2011/18

Paul Auster: Moon Palace (298p.)

I decided to buy the below cheap paperback edition of Paul Auster’s Moon Palace the split second I saw it lying in a Gent bookstore somewhere January 08 (not that his The New York Trilogy had made such an impression on me), because the pretty front cover reeks of America, the American West (very Marlboro), and I lived there once, and have never stopped loving it since. Otherwise said, sometimes a well-designed cover does the job. (The patch of shade toward the top is caused by the plant it’s leaning against.)

The American West is where indeed the story is set, together with New York, a story centering on the complex interdependencies between the lives of three men, grandfather – father – son. Moon Palace is an absolute riot to read, 298 pages of unadulterated reading fun, not overwrought, written just right, fiction at its best, and can be read effortlessly, which is a great quality for any book.

Great!