Sunset Park

By: Paul Auster

Narrated by: Paul Auster

Length: 7 hrs and 22 mins

Publisher's summary

Luminous, passionate, expansive, an emotional tour de force

Sunset Park follows the hopes and fears of a cast of unforgettable characters brought together by the mysterious Miles Heller during the dark months of the 2008 economic collapse.

An enigmatic young man employed as a trash-out worker in southern Florida obsessively photographing thousands of abandoned objects left behind by the evicted families.

A group of young people squatting in an apartment in Sunset Park, Brooklyn.

The Hospital for Broken Things, which specializes in repairing the artifacts of a vanished world.

William Wyler's 1946 classic The Best Years of Our Lives.

A celebrated actress preparing to return to Broadway.

An independent publisher desperately trying to save his business and his marriage.

These are just some of the elements Auster magically weaves together in this immensely moving novel about contemporary America and its ghosts. Sunset Park is a surprising departure that confirms Paul Auster as one of our greatest living writers.

©2010 Paul Auster (P)2010 Macmillan Audio

Critic reviews

“The author reads his own work with great feeling, being able to express in his voice the depths of despair that each of his four main characters is experiencing. The interaction among the four is narrated as an ‘ebb and flow' of life and its experiences.” —Sound Commentary

“Auster's dry, gravelly voice has a gravitas all its own… one almost feels that Auster is himself an Auster character, blowing smoke rings in an empty room while pondering America's mysteries and minutiae.” —Publishers Weekly

“Wise, weary and earthy, Auster has a remarkable voice…Listening to the novel would be as good as reading it.” —The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

Lovely book

I love Paul Auster and his beautiful writing. This was as lyrical as his others though I was less satisfied with the ending. The journey through his characters lives was truly a pleasure to be taken on. Just sorry he seemed to run out of steam at the end. Beautiful reading too by Paul Auster!

Strong character portraits, good narration

This is not a long book and the narration by the author is strong enough to pass muster with a listener who usually prefers professional narrators. The book conveys a moment in time when the economy is doing badly and people's lives and things are being held together tenously by strained relationships. It is a somewhat depressing book weighted down by disillustion and disappointment, much of which seems constructed to feel unavoidable. The characters are interesting and well portrayed, but though the book is satisfactory from a literary perspective, very well written and tied together neatly, it leaves an unsatisfied malaise that results from an ending with no return to any sort of harmonious state. You leave without any feeling of hope.

Not disappointing

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

I recommend this book because of its insight into people and the human condition. Moving and illuminating, if not always happy and hopeful. The sense of truth beneath the book is rare and liberating.

What did you like best about this story?

Weaving together many well-developed characters.

What does Paul Auster bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

Auster is a fine interpreter of his own book. His reading colors the words and sentences you might not feel if you just read it.

Any additional comments?

The ending is not disappointing, but I found myself at a loss. So I listened to that last 90 minutes again, more carefully. Major things happen fast, sometimes even off-stage, but in the end, everything is tied up without loss of verisimilitude. This is a great accomplishment for an author who is trying to deliver felt life. Auster is serious. I look forward to another.

The author forgot to write an ending!

This started off as a great book. I couldn't put it down. then it just stopped - caboom! No real ending - seems he got tired of writing.

No happy ending but good book

Great author and even better as a Narrator. However i am want my fiction to end happy. I know that it doesn't happen in the real world but i live in the real world where bad things happen to good people all the time. My books are meant to help me escape all the injustices of the the world.

Paul Auster is a genius

A beautiful story, full of understanding and kindness. And the performance by Paul Auster himself is utterly perfect. The reading of the last sentence so full of rhythm and beauty could have never been achieved by anybody else but him

Entretaining but nothin else

The story is ok but I dislike his style. It is all about the plot. characters are not described with any profundity, they are just labled as traumatized or, depressive, etc. Too much gratuitous enumeration of things such as vintage objects, classic movies and famous writers.

let down ending, like as in; "clunk"

Great character development, interesting relationships, just didn't go deep enough---or the ending would not have been such a let down. Needed more dare!