Book Club, Book Club

Every so often, usually because of 20-Something Bloggers, someone will stumble upon this blog of mine. I'll be the first to admit that I don't keep it up-to-date - I just have spread myself too thin blog-wise, with my many projects and activities. But I still read a lot, and I will try to use this blog more, okay?

Paul Auster's Invisible was an easy read - I finished it in a few days and it kept me interested right from the start. Unlike some books, the book gets interesting early in the novel. The novel is filled with crime, murder, incest, mistrust, jealousy, sex...but ultimately, I believe, this book is about writing.

This book is Paul Auster's way of explaining writing to the reader - the mistrust, the unreliable narrator, the blurred line between fact and fiction. There is nothing in this book that the reader can trust - it's his word against mine (or hers, or that other guy's...).

The book is written in four parts - the first part is written in first person, with the character of Adam Walker narrating his own story. He is a 20-year-old student of Columbia University in New York City, and he meets a visiting professor from France, Rudolf Born, and his then girlfriend Margot. Born wants Walker to start a literary magazine with him and gives him a lot of money towards the project. The project is halted when Walker witnesses a violent crime, and Born returns to Paris.

The second part is written in second person. This part of the book seems to have no relation to the story overall, and seems to exist simply to titillate. Here Walker goes into detail about the nature of his relationship with his sister, Gwyn.

The third part is written, posthumously, by an old college friend of Walkers, Jim - who is a novelist in his own right. The notes for the final chapter of the book are left to him and he writes the prose for the book Walker was writing about his life. This part of the book is written in third person and is about Walker's life in Paris, when he left to study abroad. In Paris he meets Born again, and subsequently Born's future wife, Helene and step-daughter Cecile. He decides to use these people as instruments to help him take down Born once and for all. It back-fires and he returns to New York after a month.

The final section was not intended to be part of Adam's book at all, but is a series of diary entries written by Cecile in her fifties. The entries speak of a visit she had with Born in the Carribbean and reveals a bit more about his character.

Throughout the novel characters speak of changing stories - changing character names to protect those involved, and the idea of turning a life story into fiction. Later, Born tells Cecile that he wants to write the book of his life, but he too feels be must write it as fiction - because the truth would be too revealing.

It's a strange concept to explain - but essentially Auster has written about a memoir being written. And through the chapters we find out more about how this book is coming together and who's involved. In the end we are left with a work of fiction within a work of fiction, that is supposedly based on true events, but really isn't because this is all Auster's invention? Does this make sense? Probably not.

Why is it called Invisible? Perhaps because it's so easy to make yourself invisible in a novel. Create a character and disappear.

Anyways, this is my second Paul Auster experience. The only other piece I'd read before was "City of Glass" from The New York Trilogy.