The+Brooklyn+Follies

media type="youtube" key="wgBETuge4Eo" width="560" height="315" If you are considering reading or have just read the book Brooklyn Follies, you might as well watch this interview with its author, Paul Auster, where he discusses cinematic influences on his writing. Then, post your reviews below.

“The Brooklyn Follies” (Faber and Faber, 2005, 304 pages) is a novel written by Paul Auster (February 3, 1947, New Jersey), an American writer and film director, set in modern-day Brooklyn district of New York.

A 60-year-old man called Nathan Glass returns to Brooklyn after 56 years in Westchester where his parents moved. His wife has left him while he is recovering from lung cancer. He was “looking for a quiet place to die”, as he says in the first line of the novel. In Brooklyn he meets his nephew Tom, in his thirties, “a person destined to achieve great things in life” and with whom he shared the passion for literature. Nevertheless, Tom has given up on life and has resigned himself to senseless jobs waiting for something special to happen. But, when little Lucy gets into their lives, everything changes.

The great strength of this book is the narrative. Paul Auster, after graduating from Columbia University in 1970, moved to Paris to study French literature. Probably, due to this fact, his writing is full of Latinisms, something very peculiar and cultivated as well. This, together with a neat story-telling, makes a rewarding reading, easy to understand for Spanish readers. Sentences like “Forget the vagabond years in Europe”, “It hadn’t occurred to me that thing”, “Our few encounters in the past had left me cold” or “His erudite chatter helped cut the tedium of the drive”, among many others, reveal us his excellent and cultivated background. Not in vain Paul Auster’s books have been translated to more than forty languages. The writer has won many awards, among them the Prince of Asturias Award for Literature in 2006.

Paul Auster has recurrent subjects in his books, such as some of his character´s deep interest for literature or writing, life in New York, especially Brooklyn, where the author’s life is set, as well as many of his novels.

“The Brookling Follies”, a gripping and touching novel, is perfect for a relaxed weekend. The pleasure in reading Auster’s book doesn’t allow me to find any negative points. Just to seat down comfortably on your sofa and enjoy the reading. Strongly recommended, even for intermediate level English learners.

Rocío PM