Man in the Dark - Softcover

Auster, Paul

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0571240925 ISBN 13: 9780571240920

Publisher: Faber & Faber, 2008

Synopsis

72-year-old August Brill is recovering from a car accident. Plagued by insomnia, he tries to push back thoughts about the things he would prefer to forget - his wife's recent death and the horrific murder of his granddaughter's boyfriend, Titus - by telling himself stories. He imagines a parallel world in which America is not at war with Iraq but with itself. In this other America the twin towers did not fall, and the 2000 election results led to secession, as state after state pulled away from the union, and a bloody civil war ensued. Brill is joined in the early hours by his granddaughter, and he gradually opens up to her and recounts the story of his marriage and confronts the grim reality of Titus' death. "Man in the Dark" is a novel of our time, a book that forces us to confront the blackness of night whilst also celebrating the existence of ordinary joys in a brutal world.

About this title

Review:

"Works beautifully . . . This is perhaps Auster's best book. Like Vonnegut's classic anti-war novel ["Slaughterhouse Five"], Auster's book leaves one with a depth of feeling much larger than might be expected from such a small and concise work of art."--"San Francisco Chronicle """Man in the Dark" is at once haunting, thought-provoking, emotional, and compellingly readable."--"The Philadelphia Inquirer" "Remarkable . . . "Man in the Dark "possesses a grand and generous heart."--"The Boston Globe ""Auster's latest astute and mesmerizing metaphysical fiction . . . A master of the matter-of-factly fantastic, Auster tells an utterly authentic story of culpability and survival, the vortex of loss, and our endless struggle to translate terror into understanding."--"Booklist "(starred review) "A novel that kept my attention from the first page all the way to the last. Frankly, it hypnotized me."--NPR's "All Things Considered ""[Auster's] magic has never flourished m "Works beautifully . . . This is perhaps Auster's best book. Like Vonnegut's classic anti-war novel ["Slaughterhouse Five"], Auster's book leaves one with a depth of feeling much larger than might be expected from such a small and concise work of art."--"San Francisco Chronicle """Man in the Dark" is at once haunting, thought-provoking, emotional, and compellingly readable."--"The Philadelphia Inquirer" "Remarkable . . . "Man in the Dark "possesses a grand and generous heart."--"The Boston Globe ""Auster's latest astute and mesmerizing metaphysical fiction . . . A master of the matter-of-factly fantastic, Auster tells an utterly authentic story of culpability and survival, the vortex of loss, and our endless struggle to translate terror into understanding."--"Booklist "(starred review) "A novel that kept my attention from the first page all the way to the last. Frankly, it hypnotized me."--NPR's "All Things Considered ""[Auster's] magic has never flourished more fully than it does in "Man in the Dark. . . . "The novel delivers intense reading pleasure from start to finish."--"Orlando Sentinel ""Provoking and entertaining in brilliant fashion . . . [Auster] draws you into a literary maze and sets you marveling at how he will get you out."--"The Seattle Times ""Intricately layered, playful with the notions of 'real' and 'unreal' . . . "Man in the Dark "is the work of a master, confident of his powers to move readers smoothly between worlds, totally in control of setting, pace, and dialogue. . . . A deep, fraught book."--"Daily Kos ""Auster has crafted a stirring, politically charged portrait of the power of fiction."--"The Star-Ledger "(Newark)

Book Description:

Man in the Dark by Paul Auster is a devastating novel about the many realities we inhabit as war and conflict flame all around us.

About this edition

• Publisher: Faber & Faber
• Publication date: 2008
• ISBN 10: 0571240925
• ISBN 13: 9780571240920
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 192