Leviathan Paperback – 2 Jun. 2011

For lack of a better superlative I'll say that this book is brilliant, like most of Paul Auster's books. This is the first line in the book "Six days ago a man blew himself up by the side of a road" - and from then on the book is an explosive narrative that grips you until the last line. The characters are real, alive and their story is a testimony to the complacency of modern life.

Paul Auster is a deeply fascinating author. 'Leviathan' is a book that is remarkable from the very start and delves deeply into subjects throughout, which cause it to become one of the best books he has written. Essentially it's a book about a writer, written by a writer about a writer. Auster has a remarkable talent for writing good stories and 'Leviathan' is a book that is superbly crafted throughout. There are stories within stories and very well thought out characters as it journeys from the mid-seventies through to the start of the eighties. Mostly set in New York - it's a small book compared to other Auster novels but it has a huge impact throughout. I think it's the best book I've read from Paul Auster but it made me consider getting more from the author. Highly recommended.

The best Auster. A portrait of contemporary America and the disillusion of a whole generation. Auster's prose is rich and seducing and leaves the reader asking for more. One of the best books of the 1990s.

He succeeds with the unexpected in a steady and un-dramatic way which is quite gripping due to his relaxed and perceptive description of male and female characters all presented in an autobiographical and therefore quite believable manner.

Just finished reading this for the second time. Amazing. All his usual quirks and preoccupations are here. A good place to start if you've never read any of Auster's books before.

Once again Auster takes you on a intriguing journey, rich in characters, with a totally unique plot.While you keep wanting to read to find out what's going to happen, there rarely seem to be twists or turns in his literature. However that's just fine, since the enjoyment is derived from the quality and breadth of the story.The characters are also very deep, especially Ben, rendering it hard to know whether you warm to them or not. Again fine, since there are no cliches, no predictability, and just classic Auster. I enjoyed this as much as the NY Trilogy.

great

i bought this for an essay, loved the book, was very interesting. It made me think about terrorism and art

Paul Auster escreve muito bem. Fala do mundo de escritores e artistas de uma forma mais sombria e intimista.

Muy buen thriller. Maravillosamente escrito. Es muy fácil de leer. Me gustó mucho. Lo recomiendo ampliamente a cualquiera la buena lectura.

Great

This book is a transitional piece for Auster. In this excellently written story about a man lost in the world after years of bohemian existence we find a wonderful work of internal psychological reasoning. In this book, Auster makes the leap from the observer, narrator or protagonist, to the insertion of himself, as a writer/observer, into the story as a character. The choice of the name "Peter Aaron" is a not so subtle clue that Auster means Aaron to be himself. With both Auster and Aaron having the initials "P.A." it is difficult to ignore Auster's presence in the story.The book takes us deeply into the activities of his good friend, Ben Sachs, another writer. The book illustrates the development of the existential Sachs in a world which he is mostly powerless to control. At some point, Sachs believes he has wrested control over his own life, and yet, just at that point, is the point that perhaps he has least control over his life; but does not realize it.Auster, as usual, has surrealism meet reality. It is a talent he has developed and only gets better with practice. And he practices it to the fullest extent here. Auster combines his talent for surrealism with a wonderful sense of human irony. His use of that combination often leaves the reader with a feeling that `nothing really matters; but everything really matters.' Yet he clearly shows also, that if nothing really matters, any road will get you there.This book is recommended highly for all readers of Auster's work as the reader can see Auster's transition in this book. In addition, it is recommended for all readers who wish to further examine the depth and breadth of human thought, once derailed from what we consider "reality."

Although I was not grabbed by the first sentence as I have been known to be with Auster's novels, perhaps due to the studiously neutral tone of the beginning, it wasn't long before I was drawn into the narrative and the characters.This novel was written long before those I'd already read by the same author, and perhaps that is why I felt it was less accomplished than them.However, it is still typical Auster: addictive, emotional writing in the first person, and of course many of his usual themes are there - identity, writing and art, metafiction, personal politics, destiny and coincidence, and how people cope -or rather, don't cope- with life's unexpected turns...In the end, I enjoyed this read tremendously, even if to me this is not Auster's best novel.