tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6327348657265652781.post4605132834275780602..comments2023-10-03T11:41:21.191+01:00Comments on The Truth About Lies: In the Country of Last ThingsJim Murdochhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12786388638146471193noreply@blogger.comBlogger16125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6327348657265652781.post-64928098626438117722016-04-13T04:19:55.694+01:002016-04-13T04:19:55.694+01:00Ah, Nives, it doesn’t matter how often you proofre...Ah, <b>Nives</b>, it doesn’t matter how often you proofread a text something always slips through. Fixed, and thank you.Jim Murdochhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12786388638146471193noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6327348657265652781.post-11194115933238600182016-04-10T20:08:14.125+01:002016-04-10T20:08:14.125+01:00Importance of a comma!! The first line of the bo...Importance of a comma!! The first line of the book is not "these are the last things she wrote" but "these are the last things, she wrote".... I believe this makes a huge difference in the interpretation.Niveshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02585470259954864038noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6327348657265652781.post-84121699391443643632012-08-26T11:19:57.443+01:002012-08-26T11:19:57.443+01:00There are better dystopian novels out there, Dave....There are better dystopian novels out there, <b>Dave</b>. If you’re a fan of Auster and are curious to see how he handles the material then read the book. It’s like Billy Joel’s “classical” album <i>Opus 1-10: Fantasies & Delusions: Music For Solo Piano</i>. If you’re a fan and want to see how he does then fine but really you’d be better served with some Telemann or Scarlatti. As far as a book without a hero goes I have to say that’s a hard thing to imagine because even in ensemble pieces one character tends to rise to the fore. It may not be the same person for everyone but I do think everyone picks their own hero or at least someone they identify with. I’m not a big fan of heroes. All my books have protagonists but there’s nothing especially heroic about any of them.<br /><br>Jim Murdochhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12786388638146471193noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6327348657265652781.post-29024534424205211132012-08-26T10:46:33.863+01:002012-08-26T10:46:33.863+01:00I'm tempted with this one. But then, I keep be...I'm tempted with this one. But then, I keep being tempted by Auster, but I have only read Leviathan. I really thought, reading your review, that this was going to be the dystopian view without a hero. I tend to think the hero makes it too much of a fairy tale. Great review, which I very much enjoyed reading. Not sure if I'll go for the book, though.Dave Kinghttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08430484174826768488noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6327348657265652781.post-8103916701079374322012-08-24T23:31:02.049+01:002012-08-24T23:31:02.049+01:00Hardly upset, that's too strong a word. More m...Hardly upset, that's too strong a word. More mockery at the follies of the ignorant. It is merely that when the mainstream literary culture discover a new thing, they show their ignorance. It's especially ironic when they steal ideas from genres that they spend the rest of their time dismissing or putting down. LOL. So, yeah, mockery.Art Durkeehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07463180236975988432noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6327348657265652781.post-44344319835917229202012-08-24T10:04:52.637+01:002012-08-24T10:04:52.637+01:00I wonder, Art, if this was a love story rather tha...I wonder, <b>Art</b>, if this was a love story rather than a dystopian novel you’d be equally upset; they’ve been done to death too. I don’t think that many literary novelists are jumping on the bandwagon here; I can certainly only thing of a handful. I personally like to see serious writers tackling science fiction because it gives it a level of respect it has long deserved but failed to get because of how it was marketed. Auster’s book is only “fresh and original” because it’s written in his voice. The actually storyline is really not that exciting and the book is far from perfect but it is interesting. If it ever does make it to the screen I’d rather hope that someone else wrote the screenplay and polished it up a bit. <i>Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?</i> is a fine novel but <i>Blade Runner</i> is a better film. Had Dick’s book been filmed faithfully I’m not sure it would have lasted as well as <i>Blade Runner </i> has. IMHO. <br /><br>Jim Murdochhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12786388638146471193noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6327348657265652781.post-64374487956617261192012-08-23T20:46:46.754+01:002012-08-23T20:46:46.754+01:00The reason so many "literay" writers hav...The reason so many "literay" writers have dipped into dystopian fiction is that the zeitgeist is hooked on apocalypse porn. Movies, too. I predicted this Millenial Fevre bak in the 70s, and that it would probably last another ten years from now. Current ultra onservaive political retrenchment are also part of tis.<br /><br />Margaret Atwood was ahead of all these other dystopian literary novelists, and hers still read better than most of theirs. And of course SF was even further ahead, with all the nuclear scare novels of the 50s. Including Ray Bradbury.<br /><br />So when I see books like this lauded elsewhere as fresh or original, I just laugh. It's already third or fourth generation apocalypse porn by now. I wish more of it was more interesting reading than it actually turns out yo be.Art Durkeehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07463180236975988432noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6327348657265652781.post-17407947739649885392012-08-23T08:57:53.292+01:002012-08-23T08:57:53.292+01:00I found a copy of Smoke, Brent. Carrie’s off to th...I found a copy of <i>Smoke</i>, <b>Brent</b>. Carrie’s off to the States next week so since my regular viewing schedule will go out of the window I’ll watch it then. It’s been on TV several times and I’ve kept meaning to tape it. I’ve seen clips though. Thanks for the advice on Hustvedt. I’ve just had a look at her books on Amazon. The star ratings are all over the place. I don’t see that as bad thing though. Most interesting writers polarise opinions. Auster certainly does. Of the two books you mention <i>The Blindfold</i> is the one that calls out to me the most.<br /><br>Jim Murdochhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12786388638146471193noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6327348657265652781.post-59820363286742414732012-08-23T02:21:19.958+01:002012-08-23T02:21:19.958+01:00Yes, Auster wrote Smoke, which was directed by Way...Yes, Auster wrote Smoke, which was directed by Wayne Wang (Blue in the Face also). Wang also directed Center of the World, screenplay by Auster and his wife Siri Hustvedt (only watch it if you enjoy pushing sexual boundaries). Auster wrote and directed Lulu on the Bridge. I liked all these, but HATED his other movie The Inner Life of Martin Frost.<br /><br />Jim, you mentioned wanting to read something by his wife. I highly recommend two of her recent novels, Sorrows of an American and What I Loved. And her very first novel, The Blindfold, is one of my all-time favorite books. Her essays are excellent too.Brent Robisonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06882060411376854563noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6327348657265652781.post-61220117081255906962012-08-20T10:45:53.387+01:002012-08-20T10:45:53.387+01:00I’m not really sure the things I mention in my rev...I’m not really sure the things I mention in my review, <b>Brett</b>, are weaknesses—I certainly don’t use the word—but they are points to note because this is not your typical dystopia. As I say in the review: “The thing you have to do with this book is not dwell on what it is not – it is not many things – but instead you need to focus on what he provides” I don’t think that is a bad thing but there will be those who do. The book I’m reading just now is 550 pages long and, as far as I’m concerned, terribly overwritten. As I mentioned to Ken above there is one chapter five pages long and four of them could have been summed up with the sentence, “He nearly missed her” instead of giving us a blow-by-blow account of how the protagonist travelled from his flat to the station. There is a lot that Auster misses out but that’s why we have imaginations and I appreciate authors who allow me to use mine. This book certainly hasn’t put me off Auster and it may be if I ever found the time to reread it which I know is unlikely I’d get more out of it. You can’t blame a guy for being disappointed that an author takes a book in a direction you might not have personally; that’s why we write our own.<br /><br />And, <b>Glenn</b>, I did not know that Auster wrote <i>Smoke</i>. I’ve never seen it but I knew of it. Now I’m keen to. I wouldn’t worry too much if Auster doesn’t do it for you. It’s not as if we’re short of books to read. I’ll continue to read and review him so maybe in a few years’ time I’ll talk about something that does pique your interest. One man’s meat and all that…<br /><br>Jim Murdochhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12786388638146471193noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6327348657265652781.post-5492758929476388552012-08-20T05:15:57.806+01:002012-08-20T05:15:57.806+01:00I read the New York Trilogy after a friend recomme...I read the New York Trilogy after a friend recommended it highly. It didn't quite work for me. <br /><br />The same friend dragged me to a reading Auster gave for what was then his newest book, Timbuktu, the protagonist of which is a dog. The excerpts he read were even less my speed than the NYT. <br /><br />I haven't written him off completely. I rather liked the movie, Smoke, for which Auster wrote the screeplay. Glenn Ingersollhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10674475308395975995noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6327348657265652781.post-44835902316172191162012-08-20T03:45:17.109+01:002012-08-20T03:45:17.109+01:00Hi Jim,
I enjoyed this review. I like the coincid...Hi Jim,<br />I enjoyed this review. I like the coincidence that just yesterday I finished reading a long and rather academic essay about In the Country of Last Things, in an anthology of essays about Auster's work called Beyond the Red Notebook. As I may have told you, I'm sort of a hardcore Auster fan, and while this is not my favorite of his books, I like it a lot. The things you find to be weaknesses I consider strengths, because they move the story into the realm that Auster rules in, a metafictional world where the stories do not follow conventional rules of realism or even of storytelling, but for that very reason, for me, are more "true" -- they speak of invisible forces, question the meanings of language and authorship, and challenge the very nature of reality. Yet they don't step into any sort of Fantasy or SF genre either. Fans of typical dystopian fiction may be disappointed in this book just as fans of conventional detective fiction may have been disappointed in the New York Trilogy. His concerns are not those of standard genre fiction, but are more philosophical: the Question is more important than the Answer. (I explored the Trilogy on my blog a couple of posts back if you want to see my take on it.)<br /><br />I look forward to the film version of In the Country of Last Things but I suspect it will fall short in the same way the film of his novel The Music of Chance did... not quite strange enough, too literal, and a forced happy ending. We'll see...Brent Robisonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06882060411376854563noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6327348657265652781.post-20824361267251380382012-08-19T17:55:39.167+01:002012-08-19T17:55:39.167+01:00I reviewed The Road back in 2010, Martine. I liked...I <a href="http://jim-murdoch.blogspot.co.uk/2010/04/road-novelthe-critics-and-film.html" rel="nofollow">reviewed</a> <i>The Road</i> back in 2010, <b>Martine</b>. I liked it—both the book and the film adaptation (which I also talk about)—but I know others who didn’t. I see at the moment that a lot of people are writing dystopian novels. I actually wonder what fresh they might have to say. I’ve thought several times of working on one—I love science fiction although I’ve have never been able to write the stuff—but every idea I get is derivative. And, of course, the more books get written the fewer and fewer the options are to produce something truly original. That serious writers are interested in the subject pleases me. The future is a subject that deserves serious consideration. <br /><br />I wrote this review a while ago and never got round to posting it but I checked to see how the film was doing. The last I could see it had a production date of 2011 on it but nothing on IMDB. I guess we’ll just have to wait and see. In the meantime if you can find a copy this is well worth a read.<br /><br>Jim Murdochhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12786388638146471193noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6327348657265652781.post-81572814164455123882012-08-19T17:02:01.045+01:002012-08-19T17:02:01.045+01:00Thanks for the review. I enjoy dystopian fiction, ...Thanks for the review. I enjoy dystopian fiction, and loved The Road (if love is a good word to apply to such a book) and have never read any Auster so am not to be making comparisons. might just give this one a try.<br />martinemartinehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14260048849955077472noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6327348657265652781.post-41669487101380422252012-08-19T16:34:22.817+01:002012-08-19T16:34:22.817+01:00I think I bought the New York Trilogy after you ma...I think I bought the <i>New York Trilogy</i> after you made a comment about it before—probably in my last Auster review—and I will get round to it. I’m also a little curious to check out some of his wife’s stuff too. So many books, so little time. I’m reading a 550-page book I got sent to review at the moment and can’t even keep the title in my head. The last chapter I’ve read is five pages long and four of them could have been summed up with the sentence, “He nearly missed her.” I’ve seen Auster accused of overwriting too. Hard to imagine but I suppose everything could be said in a few words less if we put our mind to it.<br /><br>Jim Murdochhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12786388638146471193noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6327348657265652781.post-27590937910203361502012-08-19T16:11:55.622+01:002012-08-19T16:11:55.622+01:00I've only ever read Auster's 'New York...I've only ever read Auster's 'New York Trilogy'. I liked each of them very much. Enough narrative to keep that part of me satisfied and enough downright oddness to keep them embedded in my head. My favorite was the middle one 'Ghosts'. <br /><br />He's certainly someone I would like to read more of.Ken Armstronghttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07775956557261111127noreply@blogger.com