#29. Travels In The Scriptorium. Paul Auster. Fiction. 4 stars.
switched it up to a straight fiction novel, instead of a short fiction collection this week, and really enjoyed myself. i have previously only read Auster’s City of Glass and that was long ago (while in college which was shockingly long ago actually) and i feel i’ll have to give it another read. all i remember of City of Glass was feeling really really depressed. but i’m depressed these days whether reading a depressing book or not, so i suspect i’ll have a lot more intelligent thoughts about it on a second, more mature read.
i really enjoyed Travels In The Scriptorium, despite the fact that there is very little closure and i was left with more questions than answers by the time i finished. perhaps it bothered me less not to have closure here than in Beattie’s Follies because in Follies i knew it was going to happen to me over and over again, whereas in Auster’s novel i knew it was just going to be the one time. i’m not sure.
Travels was beautifully written and totally engaging from page one. i think the lack of closure might be frustrating for a lot of people as it really does leave you completely hanging about both what happened to the characters to bring them to this moment in the novel, and also what will happen to them in the future. you really learn very little and much is left to the imagination. would i prefer this book if Auster had spent another 150+ pages filling in the gaps? maybe. but there is a story within a story in Travels and that informs much of what i suspect Auster wants you to do on your own.
as said previously, i remember little of City of Glass, but i suspect this style (and how much is given and withheld) is vintage Auster, and so fans of his will likely not be disappointed. it was very interesting. beautifully executed. 4 stars.
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I’m a big Paul Auster fan but I didn’t much like SCRIPTORIUM. It was a bit of navel-gazing on the author’s part, methinks, bringing all of his fictional characters together into one room. I was much more intrigued and enamored with IN THE COUNTRY OF LAST THINGS, the NEW YORK trilogy, even his collection of essays HUNGER ARTIST. Are you a fan of Jonathan Carroll’s too? His book LAND OF LAUGHS was delightful. Another author who reminds me of Auster is Steve Erickson (not to be confused with the hack Brit fantasy author). Erickson’s DAYS BETWEEN STATIONS will enthrall you…as will the work of Nicholas Christopher (VERONIKA, TRIP TO THE STARS) and…sorry…once I get talking about books and author’s who have influenced me, well…
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This book has been on my “to read” list for a while now. Paul Auster is also a director (Smoke, Lulu On The Bridge) as I’m sure you know because the trailer for his latest played before King of Kong… (*narrows eyes slightly.)
Anywho, the reason I put it on my list in the first place was due to comparisons to Erickson (mentioned above) who I cannot recommend enough. I’ve definitely mentioned him to Adam, maybe also to you, I can’t remember. I actually have an interview I did with him coming soon on the Chuck site and he mentions McSweeney’s and Eggers a few other things that might be of interest to you.
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Cliff:
I haven’t read any of those books you mention, so I’ll put them on my list. Thanks for the tips. Having not read a lot of Auster (except the previously mentioned City of Glass long ago) I don’t know about the idea of getting all his fiction characters into one room, but it made it seem even more intriguing to me actually. Maybe I’ll have to re-read it after I get more of his books under my belt.
Thanks for the tips.
Kelly -
I did see the Auster preview that preceded Kong, it looked interesting, but will probably be a netflix rental for me. We’ll see. I have wanted to see Lulu on the Bridge for a while now, although Smoke has never held any interest for me I’m sad to admit.
Did you like King of Kong? Sorry we couldn’t make it Saturday…trust me when I say you lucked out.
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We actually wound up going on Sunday, the 630 show, so our paths probably missed crossing by only a few hours. I thought it was great. Steve Weibe was so nice and that Paul Mitchell dude was a total dick.
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ships passing in the night (er..day) that’s us.
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Auster’s my favourite writer, so I’m glad you enjoyed this. But Iagree with Cliff Burns about it not being his best. I like Moon Palace and Leviathan best. But I’ve found everything he’s written to be brilliant with the exception of Scriptorium, Timbuktu and Brooklyn Follies.
I’m re-reading Music of Chance at the moment and I love Auster’s clarity and his ability to catch these states of mind – particulary recklessness and decision making.
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yeah, so far everyone seems to agree that Scriptorium is not his best work. as said i’ll be re-reading City of Glass since i read it when i was a very very young 21/22 and i think i just wasn’t there yet. after City of Glass (assuming i like it) then i’ll consider taking a crack at The New York Trilogy, Hunger Artist, Music of Chance, and of course Leviathan.
thanks for the recommendations…and of course for reading the blog…!
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Hey Kelly – City of Glass is book one of the New York Trilogy, so you can kill two birds with one stone there.
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yeah, i know that City of Glass is in there, but i have a copy that is not the actual trilogy, so i figured i’d re-read my singular copy and then move on to the others, including the other two pieces of The New York Trilogy…
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Good idea. You probably know about the graphic novel of City of Glass too? I thought it was pretty cool.
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