4 3 2 1: A Novel

Full disclosure. I did not finish the book. I could not finish the book. A clever premise: same people different lives caused by different events. After that, a real yawn. The time period over which the stories take place--growing up in the 1950s in New Jersey and the upper west side of NY--is obviously autobiographical and generally pretty boring. Aunt so and so and uncle so and so and cousin so and so. One is a college professor, another an appliance store owner, and the protagonist is a kid called Archie who goes to camp, makes out with girls, listens to music, reads books--you get the picture; this is my life as a Jewish kid growing up in urban and suburban NY. To make matters worse, Auster has enough of an ego that he thinks he can read his own book to you and probably thinks he reads it well. It kind of like having your uncle Ben read you bedtime stories. I kept on waiting for something to happen and nothing really ever did. One thing I found really annoying is that Auster regularly showed off his knowledge of music and literature by having his characters tick off all the the great composers or poets. We get it Paul, you are very clever. Lots of hype about this book, but cannot understand why.

Obviously Auster is a a very talented writer. He brought the protagonist to life and I liked the multiple pathways. But so often, he had long lists of items or things, e.g., "Ferguson didn't like to eat vegetables - he didn't like cabbage, he didn't like eggplants, onions, celery, green beans, red peppers, bok choy, snap peas, zucchini, or avocado." Also, included long play-by-plays of baseball games from 4 decades ago. And then in the middle, a short story about shoes? Some editing would have been helpful.

It's a shame because the story was good and the effort truly interesting. But it's hard to follow
4 story lines so this is a case where great narration would have been made the novel even greater. The monotone of the author reading his own work made it extra hard to distinguish between characters and story lines. Still, really interesting character(s) and the ending was very good.

Great story. Plodding at times. Narration left a bit to be desired. Overall, it was entertaining. Beware, it leans very left.

I really like the fact that it was read by the author, so that I was able to hear the cadence in which it was meant to be heard.

I would compare this book to City on Fire and A Little Lie both of which I would really recommend.

I actually loved the performance but I did speed it up to 1.25x which resulted in a slight octave raise to the narrators voice. This made it a little easier to relate to him being a young man. He also did not attempt to fein female voices.

If you are to purchase this novel, be ready for the long haul. I listened to this over a period of 3 days and couldn't put it down. This was my first Paul Auster book and I definitely don't think it will be my last.

Mechanical. I’ve always assumed that no one would be more qualified to transform text into speech than the author him/herself. I was clearly mistaken - this should be left to a professional. I reverted to the printed version on my Kindle after only an hour or two of listening to this otherwise excellent novel by Mr. Auster (have been a loyal and enthusiastic follower of his output since NY Trilogy). I prefer listening to the voice inside my head in the long run.

There have been a number of door stopper epics that have come out over the past couple of years but this is the only one I would consider a classic. Auster manages to give a beautiful emotional rendering of lives lived and possible; history of mid- 20th century America and how it echoed in people's lives; a philosophical/ psychological work in how we construct a life. I will reread this many times ( I hope). The author's reading is pitch perfect.

This book requires some serious investment in time and thought but oh what a return on that investment. I was sucked into the four lives of Ferguson. Loved it!

I love Paul Auster, so I had high expectations. There were many excellent stories within the story, however the overall big picture was hard to finish. I also found it very hard to listen to. In this modern era of performers reading audiobooks, Paul was not up to the challenge. His phrasing was peculiar.If I had not been a fan of his other works, I would have given up.

I think Paul Auster has a distinctive voice and I've enjoyed all his books. However, he sorely misjudged his talent when he decided to narrate his book for Audible. Way too often Audible ruins the listener experience by allowing the author with a Trump-size ego to narrate his or her own book. Because they're talented writers doesn't mean they're good performers.

Lacks talent as a narrator.