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da_ni_el_a's review against another edition
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Loveable characters? Yes
4.5
joeridomen's review against another edition
3.0
Mooi geschreven verhaal. Je staat heel snel dicht bij het hoofdpersonage. Sommige passages zijn prachtig (laatste hoofdstuk is een pareltje) maar ik vrees dat ik de helft van de tijd gewoon routineus aan het doorlezen was.
3sterren
3sterren
booksho's review against another edition
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.25
tummidge's review against another edition
4.0
We are entering the last days of the first bout of pop culture with many figures aging out with just their work staying behind and it is with this aging that each new piece from a favourite author or any other kind of creative figure becomes more and more precious.
Baumgartner is the latest novel from Paul Auster and comes as a surprise following the epic 4 3 2 1 and see the eponymous character looking back upon his life with his late wife, his childhood and his ancestry.
It is very much a book of an old man looking back and it would be an interesting task to parse out the non-fiction from the fiction within this tale. There is the Austerian device of stories within stories as we read essays and poems by his late wife and tales written by Baumgartner himself.
It is a slim novel, but it is absolutely packed with substance and a book I found to be devastatingly sad in places. For me, the novel was let down only by it's ending which felt hollow compared with what had gone before it.
Suffice to say, I am delighted to have another Auster novel and hope there are at least a few more to come!
Baumgartner is the latest novel from Paul Auster and comes as a surprise following the epic 4 3 2 1 and see the eponymous character looking back upon his life with his late wife, his childhood and his ancestry.
It is very much a book of an old man looking back and it would be an interesting task to parse out the non-fiction from the fiction within this tale. There is the Austerian device of stories within stories as we read essays and poems by his late wife and tales written by Baumgartner himself.
It is a slim novel, but it is absolutely packed with substance and a book I found to be devastatingly sad in places. For me, the novel was let down only by it's ending which felt hollow compared with what had gone before it.
Suffice to say, I am delighted to have another Auster novel and hope there are at least a few more to come!
dpower711's review against another edition
4.0
Was thrilled to get an ARC from NetGalley from no other than Paul Auster - I didn't even know he had a new book coming out (pub date Nov 2023) and have been a long time fan ever since I read Oracle Nights in one sitting.
Baumgartner is a thinly veiled version of Auster himself, and at a certain point later on in the novella (although with such long sentences and every detail of every moment chronicled there are times that it doesn't feel short) he actually refers to the Auster name in the family origins of Baumgartner.
B is a grieving academic beset with all of the indignities of aging. He meets a rambunctious metre reading whose presence drives him mad, only to be treated so kindly by this guy when he falls down the stairs to the basement.
This spans histories through him reading the unpublished poems and essays of his dead wife and his own imagination/daydreaming that brings him back to his own personal lineage story.
It was very wordy and it made me wonder what had captured me so much in Oracle Nights. I'll have to do a comparison and see how/if Auster's writing style has diminished or my taste has just grown up.
Was very disappointed this ended right before the pandemic as I was curious beyond belief to see how the scholar Beatrice and him would get along holed up together for two years.
Baumgartner is a thinly veiled version of Auster himself, and at a certain point later on in the novella (although with such long sentences and every detail of every moment chronicled there are times that it doesn't feel short) he actually refers to the Auster name in the family origins of Baumgartner.
B is a grieving academic beset with all of the indignities of aging. He meets a rambunctious metre reading whose presence drives him mad, only to be treated so kindly by this guy when he falls down the stairs to the basement.
This spans histories through him reading the unpublished poems and essays of his dead wife and his own imagination/daydreaming that brings him back to his own personal lineage story.
It was very wordy and it made me wonder what had captured me so much in Oracle Nights. I'll have to do a comparison and see how/if Auster's writing style has diminished or my taste has just grown up.
Was very disappointed this ended right before the pandemic as I was curious beyond belief to see how the scholar Beatrice and him would get along holed up together for two years.
creekhiker's review against another edition
5.0
Gorgeous book that I didn’t want to end and yet also rushed to the ending because I was so deeply involved in the character and his life, only to sit there stunned and wondering by the ending.
kuona16's review against another edition
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.5
ratingwithears's review against another edition
reflective
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
itsallplastic's review against another edition
emotional
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0