false 50618 29 Six months after losing his wife and two young sons in an airplane crash, Vermont professor David Zimmer spends his waking hours mired in a blur of alcoholic grief and self-pity. Then, watching television one night, he stumbles upon a clip from a lost silent film by comedian Hector Mann. Zimmers interest is piqued, and he soon finds himself embarking on a journey around the world to research a book on this mysterious figure, who vanished from sight in 1929 and has been presumed dead for sixty years. When the book is published the following year, a letter turns up in Zimmers mailbox bearing a return address from a small town in New Mexicosupposedly written by Hectors wife. Hector has read your book and would like to meet you. Are you interested in paying us a visit? Is the letter a hoax, or is Hector Mann still alive? Torn between doubt and belief, Zimmer hesitates, until one night a strange woman appears on his doorstep and makes the decision for him, changing his life forever.This stunning novel plunges the reader into a universe in which the comic and the tragic, the real and the imagined, the violent and the tender dissolve into one another. With The Book of Illusions, one of Americas most powerful and original writers has written his richest, most emotionally charged work yet. 1779328 2002 The Book of Illusions: A Novel total:2709|5:680|4:1077|3:712|2:192|1:48| 2709 10276 3618 247 1 3 false false Fri Feb 01 00:00:00 -0800 2008 Wed May 14 13:00:39 -0700 2008 Tue Feb 03 07:49:26 -0800 2009 more...]]> 3 1 false false Wed Apr 01 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Sat Mar 28 13:38:11 -0700 2009 Wed Apr 01 14:14:19 -0700 2009 more...]]> 2 2 false false Fri Dec 05 00:00:00 -0800 2008 Wed Aug 27 11:09:54 -0700 2008 Fri Dec 05 09:00:12 -0800 2008
There are moments of brilliance in the novel, and certainly, Auster k...more...]]> 3 2 false false Thu Jul 24 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Mon Jun 16 11:00:42 -0700 2008 Fri Aug 08 11:07:07 -0700 2008
If a tree falls in the forest and no one hears it, does it make a sound or not? This famous question is closely examined in "The Book of Illusions," by author Paul Auster, as he tells the story of literature professor David Zimmer, who copes with the deat...more...]]> 2 1 false false Tue Apr 08 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Wed Apr 02 15:22:27 -0700 2008 Wed Feb 04 16:49:28 -0800 2009 Interesting but unconvincing.

Has the elements for a good book -- a historical mystery, parallel stories about trying to cope with impossible grief and guilt, complex thoughts on the nature of art -- but it just doesn't come together. The odyssey of Hector Mann, the vanished silent movie ...more...]]> 5 1 false false Mon Feb 25 00:00:00 -0800 2008 Thu Feb 14 10:38:04 -0800 2008 Thu Feb 14 10:38:04 -0800 2008 more...]]> 3 1 false false Wed Nov 01 00:00:00 -0800 2006 Mon May 07 15:16:19 -0700 2007 Thu May 24 11:26:01 -0700 2007 The Book of Illusions, Paul Auster briefly refers to this philosop...more...]]> 5 0 false false Sun Feb 01 00:00:00 -0800 2009 Tue Feb 17 19:56:32 -0800 2009 Tue Feb 17 20:06:24 -0800 2009 more...]]> 5 0 false false Mon Feb 02 00:00:00 -0800 2009 Mon Feb 02 07:15:56 -0800 2009 Mon Feb 02 07:35:04 -0800 2009
It was recommended to me and I would in turn recommend it to anyone.

I wasn't expecting to fall in love it the way I did to the extent that I couldn't put it down and for someone who normally actually has very l...more...]]> 3 0 false false Mon Dec 01 00:00:00 -0800 2008 Sun Dec 28 07:17:41 -0800 2008 Sun Dec 28 07:21:40 -0800 2008 more...]]> 3 0 false false Tue Dec 02 00:00:00 -0800 2008 Thu Dec 04 16:31:59 -0800 2008 Thu Dec 04 17:26:37 -0800 2008 1 more...]]> 3 0 false false Mon Sep 28 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Mon Sep 28 11:45:33 -0700 2009 Mon Sep 28 15:40:10 -0700 2009 more...]]> 3 0 false true Sun May 22 00:00:00 -0700 2005 Thu May 28 23:12:53 -0700 2009 Thu May 28 23:16:20 -0700 2009 more...]]> 4 1 false false Thu Jun 01 00:00:00 -0700 2006 Tue Feb 27 16:34:41 -0800 2007 Tue Feb 27 16:38:10 -0800 2007 Reading Auster is so immersive that I finished this in about a day and a half. Which, to be honest, wasn't that difficult since it is a relatively thin book. My point is, though, that Auster is one of those authors who successfu...more...]]> 4 2 false false Fri Jul 01 00:00:00 -0700 2005 Mon May 28 18:46:31 -0700 2007 Mon May 28 18:50:07 -0700 2007
This is why real books are so much more awesome than ebooks--they come back to tickle your mind. ...more...]]> 5 1 false false Thu Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2004 Tue Mar 06 21:08:07 -0800 2007 Tue Mar 06 21:10:08 -0800 2007 more...]]> 5 1 false false Sat Feb 17 07:17:54 -0800 2007 Tue May 01 11:59:52 -0700 2007 3 0 false false Sat Aug 01 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Sun Aug 23 10:20:35 -0700 2009 Sun Aug 23 10:41:07 -0700 2009 more...]]> 5 0 false false Sun Feb 01 00:00:00 -0800 2009 Sun Feb 22 21:13:23 -0800 2009 Sun Feb 22 21:21:14 -0800 2009 more...]]> 5 2 false false Sat Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2005 Fri Dec 07 11:23:36 -0800 2007 Fri Dec 07 11:23:36 -0800 2007