The Book of Illusions: A Novel
1 journaler for this copy...
Just received from Amazon. I can't wait to read & review this one.
Eeeeyaaahhhh! Another great read! I so didn't want this book to be over when it was.
Drawing obvious parallels between the character of Hector Mann and the character of David Zimmer, Auster explores redefinition of the self. In his own circumstance, Zimmer, a professor at a college in Vermont, gets a phone call one day that his wife and two children have been killed in a plane crash. He is left alone, and the weight of his grief leaves him to want to do nothing. He contemplates suicide from time to time. Then one day of mindless television watching something happens...he laughs during a showing of a silent comedy...and becomes interested in the film's star, Hector Mann.
Hector Mann disappeared shortly after the release of his last film in 1928. Hearing that Mann's films had been donated anonymously to places around the world, he decides to go and see them all. His study of Mann eventually turns into a book which he calls The Silent World of Hector Mann. It is about Mann's films; nothing much is known about Mann himself. It is published, and David takes up a translation project to keep himself occupied. Then, a short 3 months later, he gets a weird letter asking him to come and visit Hector Mann. David thinks at first this is a crank, but David begins to wonder if Mann could really still be alive. One night David comes home to a stranger at his house who has plane tickets for him to fly to Albuquerque, then drive over to a ranch out in the middle of the New Mexico desert. It seems Mann is dying; there isn't much time left. On the way to the airport, in the plane and on the drive to Mann's ranch, his mysterious visitor, Alma, fills him in on Mann's missing years. Alma, as it turns out has written a book on Mann's life.
The novel is one of suspense, but more so it is a novel about loss & grief and how to redefine oneself in the midst of it all. And to what point does one go with this redefinition? If a person must redefine himself, then did he actually live his other life? If there's no one around from his other life, did he really live it? Much like the tree falling in the forest question.
Don't look for warm fuzzies from this novel, and although it is somewhat short, it is well worth reading very slowly. It is a multitude of layers of story within the story. Serious reading material...not a beach read.
Drawing obvious parallels between the character of Hector Mann and the character of David Zimmer, Auster explores redefinition of the self. In his own circumstance, Zimmer, a professor at a college in Vermont, gets a phone call one day that his wife and two children have been killed in a plane crash. He is left alone, and the weight of his grief leaves him to want to do nothing. He contemplates suicide from time to time. Then one day of mindless television watching something happens...he laughs during a showing of a silent comedy...and becomes interested in the film's star, Hector Mann.
Hector Mann disappeared shortly after the release of his last film in 1928. Hearing that Mann's films had been donated anonymously to places around the world, he decides to go and see them all. His study of Mann eventually turns into a book which he calls The Silent World of Hector Mann. It is about Mann's films; nothing much is known about Mann himself. It is published, and David takes up a translation project to keep himself occupied. Then, a short 3 months later, he gets a weird letter asking him to come and visit Hector Mann. David thinks at first this is a crank, but David begins to wonder if Mann could really still be alive. One night David comes home to a stranger at his house who has plane tickets for him to fly to Albuquerque, then drive over to a ranch out in the middle of the New Mexico desert. It seems Mann is dying; there isn't much time left. On the way to the airport, in the plane and on the drive to Mann's ranch, his mysterious visitor, Alma, fills him in on Mann's missing years. Alma, as it turns out has written a book on Mann's life.
The novel is one of suspense, but more so it is a novel about loss & grief and how to redefine oneself in the midst of it all. And to what point does one go with this redefinition? If a person must redefine himself, then did he actually live his other life? If there's no one around from his other life, did he really live it? Much like the tree falling in the forest question.
Don't look for warm fuzzies from this novel, and although it is somewhat short, it is well worth reading very slowly. It is a multitude of layers of story within the story. Serious reading material...not a beach read.
