In the Country of Last Things

Oct 24, 2011 Ian Graye rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: read-2011, reviews, reviews-5-stars, auster

Post-Apocalyptic Apocrypha

I don’t normally seek out post-apocalyptic novels, but Paul Auster’s novel is one to treasure.

Even though it is an early work, I felt I was in the hands of a master.

It is both beautifully written and wise.

It’s easy to read, but it’s not so easily “readable” that I could read it without turning the telly off.

Although its style is sparse and economical, there’s a lot happening beneath the surface.

Still, Auster carefully manages exactly how much he wants us to know and wha...more

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Feb 28, 2012 Shovelmonkey1 rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: hardcore Auster fans - this is his old skool repertoire

Recommended to Shovelmonkey1 by: burning need to complete the entire Auster back catalogue

Shelves: dystopian-lit, read-in-2012

Ok people, the world is going to shit. Falling apart at the seams. Imploding into a fiery ball of people fuelled insanity. So what are you going to do about it?

Do you...
a. PANIC! Scream and run around in circles waving your arms above your head.
b. Start hoarding toilet roll. You have it on good authority that it might become the currency of the realm.
c. Emulate Michael Douglas in popular 80s yuppie-fest, "Falling Down" and shoot everyone before they get you first. After all it is only a matter o...more Ok people, the world is going to shit. Falling apart at the seams. Imploding into a fiery ball of people fuelled insanity. So what are you going to do about it?

Do you...
a. PANIC! Scream and run around in circles waving your arms above your head.
b. Start hoarding toilet roll. You have it on good authority that it might become the currency of the realm.
c. Emulate Michael Douglas in popular 80s yuppie-fest, "Falling Down" and shoot everyone before they get you first. After all it is only a matter of time.
d. Write a very long letter.

You chose d of course? What else will the keyboard clatter monkeys at Goodreads be doing when the shit hits the fan - we'll all be getting in one last seminal review, right? Ok kidding, I'll be out on the street shanking people for toilet roll with the rest of you.

Anna Blume has chose option D although in her defence, when we are introduced to her as the narrator in The Country of Last Things, the world has already imploded and things are about to get worse. Well, I say the world because Auster never quite quantifies or qualifies the full geographic extent of his dystopian vision (aside from intimating that it has not reached England - yay). But based on the descriptions of the bleak and bitter landscape through which Anna Blume wanders, it is pretty likely that good old New York is the epicentre of the end of days. Why is New York the epicentre? No idea about that either, as Auster gives no clues, but it is probably something to do with politics.

Anna Blume has entered a sort of dead zone in order to find her brother, journalist William Blume. Clutching only a photograph of his associate, Sam Farr, and a limited number of possessions she quickly realises that she has made a terrible mistake entering a world where the normal laws of society are long forgotten and the only placebo to this is that if you can't face surviving in the such total moral and physival dereliction then there is at least one way out. Numerous cults and groups have sprung up which encourage suicide in various novel fashions; the leapers the runners and the crawlers. Running yourself to death anyone? Nope, thought not.

This is not a scary dystopian vision despite the fact that it features suicide, attempted rape, murder, theft and cannibalism. The lack of scare factor is mainly attributable to the fact that as the apocalypse seems to be fairly localised there is always the hope of escape. A bit like Mad Max trying to get beyond the Thunder Dome.

Anna Blume's last testament is an epistle to her family, one which she anticipates will never be read. It is the one sided nature of this account which makes it work because we only ever get to hear Anna's voice and that single voice is what fuels the notion of loneliness and isolation. Despite all the negative connotations however, she still manages to find love, friendship, solace and shelter and it even ends on a positive note. Perhaps there is life beyond the Thunder Dome after all.

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Jan 13, 2011 Chris rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: favorites

I am ridiculously impressed with this book thus far - post-apocalyptic fiction is absolutely my favorite genre, and this is such a different take on it that I haven't been able to stop reading. Typically, nearly the entire population is already dead or dying, whereas Auster has entire cities still squabbling and struggling to survive. Far more plausible. Of course, more and more people would die as fresh water becomes scarce, food unavailable in markets, sewage systems cease to function, etc. An...more

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Dec 28, 2010 Banan rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: favorites

قرأتها على فتراتٍ مُتباعدة , ليس أنَّها ثقيلة أو رديئة ؛ لُغتها النثريَّة فاخرة فحسب و تستحقُّ وقتاً تام وعقلاً خال لا يودُّ أن يُبصر إلا القراءة . رواية عميقة , تجسِّد التدهور الإنساني والصراع الأخلاقي بحرفيّة جميلة وتسلسلٍ متقن , هذا -بالتأكيد- بغض النظر عن الإباحيَّات التي قفزت في عدة مواضع كجانبٍ روائي مُكمِّل للقصة والرؤية التي يريد أوستر إيصالها .

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Apr 17, 2012 Fabian rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Ein toller dystopischer Roman von Auster, den ich während der aufkommenden Finanzkrise anhub zu lesen und der möglicherweise deshalb den kleinen Apokalyptiker in mir ein wenig in seinem 100jährigen Schlaf gestört hat. Zu anfang findet sich dieser Satz:

“These are the last things. A house is there one day, and the next day it is gone. A street you walked down yesterday is no longer there today. Even the weather is in conctant flux.”

Ein Buch über eine Gesellschaft nach der großen Katastrophe, in we...more

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Jan 10, 2013 Walaa Saeed rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Recommended to Walaa Saeed by: يوسف المحيمد

Shelves: pdf, novels, to-buy, favorites

اكتئاب ... اكتئاب ....اكتئاب
The book of Eli
بس النسخة النسائية و فى الرواية لسه موصلوش أنهم ياكلوا بعض

أول قراءة لبول أستر و ليست الأخيرة إن شاءالله

الرواية أحداثها قليلة بالنسبة للأوصاف و خواطر البطلة و ذكرياتهاالتى تعتمد عليها بشكل كلى للنجاة من الحاضر الأليم و المستقبل الأسود

البطلة تبحث عن أخيها المفقود فى بلاد اللاشىء من أى أخلاق أو مبادىء
تكاد تكون خالية من الإنسانية بحد ذاتها

فى رحلة الضياع تكاد تنسى أخوها و لا تبحث عنه يكتفى أن تتابع كيف تنجو البطلة من كل هذه المصائب و تتمسك بالحياة لأخر دقي...more اكتئاب ... اكتئاب ....اكتئاب
The book of Eli
بس النسخة النسائية و فى الرواية لسه موصلوش أنهم ياكلوا بعض

أول قراءة لبول أستر و ليست الأخيرة إن شاءالله

الرواية أحداثها قليلة بالنسبة للأوصاف و خواطر البطلة و ذكرياتهاالتى تعتمد عليها بشكل كلى للنجاة من الحاضر الأليم و المستقبل الأسود

البطلة تبحث عن أخيها المفقود فى بلاد اللاشىء من أى أخلاق أو مبادىء
تكاد تكون خالية من الإنسانية بحد ذاتها

فى رحلة الضياع تكاد تنسى أخوها و لا تبحث عنه يكتفى أن تتابع كيف تنجو البطلة من كل هذه المصائب و تتمسك بالحياة لأخر دقيقة متيقنا مع هذه الحياة أن أخوها فى عداد الموتى

الغريب غريزة الإنسان فى البقاء على قيد الحياة بالرغم من إنعدام المأكل و الملبس و المسكن و تأمر الطبيعة(التقلبات الجوية و الجو البارد و الأمطار و الثلج ) هو الأمر الذى تجسد فى الرواية بشكل واقعى و طبيعى إلى أقصى الحدود لدرجة أن فكرة الإنتحار أصبحت فكرة دنيئة و ساذجة لمن يفكر فيها على الرغم من هذه الحياة التى لا تشبه الحياة فى أى شىء.

سام الذى أعتبرته البطلة زوجها هو رمز للإنسانية التى لا تضيع بضياع المأكل و المشرب ،فكرة أنه يسعد لحملها و لا يتنازل عن طفله و حقه فى إنجاب طفل فى هذا العالم الموحش كانت نقطة كسر بهاالكاتب سودواية هذا العالم و أبرز الإنسانية المدفونة فى الأعماق من جديد

فى هذه الدنياالسوداء تكاد لا تكون هناك أى غريزة للإنسان إلا البقاء على قيد الحياة و الإحساس بالأمان لذلك البطلة لا تجد أى تحرج فى علاقتها بسيدة اخرى بلا انها تطلب التفهم لماهية هذه العلاقة. ما لم يؤخذ على الكاتب أو المترجم أنه لم يسهب فى وصف هذه العلاقة ووضعها فى إطار الإحساس بالأمان ليخرج من الإباحية لمنطق مباح فى هذه الحياة.

الرواية مليئة بتفاصيل كثيرة كلها تدور تحت حول الانسانية المفقودة
كلها مواصفات سودواية لكنها واقعية
و هذه الصفات بدء العالم يأخذ خطوات واسعة بإتجاهها

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Dec 30, 2008 Anca rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 10, old-holidays, dystopias

Distopie.
-nu in sensul obisnuit pe care-l ia in literatura: haosul ataca doar un oras, orasul e scena pe care oribilitatile necesare unei distopii au loc.
-persoana I, singular, o scrisoare spre exterior: Anna Blume
-concentrarea autorului pe oras, lumea dinafara e ignorata, orasul e centrul gandurilor personajelor implicit cu supravietuirea.
-mersul e motivatie si scop - "Pun un picior in fata celuilalt, celalalt picior in fata primului si apoi sper sa o pot face din nou. Nimic mai mult de-atat. T...more Distopie.
-nu in sensul obisnuit pe care-l ia in literatura: haosul ataca doar un oras, orasul e scena pe care oribilitatile necesare unei distopii au loc.
-persoana I, singular, o scrisoare spre exterior: Anna Blume
-concentrarea autorului pe oras, lumea dinafara e ignorata, orasul e centrul gandurilor personajelor implicit cu supravietuirea.
-mersul e motivatie si scop - "Pun un picior in fata celuilalt, celalalt picior in fata primului si apoi sper sa o pot face din nou. Nimic mai mult de-atat. Trebuie sa intelegi cum traiesc acum. Ma misc. Respir ce aer mi se da. Mananc cat de putin pot. Indiferent ce ar spune altii, singurul lucru care conteaza e sa ramai in picioare. "
-ce mai vrei cand nu urmaresti sa-ti fie bine sau sa ajungi undeva - "Lasa totul sa dispara si apoi sa vedem ce ramane. Poate ca asta e cea mai interesanta intrebare: sa vedem ce se-ntampla dupa ce n-a mai ramas nimic [..]" - ce scop mai are atunci supravietuirea? => sinucigasii (mentiune pt. "Alergatori" - sa alergi pana la limita epuizarii pana crapi pe dinauntru si "Clubul de Asasinate") - "Dar in final nu ma las sa alunec, nu-mi permit. O sa rezist cat de mult pot[..]".
-camera din Biblioteca impartita de Anna si Samuel Farr - o sustragere de la realitate, obsesia cartii ce trebuie scrisa
-rostul Casei Woburn, un mic voiaj in paradis ca sa ti se para apoi mai crunta realitatea, 10 iluzile. micul bine temporar comparat cu marele rau - viziunea unui om continuata. rostul unei Case Woburn?
-disperarea si spaimele Annei sint scrise temperat, la un timp trecut si parca e justificata abia la sfarsit, cand poate! a trecut vremea lor
-disparitia lucrurilor din mintea oamenilor, readucerea vechilor conditii in minte e sinucigasa - "Oamenii fantoma mor intotdeauna in somn."- uitarea e inevitabila, nu numai ca lucrurile dispar, dispare si amintirea lor, " In final, problema nu e atat ca oamenii uita, cat ca nu uita mereu acelasi lucru.[..]E un proces de stergere lent, dar inevitabil. Cuvintele tind sa dureze putin mai mult decat lucrurile, dar in cele din urma si ele palesc, impreuna cu imaginle pe care le evocau candva."
-mai e misterul din jurul circumstantelor, nu afli nimic; ce s-a intamplat cu orasul? - Auster nu prezice nimic din evenimentele ce converg spre starea de lucruri intunecata
-la inceput, situatia aparea atat de neagra ca mi se parea de neconceput existenta relatiilor dintre oameni; totusi, Isabel, Sam, Ferdinand, Boris, Victoria - de toti, Anna se agata si-si creeaza un univers de miscare ca sa nu revina in conditia de la venirea in oras; singuratatea in care pana la urma, fiecare traia; cum sa traiesti in haos altfel?

-distopiile sunt minunate, de unde imi duc pesimismul; e placerea morbida cu care gust detaliile deprimante si socante in detrimentul scenelor de dragoste sau descrierilor de caldura sufleteasca.(less)

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Sep 06, 2012 Rob rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 2012, to-re-read, dystopia, epistolary

I close the covers of this book with a sense of foreboding and uncertainty. The narrative is a kissing cousin to Dhalgren , and is a city only a little less shifty than Bellona. It isn't per se dystopian (too anarchic?), nor is it really "apocalyptic" (there's been no obvious end of the world) but it's disturbed and disturbing and turned upside down. It's an epistolary novel, and as such conjures up comparisons with The Handmaid's Tale , but less linear. It's harder to guess where this goes next...more

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Oct 19, 2011 Dayes Mohammed rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: favorites-shelf, روايات

إلى آنا بلوم مع التحية :
تبدو الحياة أجمل و نحن نحاول قراءة آخر مستجداتها ، لكن ما أن تواجهنا مرحلة الضياع فيها حتى نبدأ بأولى المحاولات لقراءة ذواتنا ، نحن كائنات متوحشة يا عزيزتي آنا ، أكثر من ذلك نحن نشبه البشر شكلا ً فقط ، نحن لا نملك القدر البسيط الذي يساعدنا على العيش بشكل ٍ أفضل ، إننا نفقد القدرة على مخاطبة الروح التي تشجعنا على العيش بشكل ٍأخاذ في هذه الحياة .
حبيبتي آنا :
أود أن أقبّلك و أحتضنك و أن أدعوك ِ لعشاء ٍ فاخر و أن أخبرك ِ قصصا ً أجمل و أفضل من قصص بوريس ، أود أن أقرأ و إياك ِ ا...more

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Jul 06, 2012 míol mór rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: finished, on, oct, 28, 2011, dystopia, 900, anglo-america, jew, library, loan, post-apocalyptic, postmodernism

��Every Jew, he said, believes that he belongs to the last generation of Jews�� (112).

Il paese delle ultime cose �� una citt�� senza nome, la cui popolazione vive in condizioni spaventose. Il lavoro produttivo non esiste pi��, sostituito da una disperata economia del riciclo. Ne deriva una carenza cronica di cibo, vestiario, abitazioni. La citt�� si ciba di se stessa, letteralmente. Il crimine �� la norma, e non viene punito da un governo che si preoccupa solamente della raccolta di rifiuti um...more

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Aug 06, 2011 Matthew added it

In Auster's Moon Palace, one of the characters has a childhood memory of playing "a game of inventing countries together, imaginary worlds that overturned the laws of nature. Some of the better ones took weeks to perfect, and the maps I drew of them hung in a place of honor above the kitchen table. The Land of Sporadic Night, for example, and the Kingdom of One Eyed Men. Given the difficulties the real world had created for both of us, it probably made sense that we should want to leave it as of...more In Auster's Moon Palace, one of the characters has a childhood memory of playing "a game of inventing countries together, imaginary worlds that overturned the laws of nature. Some of the better ones took weeks to perfect, and the maps I drew of them hung in a place of honor above the kitchen table. The Land of Sporadic Night, for example, and the Kingdom of One Eyed Men. Given the difficulties the real world had created for both of us, it probably made sense that we should want to leave it as often as possible." In The Country of Last Things fulfills and extends that recollection. Some would call the setting of ITCOLT a dystopian future, but its is actually cacotopian, an imaginative future utopia in which the worst possible things all happen. Not unlike Rwanda or Sarajevo, the future presented is a bleak one of failure and collapse. Often times the term apocalypse is used to mean unimaginable disaster or devastation, an end of time. But a post-apocalyptic state is unfortunately all too real for the survivors. Auster makes no mention of the cataclismic event that turns the city into a devastated wasteland, but it could be any of the more than likely outcomes for the modern nation-state; plague, pandemic, war, revolution, economic collapse, peak oil or climate change. Yet, I am reminded of J.M. Coetzee's Waiting for the Barbarians, where he states "Empire has created the time of history. Empire has located its existence not in the smooth recurrent spinning time of the cycle of the seasons but in the jagged time of rise and fall, of beginning and end, of catastrophe. Empire dooms itself to live in history and plot against history. One thought alone preoccupies the submerged mind of Empire: how not to end, how not to die, how to prolong its era. By day it pursues its enemies. It is cunning and ruthless, it sends its bloodhounds everywhere. By night it feeds on images of disaster: the sack of cities, the rape of populations, pyramids of bones, acres of desolation." Yet, in some ways Auster is not so much penning a cautionary tale of the excesses of globalization or Empire, as a love story. Anna Blume, the heroine, bears a name that in German means 'blossom' or 'flower', both being simultaneously nouns and verbs. ('To Anna Blume' is a poem written by the German dada artist Kurt Schwitters in 1919. It has been described as a parody of a love poem, an emblem of the chaos and madness of the era, and as a harbinger of a new poetic language.) Anna is a precious and beautiful thing, but she is also going through a process of blossoming into a real person. One who makes choices, accepts hardship and sacrifice for the sake of ethical action and is not afraid to love and be loved, despite the terror of her environment. Auster again makes the claim that "Every man is the author of his own life," ... "The book you are writing is not yet finished. Therefore it is a manuscript." In this case, ITCOLT is yet another realization that we are the storytellers of our own lives, no matter where or when those stories may take place.(less)

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Apr 27, 2013 Susan Oleksiw rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I don't normally read sci-fi or post-apocalyptic books but once I began this one I wanted to see where Auster went with it. Anna Blume leaves her comfortable home to search for her brother in the City, which is another country that has essentially collapsed. She arrives on a charity ship and soon learns that life is bare survival, walking the streets--always moving--scavenging, avoiding the runners, who commit suicide by running to exhaustion, and the various vultures and predators who also popu...more

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Jan 09, 2013 ياسر أحمد rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Imagine an unknown city in the near future, populated almost wholly by street dwellers. City that is undergoing a catastrophic economic decline. Buildings collapse daily, driving huge numbers of citizens into the streets, where they starve or die of exposure if they aren't murdered by other vagrants first.

Auster (my beloved author) uses his usual tremendous power with words to convey the depth of all the darkest of the dark.
“Nothing lasts, you see, not even the thoughts inside you. And you must...more

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Dec 28, 2012 Kathleen rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I am an ardent admirer of Auster’s, and this book is among my favorites. However, having read it immediately upon finishing MacCarthy’s The Road, it was impossible to refrain from comparing the two. Both are set in a post-apocalyptic universe, the precise cause of which is not specified. Both feature protagonists who teeter on the edge of starvation, and must scrounge for the means to survive. Although in Auster’s world a semblance of civilization remains, in both stories the protagonists are su...more

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Aug 26, 2012 Dulce rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

A minha incursão pela vasta obra de Paul Auster teve o seu segundo capítulo com este livro publicado em 1987. Mais uma vez a leitura foi galopante e, mais uma vez, o final foi abrupto. O cenário é uma cidade, um país em estado de sítio, cujo nome e lugar desconhecemos. A descrição é quase apocalíptica; e é tão bem feita que quase nos transportamos para lá. Nalguns pontos, fez-me lembrar duas obras de Saramago - o famoso "Ensaio sobre a Cegueira" e o conto "Embargo", recentemente adaptado ao gran...more

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Jun 08, 2012 Carlos rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: papel

Se trata de una novela (una de las primeras) metafórica y narrada en forma de epístola, cuyo manuscrito es un cuaderno azul que Anna Blume encuentra en un piso en el país donde vive, una ciudad asolada por el precipicio de la ruina y desaparición; se contempla el lugar como un indómito territorio de nadie en el que calles y edificios por los que se pasea un día, bien pueden haber desaparecido al día siguiente; un lugar donde lo mejor es acostumbrarse a no tener nada y, por lo tanto, a no ser na

...more

Se trata de una novela (una de las primeras) metafórica y narrada en forma de epístola, cuyo manuscrito es un cuaderno azul que Anna Blume encuentra en un piso en el país donde vive, una ciudad asolada por el precipicio de la ruina y desaparición; se contempla el lugar como un indómito territorio de nadie en el que calles y edificios por los que se pasea un día, bien pueden haber desaparecido al día siguiente; un lugar donde lo mejor es acostumbrarse a no tener nada y, por lo tanto, a no ser nada, antes que luchar contra unos elementos o cosas, cuya existencia no sólo se borra, sino también su recuerdo. Toda una metáfora vital y del oficio de escritor, ya quesi escribir en un mundo material sirve de bien poco, cuando todo desaparece, a pesar de que la necesidad de contar historias parece hacerse necesaria, ésta se vuelve, si cabe, aún más inútil.

Anna desarrolla un oficio incierto y que pretende alejarse de las burocracias propias del Gobierno del lugar, busca una salida, el final de su desesperación existencial, y para ello trabaja como basurera o vendiendo sus objetos personales o aquellos que la calle le suministre,al mejor postor, tratando de conseguir el mayor número de goles (así se llama la moneda oficial) posibles.La población está tan alarmada que en los hospitales proliferan asociaciones privadas en pro de la eutanasia, de tal forma que pagando algo más de dinero se suministra muerte por enfermedad, pero las ideas de suicidio no van unidas necesariamente a una enfermedad, por lo que también surgen de la urbe clubs de asesinatos, por los que, a cambio de una mayor cantidad, un grupo de asesinos propone matar a un cliente; este hecho hace que el cliente se acobarde y en el lugar y momento precisos, en vez de abandonarse a la muerte, se apeguen extrañamente a su vida como nunca lo hicieron y resulten ser asesinos de su propio asesino, pudiendo así acceder a un puesto de trabajo en el club, y nouna mera mención como clientes desesperados.

El concepto de supervivencia se rige por la ataraxia o indiferencia, de nada sirve el pesimismo feroz, cualquier día pueden echarte de tu casa y tendrás que vivir en la calle. Esta actitud favorece el amoldamiento a todo tipo de circunstancias y todo lo que suponga desarrollar la personalidad en otro sentido, tendrá consecuencias funestas. Anna se encontrará por el camino a personajes como Isabel o Ferdinand. Ferdinand es un despreocupado artista que realiza carteles publicitarios para tiendas y construye barcos y goletas de miniatura (cuanto menos se vean, mejor) como capricho a su estado de nulidad espiritual. Isabel trabaja con Anna y morirá al poco tiempo por no saber encontrar las palabras que definen su pensamiento.Bueno, por eso y porque se ve sola cuando Ferdinand muere, producto de un estrangulamiento que le practica Anna, que siente asco ante su prepotencia y vagancia.

En uno de los desvalimientos mayores de la protagonista, ésta entra en la Biblioteca Nacional, y tras sortear a un conserje con gafas, consigue introducirse con ánimo de encontrar a su hermano William. Un becario y estudiante judío le hablará de un importante escritor que seguramente le puede conocer y que está escribiendo la historia de la ciudad, así como un estudio intelectual que le permita salir de allí. Anna se da cuenta de que no tiene dinero para sobreviviry ambos deciden irse a vivir juntos, calentándose con la hoguera de otros libros y montar una Residencia que suponga un paraje de bienestar para todos los que lo están pasando tan mal.

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Mar 12, 2012 Antje rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I liked this a lot. I have only just gotten into Auster, after reading Oracle Night.
This has got a similar pull, very imaginative, funny, compelling, scary, emotive. I finished it a while ago and wanted to think about the story a little bit. Reviews I read kept going on about allegories and I actually felt I needed to take the time to think that through. I never did though, and moved on to the next book. It just sometimes happens that I get stuff right away (and i mean this in the sense of: thi...more

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Jan 19, 2012 Hayden rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

http://haydenwritesthings.wordpress.c...

I finished this book on the train yesterday and, like all of Auster’s books, I wanted to immediately turn the book over and start again.

But I didn’t, and maybe that says something about this particular book. Moon Palace I must have read over five times now, and The New York Trilogy has been read at least four times - I’ve turned these books over in my hands on the same day, reaching the end only to start at the beginning again. This didn’t happen with In T...more http://haydenwritesthings.wordpress.c...

I finished this book on the train yesterday and, like all of Auster’s books, I wanted to immediately turn the book over and start again.

But I didn’t, and maybe that says something about this particular book. Moon Palace I must have read over five times now, and The New York Trilogy has been read at least four times - I’ve turned these books over in my hands on the same day, reaching the end only to start at the beginning again. This didn’t happen with In The Country of Last Things.

Perhaps this is due to the plot itself. It’s a very different novel for Auster, it’s been described as a dystopian novel by most and yet it’s disturbingly contemporary in nature. I’m not sure if I could call it a dystopian novel myself, as it seems to me more an allegory of the ‘now’, of the land we find ourselves in today (albeit a cynical, dark and more twisted society than our own). The novel is written in the form of a letter from a young woman called Anna Blume who has travelled to an unnamed city to find her brother. The city itself seems steeped in mystery to those outside of it; those who go there very often don’t come back and it is implied that not a lot is known about the city other than that it is a dangerous place. The narrative is essentially exploratory which then grows into a more personal account of survival, of relationships and of friendships which, in combination, explore the human condition in relation to the city these people find themselves in.

It’s a very dark novel. The city is in ruins. Buildings have collapsed or are nearing collapse, their interiors are often absent of furniture, no heating, no electricity (often), and a large percent of the population are homeless. If you are lucky enough to have a home you are also unlucky, those that own property’s tend to charge large amounts of money for rent and can, at any time, bully you out of the house with their hired mercenaries – if a member of the household dies and you struggle to pay the rent then the bullyboys come round, if the landlord chooses to the up the rent to a level you can’t afford then you’re thrown out on the streets. As such, there are numerous buildings that are vacant because not many can afford to stay in them – and if you attempt squatting you’ll find yourself in a prison camp, or dead, or both in sequence. To survive people either collect rubbish or collect objects, the rubbish is collected and thrown into large furnaces to provide energy for those buildings that still have heating and electricity, and also for producing food. Objects, however, can be used again. They collect higher prices on the market but tend to be harder to find. Object collectors push shopping trolleys around the city looking for intact or semi-intact objects, but, though their job seems far from hazardous, they are often targets for Vultures – object collectors gone bad – or just more general thieves. Getting enough money to provide food for a week is enormously difficult, so every is forced to live moment to moment – unable to plan, or to be sure, of anything .

The most thriving industry in the city seems to be that of death. There are Euthanasia Clinics dotted around the city where people pay large amounts of money to be tucked into bed with a warm dinner (perhaps the only warm dinner they’ve had for years) and put to sleep. There are various levels of euthanasia – the more you pay, the more pleasure you get; prostitutes, feasts, hallucinogenics, a luxury room - there is a great deal of money in the Euthanasia Clinics. There are the Runners; those who learn to run and run and run until their body becomes completely exhausted and destroys itself. The Assassins Guild who kill those that add their name to the assassination register, it is described as an alternative to the difficult decision that is taking your own life. If you manage to kill your assassin you are invited to become part of the assassins guild and are paid to assassinate others.

There seems to be no way out of the city once you are in it. People die everyday on the streets and, the following morning, the government sends trucks out to clean the city of the dead. Mugging, murder, rape, and suicide are commonplace.

Wow.

Now, Paul Auster’s not new to dark territory. His novels are constantly deconstructing the idea of ‘self’, of struggling against the absurdity of the world, or/and of being overwhelmed, but The Country of Last Things is almost a hyper intense novel of his other novels. It’s not as conceptually difficult as The New York Trilogy; in that NYT was quite a difficult read. Instead Last Things is an easier read but explores many of the difficulties found (often metaphorically) in his other works. We see Absurdism, we see elements of Baudrillard, even a personification of Post-modernism makes an appearance, and so in a weird way its like a summary of Auster by Auster – the theoretical seems more apparent in this novel than in his others, but at the same time the novel itself is not so tied up within its theory, not in the way that New York Trilogy or Pynchon’s Lot 49 become their theory in that the writing itself can be seen as a metaphor.

It doesn’t feel as playful as other Auster texts, but it is just as polished as any of his better known works. It is more approachable to the average reader (I would say) and a very enjoyable read (as enjoyable as a dystopian novel can be!). I think the novel shines when we begin to feel comfortable in the city and learn more about Anna and her involvement with other human beings. Here we begin to see the city through human interaction as opposed to a more general overview; it becomes more specific, closer to us, and then we begin to live it along with the characters as opposed to just seeing or witnessing it. The city comes alive at this point, and we can share in it because there is something human (human in a very loose way) to it.

Anna never gives up, she never stops loving, and sometimes I found myself wanting to push my hands into the book and shake her, shake her and say, ‘give up! Give up now!’ because it seemed to become so hard, so beyond anything we could imagine a human being put through, that I almost couldn’t imagine someone lasting. I guess my error was that occasionally I realised the book was a book, I divorced myself from the world at these points and suddenly couldn’t fathom it, I realised that it was a fiction – but that fiction was also a fiction of now: of homelessness, of loan sharks, of suicide, of objects, of governments we didnt hope for…

I loved it, and I will read it again. It is a very emotional/moving novel. It makes you think – and that’s what’s most important.(less)

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May 29, 2011 Juliet rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. In the Country of Last Things is not a particularly well-structured book. The narrative often takes dramatic shifts with no warning, diluting the emotional poignancy of moments that ought to be compelling and tragic. For instance, within a handful of pages, the protagonist develops a relationship so passionate she writes "I love you so much I want to die" and then leaves this lover with minimal qualms for the man she loved before. It's tempting to say that such shifts are intentional, but instea...more In the Country of Last Things is not a particularly well-structured book. The narrative often takes dramatic shifts with no warning, diluting the emotional poignancy of moments that ought to be compelling and tragic. For instance, within a handful of pages, the protagonist develops a relationship so passionate she writes "I love you so much I want to die" and then leaves this lover with minimal qualms for the man she loved before. It's tempting to say that such shifts are intentional, but instead they just come off as poor characterizations and/or plot. As a coherent narrative, In the Country of Last Things is, unfortunately, lackluster.

Fortunately, though, it compensates elsewhere. I appreciated this book more as a series of portraits than a moralistic tale. And, indeed, the haphazard plots lends itself to such a reading.

So many dystopian novels are written as moral tales. Somewhere inside most of them, one can find political commentary or searing analyses of what's left of humanity when everything else is gone. Whether it's an oppressive government in 1984, gender politics in The Handmaid's Tale, or the enduring bond of love in The Road, there is a driving lesson, a "this is what we could be if we're not careful" or "this is what we'll be when we're not careful."

In the Country of Last Things is different. There are no causes for the disasters Anna describes, no rationality or explanation that could at least frame some order over the chaos. They simply are. The "Existential Threat" made manifest. And that makes the novel a distinctly different animal.

In fact, what Anna's emotional state reminded me of most was that of a person abused: afraid and wary of everything, worried that all things will hurt, buffeted without reason from all sides unceasingly. And even as she's continually assaulted, she struggles on. She makes do. She survives. And that is the entirety of the narrative.

That's not to say it wasn't interesting; I found myself reading briskly to find where Anna would be led. But I wasn't really invested; Anna or Auster, intentionally or not, don't let you get invested.

The characters, including Anna, often seem flat. But there are moments, sentences, paragraphs that scream with poetic resonance. There are wonderful elaborations upon the compromises and small deaths one endures to persist in the face of such torture. And, truly, one wonders why *all* of the novel can't be like this.

I wanted more. I wanted this book to be better. I wanted raw humanity. And instead, I got quixotic restraint. But there are moments where the humanity briefly shines through; and it's those passages, not the novel, that make the reading worthwhile.(less)

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Oct 26, 2010 Alberto rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: Patrico Fernandini, Herve Prado

Shelves: escritores-favoritos, familia, por-el-gusto, ficcion

Anna Blume va en busca de William, su desaparecido hermano,
en un país donde sucede lo anti-natural. Anna comienza la historia dejándonos entrar intimamente en sus pensamientos y sentires, pues atraves de una carta que escribe para su novio va invitándonos a participar poco a poco, mostrando la miseria del ser humano en un mundo apocaliptico-infernal.

Es una de las mejores descripciones que he leído de un "Infierno moderno". Un infierno que rompe con lo tradicional, con lo bíblico, con lo históri...more

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Mar 27, 2010 Clara rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: dystopian-post-apocalyptic-fiction

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

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May 28, 2009 Travis rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: fiction

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. Anna Blume leaves her life of privilege to travel to a post-apocalyptic, dystopic city in a foreign country in search of her brother, a reporter who has gone missing. Immediately upon arriving in the unnamed city, Anna gets caught up in the struggle to eke out day-to-day survival in a city in a state of total economic collapse. Written in the form of a letter to a friend back home, the book follows Anna's progress through three distinct stages of her life in the city: first, picking through the...more

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Apr 29, 2013 Eman rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: آمریکا-u-s-a

"پایان فقط یک خیال است، مقصدی که برای خود می تراشی تا بتوانی به رفتن ادامه دهی،
اما زمانی می رسد که درمی یابی هرگز به آن نمی رسی،ممکن است به ناچار توقف کنی اما، تنها به این خاطر که زمان به انتها رسیده است توقف می کنی، اما به این مفهوم نیست که به آخر رسیده ای."

کشور آخرین ها متن نامه ی (سفرنامه یا خاطرات) آنا بلوم، دختر نوزده ساله است که برای یافتن برادر خودش به کشور بیگانه ای سفر می کند و در آن جا با شهر(کشوری) روبرو می شود که خارج شدن از آن برایش میسر نیست و من خواننده را یاد آخرالزمان می اندازد
ج...more

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Jan 03, 2013 Maciek rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: post-apocalyptic, read-in-2013, dystopia, reviewed

When you live in the city, you learn to take nothing for granted. Close your eyes for a moment, turn around to look at something else, and the thing that was before you is suddenly gone. Nothing lasts, you see, not even the thoughts inside you.

Paul Auster's last novel, Sunset Park, opens with the main protagonist working for a south Florida realty company which deals with cleaning out reposessed homes; his name is Miles Heller, he's 28 and he takes photographs of abandoned things, the innumerabl...more When you live in the city, you learn to take nothing for granted. Close your eyes for a moment, turn around to look at something else, and the thing that was before you is suddenly gone. Nothing lasts, you see, not even the thoughts inside you.

Paul Auster's last novel, Sunset Park, opens with the main protagonist working for a south Florida realty company which deals with cleaning out reposessed homes; his name is Miles Heller, he's 28 and he takes photographs of abandoned things, the innumerable things the previous homeowners left behind when they were evicted. Set in the recession of 2008 and taking place in Florida and New York, the novel features a cast of characters whose stories intervine as they strive to survive after the economic collapse.

In The Country of Last Things is an earlier work, and one where the conditions are much more dire. Although the time period and the location are never specified, we can guess that the storyline is set in roughly contemporary times after something went wrong, and caused an unnamed City (which is most likely modeled after New York) to become a separate country, the Country of Last Things. The last things are the all things which keep disappearing one by one: whole streets and buildings implode or are destroyed, taking their inhabitants and their posessions with them. Babies are not born anymore, and human bodies and waste have become precious commodities which the officials use for generating energy; burial is treated as a serious crime. Although a government is in power it is never stable and does not hold power over the city, which is ruled by the underworld; on the streets the strong rule over the weak. Scavenging is common, but one must buy the license from a license from the underworld to become a legitimate scavenger, and not get assaulted by the "inspectors". People with shopping carts populate the streets, hunting for what is still there. A large percent of the population is homeless, but most homes are no better than the streets: stripped from furniture, without heating. Leaving the city seems to be impossible,with travel permits being ridiculously expensive and government officials hunting down those who want to exit illegally.

Into this world comes Anna Blume, a woman looking for her brother, William. William has been sent to write a book on the city - but contact with him has vanished, and the man whom William's editors sent to find him has also disappeared. Desperate, Anna enters the city and as she tries to survive in a world where nothing is produced and everything is running out she realizes the hopelesness of her quests. Yet, Anna refuses to give up, and continues her search. The novel is a first person account written by her as a letter to an unspecified acquaintance, a friend from time before. She doesn't even know if the letter will ever be read, but she continues, refusing to give up and vanish, become yet another Last Thing.

All of Paul Auster's fiction deals with the struggle of the Self against the absurd world ruled by chance and accident, the overwhelming effect the compilation of events has on the individual, the intensity with which his protagonists are affected by what they cannot control. These themes are prominent in in The Country of Last Things as well, which is arguably his darkest novel: set in a world literally ending, where individuality is almost completely eliminated and people are reduced to what they can scavenge. Throughout her journey through the City with its ever changing landscape, Anna will meet several quirky characters, each of which will serve a purpose in her journey and affect her in some way. Although some of Anna's observations about life border on banal, It's hard to not sympathize with her and root for her cause, however hopeless it may be.

Paul Auster is a talented talespinner and his polished prose is elegant and flows smoothly. Although short in lenght, the novel is finely crafted and features a convincingly drawn post-apocalyptic environment, detailed enough to prevent the novel from sinking into the bog of run of the mill post-apocalyptic fiction. Like other dystopian works it can also be read as an allegory of contemporary world of here and now: opressive governments, shortage of money and food, eviction, suicide. Although it deals with these bleak themes, I felt that the ultimate message is the one of hope - even if it seems unreasonable and pointless; Anna's journal is a success of creation in a world of destruction. By reading the novel we feel that she has succeeded and her efforts were not in vain - her journal has been found and read, and will continue to be read. We pass it on, and it continues to exist, sendings its message and her in it ever onwards, never becoming a Last Thing, helping to keep Anna in our memory and thought and preventing her from disappearing into oblivion.

This is the first novel I've read in 2013. A great way to start the year!(less)

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Oct 29, 2012 Jim rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

It seems like everyone and his dog is writing a post-apocalyptic or dystopian novel these days. This one is a little different in that it's written by a literary novelist. As such it may disappoint purists on both sides of the fence but I liked it. I'm a great fan of dystopian fiction and I think Auster holds his end up well. No, it is not a perfect book and I very much doubt that when the book is turned into a film that will help because all the interesting stuff – to me at least – will probabl...more

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Feb 04, 2013 Didem Tapban rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Brilliant fiction writing!

http://fishingtilda.blogspot.com/2013...

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Aug 09, 2011 Bookmaniac70 rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

За мен това е една от най-хубавите книги на Остър. Отличава се с някаква тъжна красота. Историята на един рушащ се свят, в който Анна Блуме най-неочаквано среща любов и приятелство, е разказана в стегнатия ритъм на писмото, адресирано до неин приятел от детинство. Езикът и формата са изчистени до максимална степен- пределно икономични, нажежени до бяло от страданието и загубата. Самата героиня е по-скоро като огледало, отразяващо разрухата наоколо. Превърнала се в механизъм за оцеляване,тя откри...more

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Jul 30, 2012 Michael rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: fiction, science-fiction, dystopia, post-apocalyptic

Existential tale of a woman, Anna, who moves to an unnamed country to find her brother and ends up in a quest for survival in an economically-collapsed urban dystopia. As with a fairy tale, everything is boiled down to bare essentials, rendered in the compelling voice that evolves in Anna's journal. But there is richness in the spareness, and I couldn't help but be drawn into rooting for her as some kind of advocate for humanity. As with McCarthy's The Road, written over 20 years later, we don't...more

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Apr 21, 2013 Alfredo Sherman rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Paul Auster nos deja una carta/libro sobre un futuro lleno de entropía y de cosas inasequibles. Nos habla de una ciudad donde los objetos, personas, lugares e incluso palabras son víctimas del desgaste y la desaparición. El país de las últimas cosas es una distopía flaca sin muchas ambiciones.

"¿Cómo puedes hablar con alguien de aviones, si esa persona no sabe lo que es un avión? Es un proceso de eliminación lento pero irreversible. Las palabras suelen durar un poco más que las cosas, pero al fin

...more

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Jan 09, 2012 Anahí rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: distopías

Este libro definitivamente tiene similitudes con 1984 y Farenheit 451; es una historia centrada en la distopía, en un mundo que se viene abajo. Me parece que hubiera sido interesante que Auster ahondara un poco más en las cuestiones políticas, y en por qué esa ciudad en particular se encontraba ante semejante situación. Resulta un poco increíble el que haya gente en las calles buscando basura u objetos olvidados para cambiarlos por dinero o comida, y sin embargo que haya lugares como la Residenc...more Este libro definitivamente tiene similitudes con 1984 y Farenheit 451; es una historia centrada en la distopía, en un mundo que se viene abajo. Me parece que hubiera sido interesante que Auster ahondara un poco más en las cuestiones políticas, y en por qué esa ciudad en particular se encontraba ante semejante situación. Resulta un poco increíble el que haya gente en las calles buscando basura u objetos olvidados para cambiarlos por dinero o comida, y sin embargo que haya lugares como la Residencia Woburn, que se haya mantenido en pie por tanto tiempo sin sufrir ningún tipo de saqueos, no sólo por parte de los residentes sino por el resto de la población, si tenemos en cuenta que era un secreto a voces que la calidad de vida en ese lugar estaba muy por encima del de cualquier otro sitio en la ciudad, y que había cantidad de objetos que - comparados con las baratijas que se podían encontrar en la calle - resultaban un lujo (sábanas, almohadas, leche, carne, ropa, etc.). Si los desalojos eran moneda corriente, y nadie podía contar con la seguridad de que su hogar hoy fuera su hogar mañana, ¿cómo la Residencia no fue desalojada en ningún momento, ni siquiera por miembros del gobierno, que seguramente no les hacía ninguna gracia que se llevaran a cabo las actividades que se llevaban a cabo en ese lugar? Digo, lo que uno deduce del gobierno de esa ciudad es más o menos similar a lo que ocurre con el gobierno en '1984' de Orwell: bajo ningún punto de vista se quiere promover el pensamiento, la imaginación en los ciudadanos, y como bien dice Anna Blume, la miseria y el tener que preocuparse por sobrevivir de a un día por vez, no daban lugar a ningún tipo de actividad mental, y sólo se promovía el desarrollo del instinto de supervivencia, en el mejor de los casos, y el egocentrismo. Las condiciones de miseria para que eso sucediera fueron provistas por el gobierno, y entonces - de nuevo - resulta poco creíble que los gobernantes dejaran en pie semejante institución como la Residencia Woburn...
De todos modos, el desarrollo de la historia es bastante interesante. Este libro, para mí, sería un complemento a '1984', que es 'la madre de las distopías' de los libros que he leído hasta ahora, y que explica de mejor manera la postura del gobierno frente a sus ciudadanos, y por lo tanto permite comprender 'El país de las últimas cosas' un poco mejor :)(less)

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