I love Paul Auster's novels, and as usual the prose in this story was a pleasure to read. Auster has a wonderful gift for telling a tale. Many of his stories carry the theme of a man who sinks slowly out of reality into some form of personal isolation, be it homelessness or pursuit of a surreal quest that isolates him from his prior life. Another common thread seems to be the discovery of some form of artistic creation that has also been kept in isolation. I'm always impressed with his "stories within the story" as Auster provides intricate descriptions of these fictional works within his fictional work. City of Glass, Ghosts, and The Locked Room all fit into the Paul Auster genre. I particularly loved his descriptions of the streets of New York - there is a passage at the beginning of City of Glass that describes walking through New York, and it captures how I used to feel. So..why the relatively low rating? First, I'm not so fond of the short story format and I would like for the stories to grow and increase in depth. And in this particular instance, I'm afraid I just "didn't get it." Perhaps I got a lost because I read books on the bus over several weeks... but I found that Auster left a lot of loose ends hanging. A loose end in itself is not a failing, but in this case there were too many for me. By the end I could grasp or infer some of the connections he was making, but the wires never quite made it together, and I was a little confused. Some readers might enjoy this type of ending...but for me it was vaguely dissatisfying. Still, as a whole it was a good read, and I will certainly pick up the next Paul Auster book I see.