The Brooklyn Follies Reading Guide & Discussion Questions

Book Club Discussion Questions

Print PDF

For supplemental discussion material see our Beyond the Book article, and our BookBrowse Review of The Brooklyn Follies.

Please be aware that this discussion guide will contain spoilers!

About this Guide

The following list of questions about The Brooklyn Follies are intended as resources to aid individual readers and book groups who would like to learn more about the author and this book. We hope that this guide will provide you a starting place for discussion, and suggest a variety of perspectives from which you might approach The Brooklyn Follies.


About the Book

Nathan Glass, a curmudgeonly fifty-nine-year-old retired insurance salesman in recovery from lung cancer, returns to Brooklyn looking for a place to die. The dark premise of Paul Auster's The Brooklyn Follies belies the humor and surprising mirth Nathan finds upon moving back to his birthplace. Along with his literature-loving, cab-driving nephew Tom and a cast of characters including flamboyant ex-cons, married beauties, a silent nine-year-old, and a lip syncing drag queen, Nathan shows us the joys of modern urban life, the city as a refuge for lost souls, and the rescue a lonely man can feel when he embraces community.


Discussion Questions

1. What role does redemption play in the novel? Nathan tells us that he returned to Brooklyn because "I was looking for a quiet place to die," and yet he manages to build a quirky, vibrant life. What are some other examples of redemption in the book?
2. The need for companionship both causes pain for the characters in The Brooklyn Follies and at the same time offers them fulfillment. What alliances and loves develop which demonstrate this need? How do the need for community and the need for love distinguish themselves or blend into one another?
3. Nathan claims that he is not the central character of this story. "The distinction of bearing the title of Hero of this book belongs to my nephew, Tom Wood." In what ways is this statement misleading? In what ways is it accurate? Why would Nathan make such a claim?

Unless otherwise stated, this discussion guide is reprinted with the permission of Picador. Any page references refer to a USA edition of the book, usually the trade paperback version, and may vary in other editions.