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andriella's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
dngoldman's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
4.0
Leviathan is a profound and reflective exploration of the themes that obsessed Auster, who passed away just before I read the book again. The novel examines how we construct our sense of self, the impossibility of knowing ourselves and others, how much our identity is influenced by chance, the human impulse to impose order on chaotic events, and how our quest for self-understanding often leads us to create.
I am always amazed that Auster was never a journalist or a crime writer, because he often uses those literary styles, including Leviathan. These techniques create suspense and drive the reader forward, while they enhance the effect of the themes because in an Auster novel the mysteries tend to deepen the more factrs are revealed.
Leviathan begins with the mysterious death of someone killed in an explosion near the edge of a road. The narrator, Peter Aaron, is a writer who happens to see a brief article in the New York Times about the incident and wonders if it is his friend Benjamin Sachs. A visit by the police only confirms his suspicion. Instead of telling the truth, Peter lies to the police, giving himself time to reconstruct the events that led to Sachs’s untimely death. It is this retrospective narrative that we are reading.
From these first few pages, the mystery is set - who is Sachs? Why would a short article about an explosion make Peter think of him? What was the sequence of events that led to Sach’s death, and why does Peter feel it’s so important to risk his own freedom just to tell the story? These overlapping mysteries combine with the randomness we see throughout (Peter happens to see the story, allowing him to prepare; Peter’s number happens to be the only identifying information on Sash’s body after the explosion; Peter’s wife happens to be out when the police arrive, enabling him to lie). And this is essentially a mastery novel. Not just of what happens. But of how we can know what happens, the character of our friends and of ourselves.
Through Aaron’s narrative, we learn about Sachs’s life, his work, and his how he developed passionate political beliefs that increasingly alienate him from mainstream society. The novel unfolds as a series of interrelated stories, flashbacks, and anecdotes that reveal the intricate details of Sachs’s life. We find out his broken marriage (which everyone thought was perfect), his intense friendship with Aaron, and his interactions with various other characters, each of whom plays a crucial role in his journey. The more Aaron digs into Sachs’s past, he discovers a network of political activism, personal challenges, and philosophical thoughts on the nature of identity and chance. In the end, the novel is a portrait of someone who never could find his meaning, always wanting something more. Sash’s several attempts (novelist, essayists, saving Lillian, taking on the cause of Lillian’s husband’s cause) seem no more authentic. His whole life is an invention based on idea of himself. The novel raises questions about the extent to which individuals can control their own fates and the impact of random events on the course of one’s life.
Auster is a master writer. His writing is tight and subtle, but not overly decorated. There were many sentences that I marked because they were so powerful. The novel falls short of being a masterpiece, however. Although randomness is part of the theme, the story can be too unbelievable at times, with too many extraordinary events. But the novel is very effective in showing a disturbing picture of lives falling apart.
admorobo's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
elanienneco's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
4.5
actually ended up liking this more than i thought i would ! auster does a great job of weaving in and out of characters and storylines and writes dialogue SO WELL. he presented Ben's character like he was slowly building a bomb, each life-changing event made him even more volatile/unhinged that he had no choice but to (literally) blow up. very cool. biggest downfall is that every single female character is written as a sex toy for the main male characters, which is so unfortunate. even when you think maaaaybe this one won't devolve into uncontrollable lust for the narrator, even when the narrator is being INCREDIBLY WEIRD AND CREEPY, they do. sad. sometimes it makes sense for the story, and sometimes it really doesn't. but i knew that going into this book so maybe i'm being a bit more forgiving than i would have been if i didn't................ anyways. interesting dark mystery yass!
chiara_calime's review against another edition
emotional
inspiring
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A
5.0
È strano aver finito questo che è da molti considerato il capolavoro di Paul Auster proprio appena prima di sentire la triste notizia della sua scomparsa, ma è impossibile non rimanere colpiti e incantati dalla strana coincidenza. Non so se è davvero il suo capolavoro, probabilmente per me 4321 rimane lassù intoccabile, ma se devo metterne uno subito dopo sarebbe questo Leviatano, un libro gigantesco come il suontitolo, che ci parla di un personaggio straordinario allo stesso tempo così umano, come spesso lo sono i personaggi di Auster. E in ogni pagina la meravigliosa scrittura a cui ci ha abituato
loujoseph's review against another edition
4.0
Really solid- maybe my favorite Auster since City of Glass. More straightforward than other Auster, which I found interesting- his more jumbled books can veer towards self-indulgence, but i like that this one's readability shows that's all he has.
crissy_estev's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
lene_'s review against another edition
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
4.5
losthighway's review against another edition
adventurous
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.75