Moon Palace

by Paul Auster | Literature & Fiction |
ISBN: Global Overview for this book
Registered by elsekramer of Amsterdam, Noord-Holland Netherlands on 2/4/2003
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5 journalers for this copy...
Journal Entry 1 by elsekramer from Amsterdam, Noord-Holland Netherlands on Tuesday, February 4, 2003
This book just goes on and on and on. Like the NY Trilogy really, fascinating in the beginning, but should have been half as long. And Auster has the most depressing leading characters...without the saving graces that e.g. Salinger's have. Still, it could be worse. A lot worse. Hence the 6/10.

Journal Entry 2 by YowlYY on Thursday, April 3, 2003
Many thanks...book arrived yesterday and I am just a bit late with my entry :-))) I will make another note once I've read it, however it may take a while....

Journal Entry 3 by YowlYY on Wednesday, June 4, 2003
A great book where "there is no coincidence" - at least in the story of Marco Stanley Fogg. Words printed in books and fortune cookies turn palpable reality in Marco's life, a neon sign of a Chinese restaurant as the tie to past, present and future...Marco, orphan living with his uncle, tells us his tale as he grows up, student in the late 60's New York, then homeless in Central Park, and ends up meeting his grandfather and his father, only by coincidence it seems...
A novel full of feelings, sometimes a bit surreal, that really captivated me.


The book is now promised to Ciaccona, who will be receiving it next Tuesday at the meetup :-)

Journal Entry 4 by wingAnonymousFinderwing on Wednesday, June 11, 2003
Just a line to confirm that YowlYY very kindly brought this book along to the June MeetUp for me. Judging by the reviews so far, I'll either love it or loathe it - I'll let you know!

Journal Entry 5 by wingAnonymousFinderwing on Saturday, August 2, 2003
"The sun is the past, the earth is the present, the moon is the future"- the enigmatic message inside the aforementioned fortune cracker at Moon Palace, a neon-signed Chinese restaurant in New York.

When I read on the jacket that 'Moon Palace' was "by one of America's foremost authors" I experienced a degree of foreboding - it's a statement that tends to suggest that the book's flavour will be too American for my quaintly English tastes to find palatable. However I'm pleased to report that, in the event, I really enjoyed it; the characters were interesting and varied, and Auster's style of writing clever and absorbing.

Although a long novel, I felt that the shift from one man's story to another's prevented my attention from wavering. My only criticism (without giving the story away) is that I found the ending rather abrupt and exasperating.

This book is too good to sacrifice to uncertainties of 'the wild', so I'll bring it along to one of the London MeetUps soon.

Journal Entry 6 by wingAnonymousFinderwing on Monday, October 13, 2003
I plan to re-release this book at the London MeetUp tomorrow evening...

Journal Entry 7 by smartprofessor from -- Somewhere in London 🤷‍♀️ , Greater London United Kingdom on Tuesday, December 9, 2003
Whoops! I was sure I had logged all the bookd I had picked up at previous meetups but this one must have slipped through the net. Anyway like the other Auster book I have read, New York Trilogy, this was a fascinating book full of twists and turns and clever quirks but possibly more suited to academic study than beach reading!

Released on Tuesday, December 09, 2003 at Knights Templar Pub, Chancery Lane in London, England United Kingdom.

I am taking this to the December meetup, where it has been promised to a fellow books crosser, Tanabata (as has the other Auster book I am taking, New York Trilogy - forgot to add that to the release notes for it).

Journal Entry 9 by tanabata on Friday, December 19, 2003
Picked this up at the December Meetup - thanks smartprofessor for passing it on to me! :-)

Journal Entry 10 by tanabata on Monday, May 4, 2009
Oops. I never came back to comment. I read this one awhile ago, and while I didn't love it (I preferred The New York Trilogy) there is something about Auster's style that intrigues me.

The book did have a little journey as it came with me when we moved back to Japan, but I've now mailed it on to a blog friend in Berkshire, England.

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