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31 of 33 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
modern Man's search for identity - or a joke on the reader?, 9 Sep 2005
NY Trilogy is certainly an entertaining and perplexing work of fiction, each story a variation on the theme of identity (lost and found), rootlessness, insecurity, what makes us human and individual , and other heavy themes.
However in this bleak, urban look at the impersonality of modern society, Auster is also having fun playing games with us, demonstrating (his) the writer's ability to create fictional characters - exploring how much of the characters are invention and how much autobiographical. Even the narrator - is that the writer's voice or an imposter? We, the readers, become the detective, encountering a trail of red herrings, unreliable witnesses and dead ends to try to discover the motives of author, narrator and characters. Can we find out the truth? Is that the message?
Each is a puzzling case, inter-related by characters who turn up repeatedly (including Auster himself - described in the third person). You're never sure whether it is the same person each time or another invention by the author. Confused? That's part of the charm of the book - I'm not sure there is a tidy solution - it is certainly an unsettling experience as the narrator in each case seems to be unreliable and more than a bit unstable, but it gets your brain working and that's got to be a good thing.
I enjoyed it - i don't really know why. I can't even decide whether it's well written. Certainly it's funny at times (in a nervous twitchy way) and if you're the sort who enjoys this sort of multi-layered mind game I can whole-heartedly recommend two English alternatives - Charles Palliser's "Unburied" or James Lasdun's "The Horned Man"
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16 of 17 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A twentieth century classic, 19 Jun 1999
By A Customer
The NewYork Trilogy is that rare thing, a book that will continue to haunt you long after you put it down. Though the three stories it contains are structured and inspired by thriller novels, the work is essentially a meditation on the art of writing. It draws a parallel between a private investigator having to watch the person he has been hired to spy on and a writer attempting to create and capture a life on the page. All the central characters in the three stories hit a black wall at some point, where they feel unable to penetrate through to the subject under their observation. Auster captures this limitation of writing beautifully. This is a gripping, dark and completely original piece of work. Certainly a twentieth century classic. I shudder to think that I was nearly going to pass it over.
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43 of 49 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
The most Rewarding three books you'll ever read..., 20 July 2000
The New York Trilogy is undeniably the most bizarre book i've ever read; billed as something along the lines of classic american crime writing with a post-modern twist, the three stories in the trilogy are not only gripping, they'll stay in your head for sometime after you've read themCity of GLass is typical of the three stories; it takes a regular detective with the job of trailing someobody for a client - Auster expertly conveys the obsession assosciated with such a case, and his character Quinn, soon loses all human characteristics... While this and the locked room are both wonderful reads, the gem in the trilogy is the considerably shorter, Ghosts. Written in such a taut crisp style, this short story is often confusing, but never overwhelming. Auster has taken the genre by its nether regions and delivered a keen and intelligent analysis of it. After reading the trilogy you can't help but feel more intelligent and content. THese are truly miraculous writings.
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