Boxall's 1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die discussion
This topic is about
Mr. Vertigo
1001 Monthly Group Read
>
June {2022} Discussion -- Mr. Vertigo by Paul Auster
date
newest »
newest »
Gah! I haven’t even read this yet.
I have been lurking for a long time, but rarely (maybe never) joined in a discussion here, however, I am looking forward to any discussion that does happen here for this book. It intrigued me from the very start, and has not let me down. I've also ordered one of Paul Auster's memoirs (Report from the Interior) because I want to know more about why and how he thinks.
Mod
I listened to Mr. Vertigo and several other of Auster's novels a audiobooks. The Audible Studios versions includes an interview with Paul Auster where he discusses how he started writing, how he writes and edits his books, and the books which influenced him the most. It was a fascinating interview.
Karen wrote: "I listened to Mr. Vertigo and several other of Auster's novels a audiobooks. ..."From reviews I've read, it seems that Auster's books are generally wildly different from each other, and that you never really know what to expect... of course, that is clearly obvious with Mr. Vertigo - very unexpected premise, plotline, and characters (to me, at least). Do you have a favorite among those you've read?
I’m only a quarter way through so far, but I am enjoying this very much and look forward to reader other works by Auster. It’s very much reminiscent of Nothing to See Here in my mind…
Mod
From reviews I've read, it seems that Auster's books are generally wildly different from each other,..."
I have enjoyed them all, but my favorite is Book of Illusions. (The only one I haven't read from the list is Invisible.) You're right, they are all very different, but he does seem to move around in time, they are not linear narratives. Endings tend to be unpredictable which does make reading his books interesting and they are just really good stories. I definitely want to read more of his books.
Karen wrote: "I have enjoyed them all, but my favorite is Book of Illusions. .."Thank you, I will put this one on my TBR pile.
Mod
I have previously read one of Auster's books, The New York Trilogy (also on 1001 list) which I liked a lot; it is much less a traditional style than Mr. Vertigo.
I read Mr Vertigo in a printed book format. I was initially somewhat put off by the YA (young people's lit) prose style of this book. The novel did grow on me somewhat over time though. All the upheavals in this guy's life and how he persevered began to resonate with me.
I plan to read Auster's Moon Palace some day, which is also on the 1001 books list.
This is off the subject of the novel itself, but have others of you heard of the recent death of Auster's small grandchild? It appears that Auster's son who has an opioid drug problem may have been dosing the toddler to quiet her, though he denied this- she died of an overdose. He was arrested. This is more sad evidence that being successful and famous doesn't necessarily make your life all wonderful.
I gave this one 4 stars. I really enjoyed the folk-tale quality it had to it, and the sense of 'pan-America adventure' that is not always pulled off well in these books.I enjoyed the magical realism aspect of it as well, and also considered hoe levitating in this book can be analogous to 'making it' and how that often destroys someone in stories of stardom or giftedness.
I have a question. Is the book Mr. Vertigo one of the Boxall’s 1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die? I don’t see it in my edition of the list.
Mod
There have been several editions of the Boxall book, so it is on the combined list which currently totals 1317 books. You can view and download a copy of the combined list (https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/...) which also indicates which books are contained in each edition.
I enjoyed this! I found it engaging and more moving than I expected. I agree it's very much in an American tradition, following the rises and falls in Walt's life in many sense of the phrase.
Karen wrote: "Debbie wrote: "I have a question. Is the book Mr. Vertigo one of the Boxall’s 1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die? I don’t see it in my edition of the list."There have been several editions o..."
Thanks for the link. I don’t understand if there is a search function to the spreadsheet. The books have it on kindle, but I can’t for the life of me see how to search for a title among the 3,000 on this spreadsheet.
Mod
There have been seve..."
You would need to download the spreadsheet in order to search for a specific book.
You can also find all the books on the Group Bookshelf (https://www.goodreads.com/group/books...). At the top of the page on the left hand side, you will find a place to Search for specific books.
Mod
With my desktop computer I can search the online spreadsheet (Control and F at same time to enable). That may not be possible from a tablet, notebook or phone though. It has 1,318 books listed actually.
Also, if you click on the "Author" tab then click on the word "Data" in the top margin and then on "sort sheet" in the menu that pops up, it will sort the books by author name. I then see seven books listed under "Auster, Paul" for example.
Mod
Cool! I didn't know you could do that.
I finished Mr. Vertigo today. While the theme of the book did not much appeal to me, I have to say I'm blown away by how great a writer Paul Auster is. There is so much going on in this book, both plot-wise as well as on a deeper level... this was a joy to read. I particularly loved all the fine details the author put in, like the reference to real historical events like Charles Lindbergh's flight across the Atlantic or how Walt's (filthy) slang-based language changes over the course of time to something more "refined", as he develops as a person.
I feel as if I am in the minority of not enjoying this book. I think Auster is an excellent writer but this story seemed to me more like a bunch of vignettes thrown together with a very rushed ending. I enjoyed The Book of Illusions so I won't let the fact that I have 5 more Auster books to read from the list deter me.
Mod
Like Janice, I was intrigued from the very start. I had no idea what this book was about before i cracked it open and I was quite taken in from the beginning.
I liked the writing at first, but like George, I was soon put off by the YA tone. Actually I felt it was even below YA when it started. It feels like it was written for a reader the age of Walt. The toilet humor got old for me. However, the content was definitely not appropriate for that age group.
I really like Amanda's thought that the levitation was a metaphor for success. And the loss of that ability for the fading away of a child's early career. Clichés of child actors' troubled lives come to mind.
Angie, I struggled to think like you. I actually loved the story. I just couldn't deal with the writing. Previous issues with the writing style, toilet humor, and then the use of so much slang and other clichés just began to tire me. It seemed like he was trying way too hard. But I will add that I did like the historical references. Especially the ones relating to baseball. I had to look up a few of the stats. Found that fun.
Katrina, I was glad to see your post. I started to worry that with 6 other Auster novels on the list I was going to have a rough time with them. I am glad to know that his writing style changes from novel to novel, and I am now looking forward to the next one.
I never had any trouble with the teenage voice telling the story - he talked like a teenage boy from urban street life, in an era when kids were expected to work like adults and were not much protected from the turbulence or cruelty or struggle of hard times - among adults or kids. He was a street kid with a mouth. I loved how he would occasionally stumble into some profound introspection and self-realizations. There are reviews that say Walt's life, and changes, and growth, was a perfect metaphoric mirroring of the times he was living in. I can definitely see that, especially where the rough edges are eventually replaced by a more smooth but less heartfelt and less honest demeanor.
Mod
So much of the real information in the story is factual and verifiable, yet Walt's "achievements" are far flung and imaginative. Is it possible they never happened except in his mind, developed over the years until now, as an old man, he is writing his "story"? He waited until he was the only one who could confirm or deny his story before he wrote it.
Sean wrote: "So much of the real information in the story is factual and verifiable, yet Walt's "achievements" are far flung and imaginative. Is it possible they never happened except in his mind, developed over the years until now, as an old man, he is writing his "story"? He waited until he was the only one who could confirm or deny his story before he wrote it...."Jay Cantor wrote a review for the New York Times at the time this book was published. I think he does a good job discussing some of those same questions.
https://www.nytimes.com/1994/08/28/bo...
Also, it seemed to me that many of Walt's disciplines and experiences, and feats, were very similar to Eastern and Middle Eastern religious teachings and practices, Zen Buddhism in particular, especially with disciples studying under a Master. Alduous Huxley also presented many similar ideas in his The Perennial Philosophy, combining mystic teachings of East and West. As to being buried alive, that is similar to the aphorism "Die before you die" used by both Buddhists and Catholic mystics.
Mod
The rest of that is very interesting. I am currently reading Hesse, so I am very deep in Eastern practices. Thanks for sharing.
Sean wrote: "Janice (JG) wrote: "Jay Cantor wrote a review for the New York Times ..." Unfortunately, I have "reached my limit of free articles" on nytimes.com. I don't read enough news to subscribe. The rest..."
And now so have I, it seems. I should have just copied and pasted it, it was quite good. Lesson learned.
Janice (JG) wrote: "Sean wrote: "Janice (JG) wrote: "Jay Cantor wrote a review for the New York Times ..." Unfortunately, I have "reached my limit of free articles" on nytimes.com. I don't read enough news to subscrib..."https://archive.nytimes.com/www.nytim...
August 28, 1994 “Some People Just Know How to Fly” By JAY CANTOR, Review of
MR. VERTIGO By Paul Auster.
Once upon a time -- 1924, to be exact -- Walt, a brilliantly foulmouthed, badly abused 9-year-old, is picked from a St. Louis gutter by the mysterious Master Yehudi. "If you stay where you are," the master says, "you'll be dead before winter is out. If you come with me, I'll teach you how to fly." And not merely the way an artist "flies" when puffed up by the divine wind, but literally; miraculously; for real. Or, if you prefer, for fable -- a charmingly loose-jointed one, of necessarily uncertain moral, with a big-city name, "Mr. Vertigo." Master Yehudi takes Walt to an isolated farmhouse in Kansas -- a land as strange as Oz to Walt -- where Walt is taught to float in the air while a black boy called Aesop has his prodigious mind educated so, Yehudi says (without apparent irony on anyone's part, even Paul Auster's), he might become "a shining example to all the downtrodden black folks of this violent, hypocritical country." To complete this flamboyantly American set, the Jew, the street urchin and the black boy are watched over by Mother Sioux, a grandniece of Sitting Bull.
Walt, like most of us, tries to flee from his education, but wherever he goes, such is the inescapable nature of a vocation that Master Yehudi already awaits him. So Walt surrenders to learning the 33 stages to flight, which mostly consist of physical suffering. Walt cuts off the joint of his pinky finger, for example, to demonstrate Yakuza-like (or Isaac-like) commitment -- or perhaps because "you have to leave a part of yourself behind before you can attain the full magnitude of your gift."
But the piece of educative suffering richest for me in metaphorical resonance is Walt's fearsome burial alive, where "the true terror doesn't begin until . . . after you've been unburied. . . . Death lives inside you, eating away at your innocence and your hope." Perhaps this means that anyone who wants to fly must confront gravity, earth, death -- a part of the panic, no doubt, when you sit in the takeoff lounge, or before a blank page waiting for the wind of inspiration. Or perhaps (to paraphrase a line from a poem of Frank Bidart's) those who fly should remember the horror of the earth; a dancer achieves the best loft if she leaps not as if she loves the air but as if she hates the ground.
Still, it's not physical pain but yearning for the temporarily absent Yehudi that finally sends Walt aloft, hoping that this achievement might insure his now-beloved master's return. Walt and Yehudi then learn to combine loft and locomotion, which is also a good trick for any narrative artist -- and one for which Yehudi promises Walt that he'll be worshiped as a god. Aesop, though, is neither worshiped nor applauded (or much developed as a character); he's lynched by the Klan for his ascension, his uppitiness.
Despite his grief, Walt's brilliant career continues. He and Yehudi perfect the act's mise en scene, substituting denim overalls and a plaid shirt for Walt's previous flying costume of a long white robe. An American rube's heart is more wrung, apparently, by the wondrous achievements of a shoeless ordinary Joe like himself than by a fancy boy -- which may playfully parallel the reasons Mr. Auster, the author of "Leviathan," "The Music of Chance" and "Moon Palace," among other novels, himself adopts a more vernacular style than usual (though it's a brilliantly filigreed demotic, making it, of course, highfalutin in its own way).
PUBERTY, with its glandular changes and self-consciousness, puts gum in the works. Pain taught Walt to fly; now flying leads to terrible headaches. Walt, if he wants to fly anymore, will have to give up his gonads. That sacrifice he refuses, and Walt and the stock market crash more or less together.
Which is not the end. The remainder of the novel moves with fast locomotion (but, for me, with somewhat less resonance) covering Walt's career as a gangster and his incarnation as the owner of Mr. Vertigo's, a nightclub -- such hot spots being the traditional resting places for former celebrities not worshiped as gods and just barely remembered as vaudeville acts. That's a fate that accurately describes, I think, the change in the artist's status even within my memory: from seer to half-forgotten entertainer.
But that isn't the end of the novel, either, for this story has an open-ended nature that captures an America whose unmoored following of both whims and the main chance leads to all kinds of sweet and sour contingencies. Walt careens from a hitch in the Army to a postwar romance to a reuniting with an old flame of Master Yehudi's in Kansas, where he manages her laundromats and reflects on his life, making the book we've just read.
The author's openness to chance and laundromats could lead to the slack picaresque throughout, but his story is usually held taut by the metaphorical meanings of flight. And in that regard, Mr. Auster saves his best for the last lovely pages, which join the trick of flight to the hollowing-out that Keats described as the artist's necessary character (or should we say lack of character?) -- the ability to become nothing-in-himself so that he might be, among other things, the sparrow pecking in the gravel.
Mr. Auster's novel hovers gracefully between "once upon a time" and the exact dates of realism, taking in a fair amount of the century's history -- Walt rises with Lindbergh and crashes with the stock market. "Mr. Vertigo" is not thick with detail; it travels light, though longer meditations might have expanded and enriched its meanings. Nor does the novel test its dream against other perspectives, systems, fantasies. But the story is witty, inventive in its language and invitingly playful with its metaphors. It has a fairy tale's compulsion to it, and one can hardly wish other perspectives or thicker textures on Mr. Auster if they might loosen the compulsion and ground the dreamer.
Debbie wrote: "Janice (JG) wrote: "Sean wrote: "Janice (JG) wrote: "Jay Cantor wrote a review for the New York Times ..." Unfortunately, I have "reached my limit of free articles" on nytimes.com. I don't read eno..."Thank you Debbie!
Boxall's 1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die
Books mentioned in this topic
The Perennial Philosophy (other topics)Moon Palace (other topics)
The New York Trilogy (other topics)
Report from the Interior (other topics)
The discussion thread is open. The group read widget on the home page is up to date.