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Editor's picks

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  Moon Palace (Contemporary American Fiction)

  Book (Penguin Books)
  

  Rating (89 reviews):

  (4.3/5)

  

  A Moon Palace for the Misbegotten

  Typical Auster: strong line writing, well-defined characters, coincidence-heavy plot, a nonexistent ending. The latter two separates Auster from the pool of countless other "literary" authors. Nobody else has Auster's uncanny ability to evoke the desperation of loneliness.This is a strange novel, but if you've read Auster before, it's going to feel as familiar as that pillow you sleep under every night. There's this guy named M.S. Fogg, he's an orphan, and all sorts of crazy things happen to him, some by his doing, some by coincidence. The density of Auster's plot is staggering; the entire story of Effing, a character Fogg meets, could easily have been another book. That whole section almost reads like a Reader's Digest version of a bigger book, but I didn't mind at all. I don't mind efficiency when it's done right.Don't expect much from the ending. It just is. If you expect a nice tidy package at the end, you're gonna be disappointed. Just take it for... 4/5 vanishingpoint - See all my reviews This review is from: Moon Palace (Contemporary American Fiction) (Paperback) Typical Auster: strong line writing, well-defined characters, coincidence-heavy plot, a nonexistent ending. The latter two separates Auster from the pool of countless other "literary" authors. Nobody else has Auster's uncanny ability to evoke the desperation of loneliness.This is a strange novel, but if you've read Auster before, it's going to feel as familiar as that pillow you sleep under every night. There's this guy named M.S. Fogg, he's an orphan, and all sorts of crazy things happen to him, some by his doing, some by coincidence. The density of Auster's plot is staggering; the entire story of Effing, a character Fogg meets, could easily have been another book. That whole section almost reads like a Reader's Digest version of a bigger book, but I didn't mind at all. I don't mind efficiency when it's done right.Don't expect much from the ending. It just is. If you expect a nice tidy package at the end, you're gonna be disappointed. Just take it for... Read more Help other customers find the most helpful reviews  Was this review helpful to you? , October 22, 2000

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  What A Wonderful Story, Beautifully Told

  In search of a good mystery I went to the Edgar Awards to find an author with whom I was unfamiliar. The New York Trilogy by Paul Auster was unavailable, so I picked up Moon Palace instead. I finished the book in one sitting. It seems to be more than a novel or stories strung together to tell a tale, but rather a grouping of real and beautiful pictures orchestrated with words. There is a sense of loss at its end, as if people you have known are now, once more beyond reach. It is one of those books that you wish you had only just begun, or that it was three times longer in length. I'll go back to the book and read it again and I will read the rest of Auster's work. 5/5 Christopher A. Smith (Houston, TX) - See all my reviews, October 21, 1997

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  Complex and entertaining

  This is one of Auster's strongest works. Moon Palace is difficult to summarize, and it would almost be easier to use a Venn diagram or a chronogram to describe the plot than to try to put it in words. Roughly speaking, the novel covers the curious life of M.S.Fogg, from his youth as an orphan to his strange days as a Columbia University graduate to his experience as caretaker of the eccentric Thomas Effing. But the novel is actually a series of stories and antecedents, all woven together through a tangled web of improbable coincidences and interactions. Many of the sections are virtually self contained. The tale of Fogg's inward retreat as an undergraduate culminating in his descent into homelessness in itself could be a well formed short story or novella. Likewise Effing's bizarre tale of adventure in the wilderness of Utah is story in itself. The links between these sections are a haphazard series of coincidences and connections, some which are seemingly intentionally... 4/5 0, April 5, 2001

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  List Price: $16.00
  

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  Moon Palace: A Novel (Penguin Ink)

  Book (Penguin Books)
  

  Rating (4 reviews):

  (3.0/5)

  

  Auster perfection

  If you are an Auster fan then chances are you have already read this, if you need an introduction to his work then this is the place to start. Auster is a beautiful storyteller a true master. 5/5 M.D.S. - See all my reviews Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?) This review is from: Moon Palace: A Novel (Penguin Ink) (Paperback) If you are an Auster fan then chances are you have already read this, if you need an introduction to his work then this is the place to start. Auster is a beautiful storyteller a true master. Help other customers find the most helpful reviews  Was this review helpful to you? , June 5, 2012

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  Review by Violet Yates

  SPOILER ALERTI loved this novel. Paul Auster has done it again, with remarkable depth and brilliance. As always, Auster's ideas are amazing, and make for an entertaining read as well as a study on identity.Marco Stanley Fogg, or M.S. Fogg, is an orphan who seems to be spending the entire story searching for his identity, mostly, it appears, indirectly. The novel starts out in New York City, when M.S. is finishing up college at Columbia University. He begins by explaining about his relationship with his Uncle Victor, and how Victor had gifted his entire collection of books to M.S. M.S. uses the novels, packed into boxes, as furniture at first. But when his Uncle dies, he slowly begins to dismantle his furniture, and thus his identity, by reading the novels and selling them off as he finishes. Prior to this, he had been dubbed Phileas, a character from Around the World in 80 Days, a movie that Uncle Victor had taken him to see as a child. Upon his uncle's death, he has no... 5/5 Violet Yates- Author- Women's Lit "Author of ... (Kailua Kona, Hawaii) - See all my reviews This review is from: Moon Palace: A Novel (Penguin Ink) (Paperback) SPOILER ALERTI loved this novel. Paul Auster has done it again, with remarkable depth and brilliance. As always, Auster's ideas are amazing, and make for an entertaining read as well as a study on identity.Marco Stanley Fogg, or M.S. Fogg, is an orphan who seems to be spending the entire story searching for his identity, mostly, it appears, indirectly. The novel starts out in New York City, when M.S. is finishing up college at Columbia University. He begins by explaining about his relationship with his Uncle Victor, and how Victor had gifted his entire collection of books to M.S. M.S. uses the novels, packed into boxes, as furniture at first. But when his Uncle dies, he slowly begins to dismantle his furniture, and thus his identity, by reading the novels and selling them off as he finishes. Prior to this, he had been dubbed Phileas, a character from Around the World in 80 Days, a movie that Uncle Victor had taken him to see as a child. Upon his uncle's death, he has no... Read more Help other customers find the most helpful reviews  Was this review helpful to you? , June 5, 2011

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  Novel itself is great, but Kindle edition has far too many typos

  Novel itself is great, but Kindle edition has far too many typosDownload this edition to Kindle for PC and search for "copy1" without quotation marks, then you will find over a hundred of "copy1"s all over the text, replacing original words or spaces.Publisher should do something about this. I have reported this months ago, but nothing happened. Should I contact the author? 1/5 Tanus - See all my reviews Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?) This review is from: Moon Palace: A Novel (Penguin Ink) (Kindle Edition) Novel itself is great, but Kindle edition has far too many typosDownload this edition to Kindle for PC and search for "copy1" without quotation marks, then you will find over a hundred of "copy1"s all over the text, replacing original words or spaces.Publisher should do something about this. I have reported this months ago, but nothing happened. Should I contact the author? Help other customers find the most helpful reviews  Was this review helpful to you? , October 3, 2012

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  List Price: $16.00
  

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  Moon Palace: A Novel (Penguin Ink)

  eBooks (Penguin Books)
  

  Rating (4 reviews):

  (3.0/5)

  

  Auster perfection

  If you are an Auster fan then chances are you have already read this, if you need an introduction to his work then this is the place to start. Auster is a beautiful storyteller a true master. 5/5 M.D.S. - See all my reviews Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?) This review is from: Moon Palace: A Novel (Penguin Ink) (Paperback) If you are an Auster fan then chances are you have already read this, if you need an introduction to his work then this is the place to start. Auster is a beautiful storyteller a true master. Help other customers find the most helpful reviews  Was this review helpful to you? , June 5, 2012

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  Review by Violet Yates

  SPOILER ALERTI loved this novel. Paul Auster has done it again, with remarkable depth and brilliance. As always, Auster's ideas are amazing, and make for an entertaining read as well as a study on identity.Marco Stanley Fogg, or M.S. Fogg, is an orphan who seems to be spending the entire story searching for his identity, mostly, it appears, indirectly. The novel starts out in New York City, when M.S. is finishing up college at Columbia University. He begins by explaining about his relationship with his Uncle Victor, and how Victor had gifted his entire collection of books to M.S. M.S. uses the novels, packed into boxes, as furniture at first. But when his Uncle dies, he slowly begins to dismantle his furniture, and thus his identity, by reading the novels and selling them off as he finishes. Prior to this, he had been dubbed Phileas, a character from Around the World in 80 Days, a movie that Uncle Victor had taken him to see as a child. Upon his uncle's death, he has no... 5/5 Violet Yates- Author- Women's Lit "Author of ... (Kailua Kona, Hawaii) - See all my reviews This review is from: Moon Palace: A Novel (Penguin Ink) (Paperback) SPOILER ALERTI loved this novel. Paul Auster has done it again, with remarkable depth and brilliance. As always, Auster's ideas are amazing, and make for an entertaining read as well as a study on identity.Marco Stanley Fogg, or M.S. Fogg, is an orphan who seems to be spending the entire story searching for his identity, mostly, it appears, indirectly. The novel starts out in New York City, when M.S. is finishing up college at Columbia University. He begins by explaining about his relationship with his Uncle Victor, and how Victor had gifted his entire collection of books to M.S. M.S. uses the novels, packed into boxes, as furniture at first. But when his Uncle dies, he slowly begins to dismantle his furniture, and thus his identity, by reading the novels and selling them off as he finishes. Prior to this, he had been dubbed Phileas, a character from Around the World in 80 Days, a movie that Uncle Victor had taken him to see as a child. Upon his uncle's death, he has no... Read more Help other customers find the most helpful reviews  Was this review helpful to you? , June 5, 2011

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  Novel itself is great, but Kindle edition has far too many typos

  Novel itself is great, but Kindle edition has far too many typosDownload this edition to Kindle for PC and search for "copy1" without quotation marks, then you will find over a hundred of "copy1"s all over the text, replacing original words or spaces.Publisher should do something about this. I have reported this months ago, but nothing happened. Should I contact the author? 1/5 Tanus - See all my reviews Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?) This review is from: Moon Palace: A Novel (Penguin Ink) (Kindle Edition) Novel itself is great, but Kindle edition has far too many typosDownload this edition to Kindle for PC and search for "copy1" without quotation marks, then you will find over a hundred of "copy1"s all over the text, replacing original words or spaces.Publisher should do something about this. I have reported this months ago, but nothing happened. Should I contact the author? Help other customers find the most helpful reviews  Was this review helpful to you? , October 3, 2012

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  Moon Palace

  Book (Viking Pr)
  

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  Moon Palace

  Book (Le livre de poche)
  

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  Moon Palace

  Book (Penguin)
  

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  Moon Palace

  Book (Faber and Faber Limited: Great Britain)
  

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  Moon Palace

  Book (Klett)
  

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  Moon Palace (Original)

  Digital Music Track (Bedrock)
  

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  Moonwalking with Einstein: The Art and Science of Remembering Everything

  Book (Penguin Books)
  

  Rating (414 reviews):

  (4.2/5)

  

  Amazingly Interesting and Helpful

  This is one of those rare books that is not only a joy to read, but also immensely helpful. It can help all of us with something that is at once troublesome and worrisome: our memory. It does this with ease, not teaching us some grueling rote memory technique, but one that is easy, natural and intuitive. Yet Moonwalking with Einstein turns out to not be exclusively a how-to book on memory. So what is it?Well, yes, it is about memory and how to improve it, but it is at once a history of techniques, a description of what memory is and what can go wrong with it, and also a running narrative of how the author, a journalist himself with no special memory skills, becomes one of the most proficient memory athletes in America.I'd learned a mnemonic device to aid memorization decades ago while in college, and found it to be helpful, but for some reason I'd abandoned the technique once I graduated. But Moonwalking with Einstein expands the mnemonic technique I learned... 5/5 David Sheppard "Novelsmithing" (Healdsburg, CA USA) - See all my reviews Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?) This review is from: Moonwalking with Einstein: The Art and Science of Remembering Everything (Hardcover) This is one of those rare books that is not only a joy to read, but also immensely helpful. It can help all of us with something that is at once troublesome and worrisome: our memory. It does this with ease, not teaching us some grueling rote memory technique, but one that is easy, natural and intuitive. Yet Moonwalking with Einstein turns out to not be exclusively a how-to book on memory. So what is it?Well, yes, it is about memory and how to improve it, but it is at once a history of techniques, a description of what memory is and what can go wrong with it, and also a running narrative of how the author, a journalist himself with no special memory skills, becomes one of the most proficient memory athletes in America.I'd learned a mnemonic device to aid memorization decades ago while in college, and found it to be helpful, but for some reason I'd abandoned the technique once I graduated. But Moonwalking with Einstein expands the mnemonic technique I learned... Read more Help other customers find the most helpful reviews  Was this review helpful to you? , March 9, 2011

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  Now THIS is the kind of "self help" book that this Baby Boomer appreciated!

  Whether you have memory problems (can't recall the name of someone you met a week ago?) or not, you're likely to improve your memory after reading this book. Even if you don't - but odds are you will - it makes for fascinating reading.It definitely was a major aid for me and I do think of it as a unique "self help" book, one that can have immediate results, helping to make life easier, alleviate tricky memory issues and more. I think it is important to disclose that I'm a Baby Boomer and my memory seems to have worsened with age. I used to recall the name of nearly everyone I met as well as both major and minor actors and actresses, all of my teachers (from kindergarten through high school) as well as the first and last names of every one of my high school classmates. I could recall even tiny details of books read long ago.But Moonwalking with Einstein goes far beyond remembering the names of acqaintances. It can help make your daily life easier, aiding you... 5/5 K. Corn "reviewer" (Here) - See all my reviews, March 5, 2011

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  A good read, but ...

  After reading the first chapter of this book online, I went out and picked up a copy and read it. I was under the impression from reading that first chapter that this book would be about Joshua's year of training his memory. There is a large gap between knowing about a memory technique and how to actually use that technique. I was interested in reading about the author's efforts, problems, and his solutions to those problems. Unfortunately for me, only a small part of this book actually was about the author's actual training. He does cover a good deal of academic ground on memory. If you have a undergarduate degree in psychology, most of this material will be familiar. The author is correct when he said that this book isn't a self-help book, but there are a few pearls within its cover. My expectations for this book resulted in my being disappointed with it. That's my problem. I do consider the book to be a good read and would recommend it to friends and associates. 3/5 Tony R. Vaughan (Ft. McCoy, FL United States) - See all my reviews, March 17, 2011

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  List Price: $16.00
  

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