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A review by jbingb
Leviathan by Paul Auster
11: Leviathan by Paul Auster
On a mission to read some Paul Auster works I'd previously missed, this one came up as next.
It's a deep and thoughtful read, the story of two writerly men, Peter Aaron and Benjamin Sachs, who meet a bit by happenstance in New York and hit it off. It's a snowy day, and the reading event they were scheduled to share has been canceled but neither of them apprised (1992 publication...no cell phones, email, instant communication) of that. So they sit down and have a drink, which leads to several, and they seize the opportunity to converse and get to know each other, the start of a beautiful friendship.
They become good, supportive, steady and constant friends for several years to come, going together through a number of ups and downs, relationships with others starting and ending, the two of them there for each other through it all.
Some other players weave into and through their lives and friendship, creating different kinds of strain. One appears to have the ideal marriage, envied by the other. And then the truth of that marriage that it isn't so ideal. On they go for each other.
And then an accident compels the one to spiral in ways that the other cannot ultimately help. And then the focus becomes his recovery and improvement. But things are never quite the same; spirals ensue.
It's a deep and philosophical study of friendship and uniquely between two men.
Paul Auster is the master of that kind of emotional depth and its storytelling.
On a mission to read some Paul Auster works I'd previously missed, this one came up as next.
It's a deep and thoughtful read, the story of two writerly men, Peter Aaron and Benjamin Sachs, who meet a bit by happenstance in New York and hit it off. It's a snowy day, and the reading event they were scheduled to share has been canceled but neither of them apprised (1992 publication...no cell phones, email, instant communication) of that. So they sit down and have a drink, which leads to several, and they seize the opportunity to converse and get to know each other, the start of a beautiful friendship.
They become good, supportive, steady and constant friends for several years to come, going together through a number of ups and downs, relationships with others starting and ending, the two of them there for each other through it all.
Some other players weave into and through their lives and friendship, creating different kinds of strain. One appears to have the ideal marriage, envied by the other. And then the truth of that marriage that it isn't so ideal. On they go for each other.
And then an accident compels the one to spiral in ways that the other cannot ultimately help. And then the focus becomes his recovery and improvement. But things are never quite the same; spirals ensue.
It's a deep and philosophical study of friendship and uniquely between two men.
Paul Auster is the master of that kind of emotional depth and its storytelling.