Review
From the book jacket: Nathan Glass has come to Brooklyn to die. Divorced, estranged from his only
daughter, the retired life insurance salesman seeks only solitude and anonymity.
Then Nathan finds his long-lost nephew, Tom Wood, working in a local bookstore - a
far cry from the brilliant academic career he'd begun when Nathan saw him last.
Tom's boss is the charismatic Harry Brightman, whom fate has also brought to the
"ancient kingdom of Brooklyn, New York."
Through Tom and Harry, Nathan's world gradually broadens to include a new set of
acquaintances - not to mention a stray relative or two - and leads him to a
reckoning with his past.
Among the many twists in the delicious plot are a scam involving a forgery of
the first page of
The Scarlet Letter, a disturbing revelation that takes place
in a sperm bank, and an impossible, utopian...
Beyond the Book
Paul Benjamin Auster was born on February 3, 1947 in Newark, New Jersey.
His father, Samuel Auster, was a landlord; his mother, Queenie was about 13
years younger than her husband; the marriage was not a happy one.
Auster's passion for reading began when he was about 12 and his uncle, Allen
Mandelbaum (a professor of Italian literature, a poet, and a prolific
translator) left several boxes of books in storage in the Auster's house while
he traveled to Europe. Paul read the books avidly and developed an
interest in writing and literature that further accentuated his feeling that he
was "an internal émigré, an exile in my own house." (from
his memoir,
Hand to Mouth)
He went to school in Maplewood, New Jersey and...
