels might want to start elsewhere.
... Read more ›
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4 of 5 people found the following review helpful
2.0 out of 5 stars Sun goes down on Auster! 5 Jan 2011
By Michael Murphy VINE™ VOICE
Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase
Count me in as a long-time follower of Paul Auster's work, even if somewhat browned off (being polite here) by the post-modern jiggery-pokery of 'Travels in the Scriptorium' and 'Man in the Dark'. Disappointing therefore, to find little in Auster's latest novel 'Sunset Park' that would signal the return to form for Auster that someone like myself (who regarded Auster as a favourite author) would love to see. Part of the 'old' Auster appeal for me is that there's no guessing where a Paul Auster novel will take you. You may start off in New York as happens in 'Moon Palace' my favourite Auster novel to-date, and incredibly, find yourself transported in the blink of an eye to the American West. Another novel, 'Mr. Vertigo', whisks you off on a magical tour across the USA. You never knew where you would end up with Auster. Count me in for more of that 'old' Auster of his younger days!

In 'Sunset Park', Auster offers insights into writing and publishing and makes some pertinent comments on the state of present-day America and its ongoing overseas misadventures ("a sick destructive monster") but count me out of all the trivia on baseball and the arty stuff on the film 'The Best Years of Our Lives'. Ditto for all the bits on erotic drawings; and Auster's stylistic touch of using lists and then more lists (IMO) is another annoyance.

The intriguing situation presented in 'Sunset Park' involving the occupation of an abandoned house in New York City by four twenty-something squatters Miles, Bing, Alice and Ellen - each in turn taking their place on centre stage as Auster switches the focus of the narrative from one to the other, relating the story through their eyes - looks promising, creates anticipation of.... struggle?... strife?... confrontation perhaps?
... Read more ›
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars excellent story
This is a wonderfully stylish novel. The beauty of the prose does not interfere with the story. The continual use of lists and the multi narrator /subject add to the sense of... Read more
Published 2 months ago by A. Browne
3.0 out of 5 stars Not bad not good
This is a average Paul Auster novel. It feels half finished and was just getting interesting when it ended. Read more
Published 13 months ago by Peteabix
2.0 out of 5 stars Paul Auster - Literary Narcissist
I think it was George Orwell who once advised writers to tear up any of their work they admired on rereading it and start again. Read more
Published 13 months ago by John Fitzpatrick
4.0 out of 5 stars The Strangeness of Being Alive
Set primarily in the Sunset Park community of Brooklyn following the financial crash of 2008, Paul Auster's novel "Sunset Park" combines elements of literary bohemia with reminders... Read more
Published 16 months ago by Robin Friedman
4.0 out of 5 stars Lyrical Prose, Limited Inventiveness?
Paul Auster's 2010 novel Sunset Park is another worthy effort from my favourite author of his generation. Read more
Published 16 months ago by Keith M
1.0 out of 5 stars ACCIDENTAL PURCHASE
I ORDERED THE ABOVE AND THE BIG SHORT IN ERROR BOTH HAVE BEEN RETURNED AND MY ACCT CREDITED YOUR SYSTEM WORKS WELL MNY THANKS
Published 18 months ago by oscar
3.0 out of 5 stars Good but not Auster good
Agree with most of the reviews about this book, it is well written and if you are a fan of Paul Auster (which I am) you will be instantly familiar with his style, whilst the book... Read more
Published 21 months ago by Mr. M. J. Payne
3.0 out of 5 stars Auster disappoints....again
The talent is clear and the prose still beautiful, but this novel left me completely cold. The characters are not allowed to develop, the main character has no emotional pull, and... Read more
Published 22 months ago by BHA till I die
4.0 out of 5 stars Pared-back return to what he does best
Austerphiles who've struggled with his dalliances with magical realism, animal narrators and general tricksy set-ups and MacGuffins will welcome Sunset Park. Read more
Published 24 months ago by Roman Totale
5.0 out of 5 stars A Memorable, Accessible Novel from Brooklyn-based writer Paul Auster
"Sunset Park", the latest novel from Paul Auster, the Brooklyn-based writer, is also his most accessible, replete with two compelling characters, whom readers will regard as quite... Read more
Published on 26 April 2011 by John Kwok
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