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447 ratings, 3.99 average rating, 57 reviews
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published
August 1st 2004
(first published 1987)
by Picador
binding
Paperback, 144 pages
isbn
0312423608
(isbn13: 9780312423605)
description
Quinn writes mysteries. The Washington Post has described him as a 'post-existentialist private eye.' An unknown voice on the telephone is now begging...more
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other reviews (showing 1-20 of 542)
the original City of Glass, by paul auster, was a book that i enjoyed greatly when i first read it. i thought it was really unique, a thoughtful, stylish blend of raymond chandler, kafka, and borges. i still like it, but it hasn't aged that well for me. a lot of what i thought was playfulness now seems precious, facile. the prose is polished, but by the same token oddly eroded, flat, sanded down. often it feels like auster doesn't actually inhabit the english language--he reads like he's al...more
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Read in August, 2008
'La ciudad de cristal' es mi favorita de todas las cosas que ha escrito Paul Auster. Es también lo primero que leí de este escritor. Es la primera parte de la 'Trilogía de Nueva York' que a día de hoy me sigue pareciendo la única obra de Auster realmente conseguida. Es por esto que me animé a leer esta adaptación en forma de cómic (o novela gráfica, lo que ustedes prefieran). Una parte de mí no era muy optimista. Una parte de mí sólo quería leerlo para ver como este noble intento fr...more
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Read in March, 2008
I was a little surprised to see this on the "Graphic Novel" bookcase at the library--because I'm still not convinced it needed to be re-writeen in comic form--but as thin as it is, I decided to check it out. I liked Auster's original City of Glass, but looking back that may have been because I was reading it for a class on Post-Modernism and was going to have to discuss it for 3 weeks anyway so I figured I might as well try and enjoy it.
This book was a fine read; my only re...more
This book was a fine read; my only re...more
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Read in March, 2008
Having never read Paul Auster's City of Glass in bare text, it is hard to imagine it related more compellingly than it is here in his collaboration with artist Paul Karasik. The noir-ish narrative is built on acts of happenstance; intersections of personal losses, accidents and a search for answers that spin off into new configurations, like watching balls in a game of billiards.
In his introduction, Art Spiegelman, creator or Maus and ten-year contributor to the New Yorker, explains how it a...more
In his introduction, Art Spiegelman, creator or Maus and ten-year contributor to the New Yorker, explains how it a...more
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Read in April, 2007
I think this is more of a graphic novel than a comic book, but I am so not creating separate shelves for graphic novels and comics, so suck it, invisible fairy advocates for a divide between high art and low entertainment. Anyway Art Spiegelman goes on a bit of a spiel in his introduction to this about graphic novels and how the term is a silly bid for respectability for books with pictures in, so I don't think he'd object.
I read this before I read the text-only version, because a) it wouldn...more
I read this before I read the text-only version, because a) it wouldn...more
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Read in January, 1994
Paul Karasik and David Mazzuchelli's adaptation of Auster's novella is 138 pages of pure gold. Working from a nine-panel grid, City of Glass tells the haunting, lonely tale of writer Daniel Quinn. Mistaken for a private detective, Quinn finds himself assigned to protect a man from his own father. In the course of the story, Quinn assumes more names and personae, eventually losing his own identity. The comic progressively reflects this deterioration: the panels tumble and shift, Mazzuchell...more
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I read this one bored Saturday afternoon without moving from my spot in the center of the bed. I imagine I looked like a really lazy Saint Bernard. I thought it was pretty nifty...as graphic novels go it's definitely in the "superior" category. I never read the novel so maybe Auster fans were pissed by the abridged nature of this or something. One of those books that outdoes Kafka on paranoia...it doesn't get more "meta" than this one...the twists take this story back and for...more
Read in January, 2005
recommends it for:
anyone who loves graphic novels
I gather that the negative reviews of this book aren't for the Graphic Novel adaptation of Paul Auster's novella, but rather the novella itself. As a graphic novel adaptation, it is in a class all of its own. I loved every minute of reading this and as a fan of inventive takes on popular culture, I thought it was entirely derivative in the best possible way. You need to be patient with the weird theories and ur-languages and just let the art and story take you away. This is an imaginative journe...more
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Read in March, 2008
recommended to Ian by:
Emily
So I've already decided I need to re-read this for a couple reasons.
To begin with, there is a lot going on here. I feel like there's several things, symbolically, that run throughout that would read better the second time.
The Don Quixote parallels are probably a little lost on me. Themes of perceiving yourself to be someone you are not, false reality... I understand the connections to Quixote superficially, but I'm not sure exactly how it all ties together. Maybe I should give that a read so...more
To begin with, there is a lot going on here. I feel like there's several things, symbolically, that run throughout that would read better the second time.
The Don Quixote parallels are probably a little lost on me. Themes of perceiving yourself to be someone you are not, false reality... I understand the connections to Quixote superficially, but I'm not sure exactly how it all ties together. Maybe I should give that a read so...more
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This book is a curse passed on from the hero to Auster, from Auster to the narrator, from the narrator to a friend of mine who suggested the book to me, and now I pass it on to you. Extremely haunting mystery novel in which the detective is not a detective, the author is not the author, and the reader-in my case at least-felt like the victim of the crime. Unlike any other book I've ever read. Astounding.
[Later:]-Hey whoops! Didn't mean to put the graphic novel version in here. This versio...more
[Later:]-Hey whoops! Didn't mean to put the graphic novel version in here. This versio...more
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Read in January, 2006
The graphic novelization of Paul Auster's City of Glass is one of the more interesting pieces of literature I've ever come across. Having first been exposed to the novel, the graphic adaptation accomplishes many of the things that Auster set out to do with word, especially when it comes to lit theory and the origins of language. Funny, how it takes depict such a concept visually for it to really click. A clever, quick read that is ultimately very satisfying.
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Read in August, 2004
This is a fantastic comic adaptation of an already fantastic book. Not merely a condensed and illustrated printing, the adaptation by David Mazzucchelli and Paul Karasik is an excellent example of the unique way that the language of comics works, and what an amazing medium icomics can be when used to a fuller extent than the style of superhero comics. This is definitely worth reading; even if you've already read the novel several times over you will find something new.
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Read in July, 2008
recommends it for:
writers, any wordsmiths
Excellent and mysterious. The entire novel deals with issues not in reality, but in the meaning of words and especially, names. Read at just a flat level this is a dreamlike allegory with noir colors. The book has so many levels that this graphic novel version is much easier to delve in to and see the threads more clearly.
After reading this adaptation, I bought the traditional version, plus another three of Auster's books. YAY
After reading this adaptation, I bought the traditional version, plus another three of Auster's books. YAY
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Read in June, 2008
So, I thought I had read City of Glass before reading this graphic adaptation, but not so much. This is a compelling story of madness/brilliance/insanity/family, and the illustrations fit perfectly. Frame to frame images morph from one thing to another, fitting together like slices of a confusing pie.
This is a must read for literature-ites, as the discussion involves language and references to literary characters and works.
This is a must read for literature-ites, as the discussion involves language and references to literary characters and works.
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Read in January, 2006
This is one of those stories where you can tell that it's very good, that it's high quality and what-not. But will never read it again because it's so depressing.
Beautiful and painful story. I wanted to shoot a few people in rage once I finished it. Ended up drowning myself by watching episodes of old 80s era JEM on youtube to get the feeling of tragedy out of my system.
Beautiful and painful story. I wanted to shoot a few people in rage once I finished it. Ended up drowning myself by watching episodes of old 80s era JEM on youtube to get the feeling of tragedy out of my system.
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Read in September, 2008
Not your average mystery. I tend to follow and have faith in the authors'story as it is played out. But this is something else. Digressions into Milton, Lewis Carroll and Cervantes thicken the plot. There is more philosophy than psychology which makes for an interesting read. One idea kept running through my mind as I was finishing the book. Can the narrator be trusted?
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The rare adaptation that exceeds its source material. A doubly impressive feat since it's based on Paul Auster's best novel. With its deft ink strokes and airtight plot, this brilliant graphic perfectly captures and distills the original existential detective story. One of the great graphic novels and a perfect introduction to the fictional world of Paul Auster, too.
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Read in December, 2007
This is a graphic novel version of City of Glass, which is one of the best books I've ever read. The illustrator did a really great job, however, I'd rather read Auster's prose than look at pictures of it any day. Some of the best sentences are missing. It's a quick read and definitely reminded me why I liked the book so much to begin with.
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Read in July, 2006
This is the graphic version of City of Glass, the first volume of the New York Trilogy by Paul Auster. Very minimalistic drawings, but don't take my word for it, I know nothing about drawings. But I think the visualization is rather good. Definitely love the ending.
I also bought this specially in Shakespeare & Co., Paris.
I also bought this specially in Shakespeare & Co., Paris.
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comics (on 21 people's shelves)
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fiction (on 7 people's shelves)
graphicnovels (on 7 people's shelves)
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