Oracle Night

By: Paul Auster

Narrated by: Paul Auster

Several months into his recovery from a near-fatal illness, 34-year-old novelist Sidney Orr enters a stationery shop in the Cobble Hill section of Brooklyn and buys a blue notebook. It is September 18, 1982, and for the next nine days Orr will live under the spell of this blank book, trapped inside a world of eerie premonitions and bewildering events that threaten to destroy his marriage and undermine his faith in reality.

Why does his wife suddenly break down in tears in the backseat of a taxi just hours after Sidney begins writing in the notebook? Why does M.R. Chang, the owner of the stationery shop, precipitously shut down his business the next day? What are the connections between a 1938 Warsaw telephone directory and a lost novel in which the hero can predict the future? At what point does animosity explode into violence? To what degree is forgiveness the ultimate expression of love?

Paul Auster's mesmerizing eleventh novel reads like an old-fashioned ghost story. But there are no ghosts in this book, only flesh-and-blood human beings, wandering through the haunted realms of everyday life. At once a meditation on the nature of time and a journey through the labyrinth of one man's imagination, Oracle Night is a narrative tour de force that confirms Auster's reputation as one of the boldest, most original writers at work in America today.

©2003 Paul Auster (P)2003 HarperCollins Publishers, Inc., All Rights Reserved.

Critic reviews

"Artful, ingenious...both a darkly suspenseful domestic drama and a moving meditation on chance and loss....Auster's unique genius is to make the absurd coherent; his stories have a dreamlike, hallucinatory logic." ( Publishers Weekly)

"Auster has a droll, almost twangy, voice, which he uses to good effect.... Oracle Night is likely to be revered by Auster's many fans." ( AudioFile)

"[Auster] shines as a fabulist and tale-teller, putting a high-modernist gloss on noir." ( The New Yorker)

Oracle Night

Paul Auster delivers a compelling multi-layered story moves forward with ever losing necessary steam.

Enjoyable

Paul Auster has an easy flow to his words, I really enjoy his style. This book did not dissapoint.

The Master Speaks

Another excellent work from one of our finest novelists. Of particular note is the fact that Auster himself reads the text. I have read most of his books and have never heard his voice. It was very gratifying. If you like serious fiction with moderately challenging structures this is for you. If you like action films and predictable plots you should go for something else. Auster is a great contemporary artist.

loose ends

While this story has many intriguing mysteries, most are not fulfilled. Some of the main character's experiences are surreal; creating a doubt as to whether these are actual or something more mysterious. Unfortuanately we are not treated to further developments nor conclusions. At one point I began to wonder if anything was going to happen as the pace of the book began to lag. I was waiting for some of the questions to be answered. The punch of the story is at the very end and very real. I'd check out other books by this auther, but would read reviews first.

Stellar

Having listened to Auster's The Brooklyn Follies, and The Book of Illusions, Oracle Night proved to be another gem. Auster, like Lawrence Block, is the perfect author/reader; well paced, understandable, and adding that something extra to the experience.

His stories often highlight those unexplainable moments and circumstances that many experience in their lives. Oracle Night is a tapestry, a story within a story, within another story. Entertaining, provocative, well worth the time. Auster, I think, intentionally does not 'finish' some of the sub-stories, allowing the reader/listener to develop their own ending.

An enjoyable, thought provoking literary and aural experience.

The Unique Paul Auster

A great narrative in Auster's fluid rhythm and language. A good performance as well, only marred by the occasional out of breath breaks.

Really good book

I think it was wonderful to hear this book in Mr. Auster's own voice. Very compelling story, even though I (am I so jaded?) knew early on that Grace had been in a relationship with John. I liked the story within the story and it felt very true - the descriptions of the writing process, the weird coincidences that do happen in life. I liked the idea that Portuguese notebook was imbued with somewhat sinister powers- the blank page must be truly daunting at times and like a psychedelic drug at others. Great writing.

book ended without a single story being finished

there were so many great and complex stories within the book and it abruptly ended without any resolution.

Speaker and content not enjoyable

Speaker very spat; spoke in same, monotone voice for all characters. Not enjoyable to listen to. Content not very interesting. Would not recommend

Well, I finished it.

That's the best I can say. Those are hours I'll never get back. If you are thinking this may be mysterious or remotely thrillers, maybe a cute and cozy mystery......no. This is like reading a long, circular thought.