I'd give this book 4.5 stars. Paul Auster writes beautifully and it was a pleasure to read this story. On one level it's the documentation of a friendship and one person's descent into madness. On another level, its just so hard to relate to the fantastic turns in Sachs life and how anyone would put up with his complete crap. I suppose that's part of "getting" this book though - finding a way to reconcile that.