Status
Available
Call number
Genres
Publication
Faber and Faber (2002), Hardcover, 204 pages
Description
After losing his wife and two young sons in an airplane crash, professor David Zimmer spends his waking hours in a blur of alcoholic grief and self-pity. Then, watching television one night, he sees a clip from a lost film by the silent comedian Hector Mann. Zimmer soon finds himself embarking on a journey around the world to study the works of this mysterious figure, who vanished from sight in 1929. Presumed dead for sixty years, Hector Mann was a comic genius who had flashed briefly across American movie screens, tantalizing the public with the promise of a brilliant future. Then, just as the silent era came to an end, he walked out of his house one January morning and was never heard from again. Zimmer's research leads him to write the first full-length study of Hector's films. Upon publication the following year, a letter turns up bearing a return address from New Mexico -- supposedly written by Hector's wife. "Hector has read your book and would like to meet you. Are you interested in paying us a visit?" Is the letter a hoax, or is Hector Mann still alive? Torn between doubt and belief, Zimmer hesitates, until one night a strange woman appears on his doorstep and makes the decision from him, changing his life forever.… (more)
Media reviews
David Zimmer, professor in Vermont, verliest zijn vrouw en twee zoontjes bij een vliegtuigongeluk. Zes maanden lang brengt hij de dag door in een waas van dronkemanstranen en zelfmedelijden. Op een avond ziet hij op televisie een stukje van een verloren gegane stomme film, gemaakt door een komiek,
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Hector Mann. Voor het eerst in maanden moet hij lachen. En voor hij het weet heeft hij zich ingegraven in het leven van de mysterieuze Mann, die van de aardbodem verdween in 1929.
Zimmer schrijft de eerste serieuze studie van Manns werk en houdt zo het verdriet op draaglijke afstand. Een jaar na de verschijning van het boek krijgt hij een brief van iemand die beweert de vrouw van Mann te zijn. Hij wordt uitgenodigd Mann te komen bezoeken. Is dit een grap of leeft Hector Mann echt nog? Zimmer aarzelt. Dan verschijnt op een avond een vreemde vrouw aan zijn deur, en zij neemt de beslissing voor hem. Dat verandert zijn leven voor altijd.
Een met een adembenemende precisie en dwingende noodzaak geschreven roman, een boek dat de lezer onderdompelt in een universum waar het komische en het tragische, realiteit en verbeelding, geweld en tederheid samenvloeien.
*Auster is het beste soort import uit Amerika: een experimenteel schrijver die een groot publiek aanspreekt. - The Guardian
*Deze kunstieg en elegante roman zou weleens Austers beste boek tot nu toe kunnen zijn. - Peter Carey
*Een bedwelmend nieuw hoogtepunt in het oeuvre van Auster. - Jonathan Lethem Show Less
User reviews
LibraryThing member richardderus
BkC 3) Sorry I read it, and what a slog.
Another one where I stand by my one-liner. Ye gods and little fishes, what a snore!
The Book Report: Protagonist loses family, isolates self from world to plumb solipsistic depths of grief and depression, discovers obsessive interest in an artist now of no
My Review: Does that sound familiar? It ought to...it's also the plot of the over-praised and underwhelming "New York Trilogy." Every writer, every artist, rides their hobbyhorses. Nothing new there. The question is, do you want to go along for the ride? In Auster's case, I do not.
But why not? Because I experienced a lot lot lot of grieving very early in life, when the AIDS epidemic was at its height. I lost every gay friend I'd made. I volunteered as a helper in the hospital...just showed up and did stuff, no training, no pay, and lots of nurses and porters would teach me what to do so they wouldn't risk getting the disease.
I held a lot of hands as men died. I saw a few mothers come to their sons' bedsides to excoriate them one last time for being queer and so embarrassing the church, the family, god. I had no idea what to say to their terrified faces as they died at 23...27...31.
But I fuckin' got up every morning and I went and DID SOMETHING.
I have ZERO tolerance for these a-holes who think their teensy little selves are so important that their pain is all that matters in the world. SHUT THE FUCK UP and get out of your own asshole and DO SOMETHING.
Okay, unsympathetic much? Yes. I lost the love of my life to AIDS in 1992. He died at 35. I do not want to hear crap from anyone about depression 'cause I been there too, and didn't treat it like it was All Important. I went to the doctor, I got help, I gave up some very unpleasant addictions, and I got on with life the whole time.
And I would give anything I have ever had to have my man back. Anything. I miss him fiercely even now, 20 years later.
So Mr. Auster can keep his wet-mouthed wet-eyed puling to his damn self.
Another one where I stand by my one-liner. Ye gods and little fishes, what a snore!
The Book Report: Protagonist loses family, isolates self from world to plumb solipsistic depths of grief and depression, discovers obsessive interest in an artist now of no
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great interest, sets out to rediscover and rehabilitate said artist, succeeds, and through a miracle of identification with the vanished artist's sufferings which mirror his own, protagonist resumes living in the real world again.My Review: Does that sound familiar? It ought to...it's also the plot of the over-praised and underwhelming "New York Trilogy." Every writer, every artist, rides their hobbyhorses. Nothing new there. The question is, do you want to go along for the ride? In Auster's case, I do not.
But why not? Because I experienced a lot lot lot of grieving very early in life, when the AIDS epidemic was at its height. I lost every gay friend I'd made. I volunteered as a helper in the hospital...just showed up and did stuff, no training, no pay, and lots of nurses and porters would teach me what to do so they wouldn't risk getting the disease.
I held a lot of hands as men died. I saw a few mothers come to their sons' bedsides to excoriate them one last time for being queer and so embarrassing the church, the family, god. I had no idea what to say to their terrified faces as they died at 23...27...31.
But I fuckin' got up every morning and I went and DID SOMETHING.
I have ZERO tolerance for these a-holes who think their teensy little selves are so important that their pain is all that matters in the world. SHUT THE FUCK UP and get out of your own asshole and DO SOMETHING.
Okay, unsympathetic much? Yes. I lost the love of my life to AIDS in 1992. He died at 35. I do not want to hear crap from anyone about depression 'cause I been there too, and didn't treat it like it was All Important. I went to the doctor, I got help, I gave up some very unpleasant addictions, and I got on with life the whole time.
And I would give anything I have ever had to have my man back. Anything. I miss him fiercely even now, 20 years later.
So Mr. Auster can keep his wet-mouthed wet-eyed puling to his damn self.
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LibraryThing member Lman
I come to this author late: this is his sixteenth or-so work, but the first I have read. I write this as a prelude, in that this review comes from a total ignorance of Paul Auster’s oeuvre, and, as such, this lack of knowledge may colour my perception; or not. Regardless, after reading this novel
The Book of Illusions contains quite an intricate premise and it is somewhat difficult, I feel, to succinctly define the core of its being. It begins with David Zimmer, a professor of comparative literature at Vermont, and a book he has written – the only one on the subject: The Silent World of Hector Mann. Told exclusively from David’s viewpoint, the story in The Book of Illusions - adroitly configured as another book by David - firstly introduces Hector Mann and his creative life, but quickly weaves the recent traumatic events of the professor's current subsistence into the mix: to clarify, not only, the reasons for writing this book about Hector, but the reasoning behind many of his past and present actions. For when David’s family – his wife and two young boys - are killed in a plane crash there follows many months of numbness, of self-absorption, with a total disregard for any normality in his life and a complete refusal to even contemplate the future; all this ironically possible due to the financial compensation from the accident. But a late-night unexpected TV viewing of a silent film, one of twelve made by Hector Mann in the 1920s, results in the first laugh escaping David’s lips in all this time and leads to his journey back, through these films, into a semblance of improved existence; studying and writing about Hector’s films ultimately providing a means of escaping his inconsolable grief. But, when David is contacted by Hector Mann’s wife, sometime after his book is published, and asked to meet the man most assumed had died sixty years ago, events become very complicated, allowing for a complex juxtaposition within a study of two tortured souls; and their differing paths to finding a redemption of sorts.
Reading more, at times, like non-fiction, what overwhelmed me significantly with this book was the ease of the exposition Paul Auster delivers in the creation of this tale. I had to keep reminding myself that this was a fictitious chronicle – at times I felt almost obliged to check if such an artist named Hector Mann actually existed! And the exquisite detailing offered about each film, the consequent clarity of the images the author constructs, possibly defies belief – the imagery flowing effortlessly across the pages until there resides a true cinematic notion rather than just some elaborate, albeit clever, textual concept. There are such vivid visual ideas portrayed within the lines of this prose. How I wanted to see these films too! For amongst this sophisticated celluloid metaphor is a convoluted true perspective: on life, and death, with the usual multitude of obscurities between them; and the methods these two men use to deal with it all. And more importantly, the illusions that manifest within actual and fabricated worlds.
This is truly a highly-wrought, stylish piece - a perfectly-written account defined by a well-crafted beginning and middle, and with an outstanding ending. On further investigation I was unsurprised to learn Paul Auster is a writer, a director and a one-time actor – underscoring the validity of the book. And adding to my delight is an understanding and a use of language, which allows the author’s eloquence and writing skill to shine intensely throughout the composition. A testament to his ability, this is an author whose other works I will actively seek, and decidedly enjoy. To my mind, just brilliant!
(Nov 12, 2008)
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I am now, patently and arrantly, a huge fan!The Book of Illusions contains quite an intricate premise and it is somewhat difficult, I feel, to succinctly define the core of its being. It begins with David Zimmer, a professor of comparative literature at Vermont, and a book he has written – the only one on the subject: The Silent World of Hector Mann. Told exclusively from David’s viewpoint, the story in The Book of Illusions - adroitly configured as another book by David - firstly introduces Hector Mann and his creative life, but quickly weaves the recent traumatic events of the professor's current subsistence into the mix: to clarify, not only, the reasons for writing this book about Hector, but the reasoning behind many of his past and present actions. For when David’s family – his wife and two young boys - are killed in a plane crash there follows many months of numbness, of self-absorption, with a total disregard for any normality in his life and a complete refusal to even contemplate the future; all this ironically possible due to the financial compensation from the accident. But a late-night unexpected TV viewing of a silent film, one of twelve made by Hector Mann in the 1920s, results in the first laugh escaping David’s lips in all this time and leads to his journey back, through these films, into a semblance of improved existence; studying and writing about Hector’s films ultimately providing a means of escaping his inconsolable grief. But, when David is contacted by Hector Mann’s wife, sometime after his book is published, and asked to meet the man most assumed had died sixty years ago, events become very complicated, allowing for a complex juxtaposition within a study of two tortured souls; and their differing paths to finding a redemption of sorts.
Reading more, at times, like non-fiction, what overwhelmed me significantly with this book was the ease of the exposition Paul Auster delivers in the creation of this tale. I had to keep reminding myself that this was a fictitious chronicle – at times I felt almost obliged to check if such an artist named Hector Mann actually existed! And the exquisite detailing offered about each film, the consequent clarity of the images the author constructs, possibly defies belief – the imagery flowing effortlessly across the pages until there resides a true cinematic notion rather than just some elaborate, albeit clever, textual concept. There are such vivid visual ideas portrayed within the lines of this prose. How I wanted to see these films too! For amongst this sophisticated celluloid metaphor is a convoluted true perspective: on life, and death, with the usual multitude of obscurities between them; and the methods these two men use to deal with it all. And more importantly, the illusions that manifest within actual and fabricated worlds.
This is truly a highly-wrought, stylish piece - a perfectly-written account defined by a well-crafted beginning and middle, and with an outstanding ending. On further investigation I was unsurprised to learn Paul Auster is a writer, a director and a one-time actor – underscoring the validity of the book. And adding to my delight is an understanding and a use of language, which allows the author’s eloquence and writing skill to shine intensely throughout the composition. A testament to his ability, this is an author whose other works I will actively seek, and decidedly enjoy. To my mind, just brilliant!
(Nov 12, 2008)
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LibraryThing member bcquinnsmom
Eeeeyaaahhhh! Another great read! I so didn't want this book to be over when it was.
Drawing obvious parallels between the character of Hector Mann and the character of David Zimmer, Auster explores redefinition of the self. In his own circumstance, Zimmer, a professor at a college in Vermont, gets
Hector Mann disappeared shortly after the release of his last film in 1928. Hearing that Mann's films had been donated anonymously to places around the world, he decides to go and see them all. His study of Mann eventually turns into a book which he calls The Silent World of Hector Mann. It is about Mann's films; nothing much is known about Mann himself. It is published, and David takes up a translation project to keep himself occupied. Then, a short 3 months later, he gets a weird letter asking him to come and visit Hector Mann. David thinks at first this is a crank, but David begins to wonder if Mann could really still be alive. One night David comes home to a stranger at his house who has plane tickets for him to fly to Albuquerque, then drive over to a ranch out in the middle of the New Mexico desert. It seems Mann is dying; there isn't much time left. On the way to the airport, in the plane and on the drive to Mann's ranch, his mysterious visitor, Alma, fills him in on Mann's missing years. Alma, as it turns out has written a book on Mann's life.
The novel is one of suspense, but more so it is a novel about loss & grief and how to redefine oneself in the midst of it all. And to what point does one go with this redefinition? If a person must redefine himself, then did he actually live his other life? If there's no one around from his other life, did he really live it? Much like the tree falling in the forest question.
Don't look for warm fuzzies from this novel, and although it is somewhat short, it is well worth reading very slowly. It is a multitude of layers of story within the story. Serious reading material...not a beach read.
Drawing obvious parallels between the character of Hector Mann and the character of David Zimmer, Auster explores redefinition of the self. In his own circumstance, Zimmer, a professor at a college in Vermont, gets
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a phone call one day that his wife and two children have been killed in a plane crash. He is left alone, and the weight of his grief leaves him to want to do nothing. He contemplates suicide from time to time. Then one day of mindless television watching something happens...he laughs during a showing of a silent comedy...and becomes interested in the film's star, Hector Mann.Hector Mann disappeared shortly after the release of his last film in 1928. Hearing that Mann's films had been donated anonymously to places around the world, he decides to go and see them all. His study of Mann eventually turns into a book which he calls The Silent World of Hector Mann. It is about Mann's films; nothing much is known about Mann himself. It is published, and David takes up a translation project to keep himself occupied. Then, a short 3 months later, he gets a weird letter asking him to come and visit Hector Mann. David thinks at first this is a crank, but David begins to wonder if Mann could really still be alive. One night David comes home to a stranger at his house who has plane tickets for him to fly to Albuquerque, then drive over to a ranch out in the middle of the New Mexico desert. It seems Mann is dying; there isn't much time left. On the way to the airport, in the plane and on the drive to Mann's ranch, his mysterious visitor, Alma, fills him in on Mann's missing years. Alma, as it turns out has written a book on Mann's life.
The novel is one of suspense, but more so it is a novel about loss & grief and how to redefine oneself in the midst of it all. And to what point does one go with this redefinition? If a person must redefine himself, then did he actually live his other life? If there's no one around from his other life, did he really live it? Much like the tree falling in the forest question.
Don't look for warm fuzzies from this novel, and although it is somewhat short, it is well worth reading very slowly. It is a multitude of layers of story within the story. Serious reading material...not a beach read.
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LibraryThing member bell7
Professor David Zimmer is drowning his sorrows after a horrific plane crash kills his wife and two sons, when he comes across the slapstick silent films of Hector Mann. Mann is an enigma who never gave the same story twice of who he was and where he came from before he made films in the 1920s and
This book is incredibly difficult to wrap my head around and explain what I think. Auster certainly writes sentences well, sometimes bringing me up short with the perfection of a single thought. The descriptions of films are superb. But as for the actual story, I found myself second-guessing every last detail. Did this "really" happen, or is it all a figment of Zimmer's imagination? What are the illusions - the films, the story, life itself? It's just the sort of postmodern hard-to-follow plot one of my brothers loves and I can't stand, because I feel unsettled, questioning, and a little miffed that the author is holding something back from me (or making me fill in part of the blanks of the story - am I doing it right? Did he really mean for me to question everything?). The parallels between Zimmer and Mann, for example, made me wonder about the veracity of the story. I didn't particularly care for the story or the characters, and though I'm sure the ambiguity will make for a fantastic book discussion, this is not the type of book I tend to finish left to my own devices.
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disappeared in 1929 never to be heard from again. Zimmer writes the definite book of Mann's films and receives a shocking letter, inviting him to meet Hector Mann himself in New Mexico.This book is incredibly difficult to wrap my head around and explain what I think. Auster certainly writes sentences well, sometimes bringing me up short with the perfection of a single thought. The descriptions of films are superb. But as for the actual story, I found myself second-guessing every last detail. Did this "really" happen, or is it all a figment of Zimmer's imagination? What are the illusions - the films, the story, life itself? It's just the sort of postmodern hard-to-follow plot one of my brothers loves and I can't stand, because I feel unsettled, questioning, and a little miffed that the author is holding something back from me (or making me fill in part of the blanks of the story - am I doing it right? Did he really mean for me to question everything?). The parallels between Zimmer and Mann, for example, made me wonder about the veracity of the story. I didn't particularly care for the story or the characters, and though I'm sure the ambiguity will make for a fantastic book discussion, this is not the type of book I tend to finish left to my own devices.
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LibraryThing member ShellyS
Similar to The Dogs of Babel, this one deals with loss. As in Dogs, here, too, a man has to cope with the loss of his wife, and in this case, his two sons, dead in a plane crash. And here, too, David, the protagonist, is a professor. But where Dogs dealt with the loss directly, recalling how Paul
Much of the book is spent analyzing Mann’s films and in doing so, Auster creates a reality that never existed. Hector Mann comes alive, and his films feel real as they’re described scene by scene and sometimes, frame by frame. Skeptical, David has no interest in accepting the offer to meet Hector, but he’s soon convinced by Alma, a woman sent by Hector to fetch him. Through her, he learns what happened to Hector and the reason for his disappearance. He learns what Hector has been doing for the past 60 years. The illusions of the book come in many forms, in Hector’s life before and after 1929, in Alma, in David, himself, as he sifts through realities both tangible and on film.
The book works on many levels. As a straightforward story, it has a nice element of suspense. There is the historical context and the feel of a non-fiction work about the silent film era. There is the question of what is more real, the lives people live in the physical world or the ones they create in film and books. And are those created works real if no one gets to see them? Do they need to be shared? Or is it enough for them to exist for a time? Can art exist for itself or does it need an audience? Does the artist own his or her art or, once witnessed, does it belong to the world at large? Who has the right to decide what to do with it? And underneath it all, as with The Dogs of Babel, is the question of what it can take to heal a wounded heart.
I’ve believed for a long time that stories, once released into the world, belong as much to the audience as the creator. Each reader or viewer interprets the work, absorbs it, makes it his or her own. And yet, the original remains with the creator. It’s as if many versions now exist, the original in the mind of the creator, and all the permutations, editions, versions in the minds of everyone who has seen, heard, or read the work. Perhaps, all of them are illusions.
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and his wife met and fell in love, The Book of Illusions has something far more complex in mind. In his grief, David spent time watching old movies and became obsessed with Hector Mann, a silent film comedian who managed to break through his defenses and make him laugh. Needing something to occupy his mind, and wealthy thanks to a financial settlement from the loss of his family, he sets out to see every one of the too few films made by Mann who had a brief, but brilliant career before disappearing 60 years ago, in 1929. His research leads him to write a book about Mann, and sometime after it’s published, he receives a letter from a woman inviting him to New Mexico to meet Hector who has long been presumed dead.Much of the book is spent analyzing Mann’s films and in doing so, Auster creates a reality that never existed. Hector Mann comes alive, and his films feel real as they’re described scene by scene and sometimes, frame by frame. Skeptical, David has no interest in accepting the offer to meet Hector, but he’s soon convinced by Alma, a woman sent by Hector to fetch him. Through her, he learns what happened to Hector and the reason for his disappearance. He learns what Hector has been doing for the past 60 years. The illusions of the book come in many forms, in Hector’s life before and after 1929, in Alma, in David, himself, as he sifts through realities both tangible and on film.
The book works on many levels. As a straightforward story, it has a nice element of suspense. There is the historical context and the feel of a non-fiction work about the silent film era. There is the question of what is more real, the lives people live in the physical world or the ones they create in film and books. And are those created works real if no one gets to see them? Do they need to be shared? Or is it enough for them to exist for a time? Can art exist for itself or does it need an audience? Does the artist own his or her art or, once witnessed, does it belong to the world at large? Who has the right to decide what to do with it? And underneath it all, as with The Dogs of Babel, is the question of what it can take to heal a wounded heart.
I’ve believed for a long time that stories, once released into the world, belong as much to the audience as the creator. Each reader or viewer interprets the work, absorbs it, makes it his or her own. And yet, the original remains with the creator. It’s as if many versions now exist, the original in the mind of the creator, and all the permutations, editions, versions in the minds of everyone who has seen, heard, or read the work. Perhaps, all of them are illusions.
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LibraryThing member arubabookwoman
After his wife and two children die in a plane crash, Vermont professor Dave Zimmer passes several months in a daze of grief. Then one day, something he sees on TV makes him laugh for the first time since the tragedy. He had caught a glimpse of an excerpt from a silent film starring the actor
Then, shortly after his book on Hector Mann is published, Zimmer received a letter purportedly from Mann's wife saying Hector would like to meet with him. Zimmer initially discounts this as a hoax, but developments proceed to show him otherwise.
This like most of the books by Auster I've read was eminently readable, and I'm always amazed at the inventiveness and creativity of his plots and the absolute reality of his characters. This was a most satisfying read, and I will continue to read the several Auster books I have remaining unread on my shelf, as well as any new ones I come across. Recommended.
4 stars
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Hector Mann, who he later learned had vanished at the height of his career and was never heard from again. Zimmer becomes fascinated, perhaps obsessed, with Hector Mann, and begins a quest to view and study all of Mann's existing films. Ultimately, Zimmer writes a book on Mann's films, but the mystery of Mann's disappearance remained unsolved.Then, shortly after his book on Hector Mann is published, Zimmer received a letter purportedly from Mann's wife saying Hector would like to meet with him. Zimmer initially discounts this as a hoax, but developments proceed to show him otherwise.
This like most of the books by Auster I've read was eminently readable, and I'm always amazed at the inventiveness and creativity of his plots and the absolute reality of his characters. This was a most satisfying read, and I will continue to read the several Auster books I have remaining unread on my shelf, as well as any new ones I come across. Recommended.
4 stars
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LibraryThing member Smiler69
Professor David Zimmer is a broken man following a plane crash that killed his wife and two young sons. Overcome with grief, he drowns his sorrows in booze until one night, as he watches a tv documentary, he bursts out laughing at the sight of Hector Mann acting in a silent comedy from the 1920's.
Paul Auster is in top form in this book and the storytelling is engrossing. For nearly a whole chapter, Zimmer describes one of Hector Mann’s comedies in great detail—giving a scene by scene description of the cast, the action, the sets, the various facial expressions, right down to Mann’s skillful mustache twitches—which are apparently prominently featured in his movies. What I found fascinating was that while this exercise might have become tedious, on the contrary, he managed to make the description of this silent movie absolutely captivating and I quickly suspended disbelief and indeed started imagining that these movies truly do exist. This is only one of the many layers of illusions in this book, and this story lingers on well after the last lines have been read. This is my third Paul Auster novel so far, but something tells me there will be a few more.
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When he learns that the actor disappeared without a trace in 1929 Zimmer is sufficiently intrigued to try to find out more about Mann and his work. Enthralled with Mann’s genius in both creating and acting in physical comedy, Zimmer devotes the following year to tracking down Mann’s movies and writing a book on this man who has been an enigma ever since his disappearance. This is just the beginning of Zimmer’s journey and soon he finds himself more closely involved with Hector Mann’s story than he could ever have imagined.Paul Auster is in top form in this book and the storytelling is engrossing. For nearly a whole chapter, Zimmer describes one of Hector Mann’s comedies in great detail—giving a scene by scene description of the cast, the action, the sets, the various facial expressions, right down to Mann’s skillful mustache twitches—which are apparently prominently featured in his movies. What I found fascinating was that while this exercise might have become tedious, on the contrary, he managed to make the description of this silent movie absolutely captivating and I quickly suspended disbelief and indeed started imagining that these movies truly do exist. This is only one of the many layers of illusions in this book, and this story lingers on well after the last lines have been read. This is my third Paul Auster novel so far, but something tells me there will be a few more.
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LibraryThing member wortklauberlein
Stories within stories within stories. Narrator David Zimmer, a lit professor at a New England college, begins the tale in the 1980s, just after the deaths in a plane crash of his wife and two young sons. Immobilized by grief, he begins the trek back to life after serendipitously viewing a film by
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silent star Hector Mann. That the film moved him to laughter, to forget his misery for a moment, seemed to him a sign. So he sets off to view all dozen movies Mann made before mysteriously dropping off the face of Hollywood in 1929, and in the process sets himself the life-saving task of writing a book about them. After its publication he gets an invitation from a women who says she is Mann's wife and inviting Zimmer to their New Mexico ranch. Zimmer isn't sure it's not a hoax and is reluctant to fly but eventually is induced to accept the invite by a birthmarked, gun-toting woman, Alma Grund, who first threatens to kill him and then even more unbelievably ends up in his bed. Here the book turns into the even more improble story of Hector Mann after his disappearance, as Alma and Zimmer rush to New Mexico to view Mann's homemade, never-before-seen films before he dies. His will specifies that on his death his films are to be burned, celluloid to ash, to cover up both his lengthy existence and atone for his sins. Zimmer manages to view one of them, which he describes at length, and it too weaves in and out of parallels to his own story. What is truth? What is fiction? Who is living a lie? By the time Zimmer and Alma got on that plane, I frankly didn't much care anymore; the two of them are an odd mix of pedestrian and pretentious and their dialogue flatlines way before Hector Mann does. Show Less
LibraryThing member Myhi
Great American story for a so-hot vacation in Greece !
Enjoyed every single word of it, while taking neverending night showers... A vacation to remember.
Enjoyed every single word of it, while taking neverending night showers... A vacation to remember.
LibraryThing member vanpelten
One man's obsession with the mysterious life of a silent film star takes him on a journey into a shadow-world of lies, illusions, and unexpected love. After losing his wife and young sons in a plane crash, Vermont professor David Zimmer spends his waking hours mired in grief. Then, watching
Mann was a comic genius, in trademark white suit and fluttering black moustache. But one morning in 1929 he walked out of his house and was never heard from again. Zimmer's obsession with Mann drives him to publish a study of his work; whereupon he receives a letter postmarked New Mexico, supposedly written by Mann's wife, and inviting him to visit the great Mann himself. Can Hector Mann be alive? Zimmer cannot decide - until a strange woman appears on his doorstep and makes the decision for him, changing his life forever.
Written with breath-taking urgency and precision,...
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television one night, he stumbles upon a lost film by silent comedian Hector Mann, and remembers how to laugh . . .Mann was a comic genius, in trademark white suit and fluttering black moustache. But one morning in 1929 he walked out of his house and was never heard from again. Zimmer's obsession with Mann drives him to publish a study of his work; whereupon he receives a letter postmarked New Mexico, supposedly written by Mann's wife, and inviting him to visit the great Mann himself. Can Hector Mann be alive? Zimmer cannot decide - until a strange woman appears on his doorstep and makes the decision for him, changing his life forever.
Written with breath-taking urgency and precision,...
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LibraryThing member Luli81
A sad story of a widower who lives in pain after the death of his family in a plane chrash. He is wasting his life until somebody on a film awakens him. So good, but so sad.
LibraryThing member debnance
David Zimmer loses his wife and sons in a plane crash and his life begins to spin out of control. Then one night he watches a silent screen comedian and, for the first time in months, he laughs. His life becomes his search for information about the work of this comedian, an obscure and mysterious
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man, Hector Mann. The Book of Illusions spins and whirls, spiraling at times into its own shadows. Recommended. Show Less
LibraryThing member hemlokgang
What a stellar writer! I know I am not the first to feel this way about Paul Auster, but it is thrilling to read such a fine author for the first time. Auster has created characters who will never be forgotten, despite their disappearances, namely, Hector Mann, David Zimmer and others. This book is
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like a wave which crashes over you and pulls you into it like a force of nature. The layering of the plot is fabulous. The story turns in on itself over and over, like that crashing wave. The themes of grief, penance, survival, and sheer humanity are powerfully explored with lovely use of language. A must read! Show Less
LibraryThing member TanyaTomato
Please correct me if I am wrong, but I believe this is the only Paul Auster book I have to ever read. I've heard that they all follow the same theme.
LibraryThing member LukeS
"The Book of Illusions" is one of the most appropriate titles I have run across. In it, Paul Auster describes a continual series of misconception, misapprehension, broken promises, regret ... let us count the ways.
The illusions revolve around a series of silent film actors and producers. Each
Auster is a robust prose artist. His plot pulls us along but has the delicacy to reflect and reverberate against and within itself. This story will engage you, and will make you wonder at Auster's skill.
The illusions revolve around a series of silent film actors and producers. Each
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principal believes he or she can have a life with another who wants nothing to do with it. Hector Mann, a main player in this drama, left filmmaking many years ago and directed that all his oevre be destroyed, reducing all of it to the level of an illusion. Did it ever really exist? He lived in a ranch in New Mexico, called the Blue Jewel until his (accidental? suspicious?) death. In one of the great and grand illusions of this book, he named his ranch after a brief but memorable episode in his life: he is out walking his dog on a damp evening, when he thinks he sees a jewel asparkle on the sidewalk. He inspects it closely only to find it a shiny spot of spittle. Auster is a robust prose artist. His plot pulls us along but has the delicacy to reflect and reverberate against and within itself. This story will engage you, and will make you wonder at Auster's skill.
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LibraryThing member morsecode
I liked this book so much when I listened to a borrowed audio version, I bought a hardcover copy for my personal collection.
Here are my comments on the audio version
(November 20, 2006) :
I've been listening to the audio version of this book on my daily commute. I just finished it and I have to say
David's own storyline is interesting in and of itself, but Auster augments it, intertwining it to splendid effect with that of Hector Mann, a silent film star who mysteriously disappeared in 1929, and (to a lesser extent) with that of 19th Century French writer François-René de Chateaubriand.
There was a moment when I thought that the ending would ruin the book for me, but at the last minute Auster ties things up marvelously producing an ending that is both realistic and satisfying for the reader.
Here are my comments on the audio version
(November 20, 2006) :
I've been listening to the audio version of this book on my daily commute. I just finished it and I have to say
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that I loved it. Auster is an amazing reader (you never know what you're going to get when you have an author reading his or her own book) and is very believable as narrator David Zimmer.David's own storyline is interesting in and of itself, but Auster augments it, intertwining it to splendid effect with that of Hector Mann, a silent film star who mysteriously disappeared in 1929, and (to a lesser extent) with that of 19th Century French writer François-René de Chateaubriand.
There was a moment when I thought that the ending would ruin the book for me, but at the last minute Auster ties things up marvelously producing an ending that is both realistic and satisfying for the reader.
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LibraryThing member ZippySuzy
This was a very interesting book that revolves around a silent film actor, Hector Mann, who disappeared in the 20's. A college professor, David Zimmer, is suffering after the death of his wife and children when he laughs for the first time at Hector Mann's actions in one of his silent movies.
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Zimmer undertakes a thorough study of Mann's volume of work, but little does he know, Mann continued to make movies after his disappearance. Show Less
LibraryThing member EmScape
Professor David Zimmer's wife and two sons have died in a plane crash and he is at loose ends, slowly drinking himself to death, when he sees a clip from one of Hector Mann's silent films on a TV retrospective show. It makes him laugh. He embarks on a project to see all of Mann's films and write a
David is an elegantly realized character with a dynamic arc throughout. I found his story, and that of Mann, rather fascinating. However, there were a few things that didn't work for me. First of all, there are no quotation marks around any of the dialogue. This becomes very confusing, particularly when a character's thought or a small sentence about the action is inserted between lines of dialogue and it is not readily apparent who is speaking. Second, David describes several of Hector's films all the way through. While this is generally pretty well done, with a lot of detail, it is difficult to picture all of these scenes and becomes kind of a slog. Third, I felt as though I had invested quite a lot into both David and Hector, and was very disappointed by the ending. I won't spoil it for you, but if you're a fan of "they all lived happily ever after" you will definitely not be pleased.
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book about them. Mann disappeared in the 1920's and no one has heard from him since. When David's book is published, he receives a mysterious letter that may shed some light on Hector's disappearance. David is an elegantly realized character with a dynamic arc throughout. I found his story, and that of Mann, rather fascinating. However, there were a few things that didn't work for me. First of all, there are no quotation marks around any of the dialogue. This becomes very confusing, particularly when a character's thought or a small sentence about the action is inserted between lines of dialogue and it is not readily apparent who is speaking. Second, David describes several of Hector's films all the way through. While this is generally pretty well done, with a lot of detail, it is difficult to picture all of these scenes and becomes kind of a slog. Third, I felt as though I had invested quite a lot into both David and Hector, and was very disappointed by the ending. I won't spoil it for you, but if you're a fan of "they all lived happily ever after" you will definitely not be pleased.
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LibraryThing member msjoanna
This is my first Auster book, but it won't be my last. The writing is wonderfully evocative and the author manages to make silent films come alive from the text in a way that I'm not sure they even would have worked for me had I watched them. Auster reads the book himself for the audio version and
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does an excellent job. Highly recommended. Show Less
LibraryThing member plyon
Six months after losing his wife and two young sons in an airplane crash, Vermont professor David Zimmer spends his waking hours mired in a blur of alcoholic grief and self-pity. Then, watching television one night, he stumbles upon a clip from a lost silent film by comedian Hector Mann. Zimmers
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interest is piqued, and he soon finds himself embarking on a journey around the world to research a book on this mysterious figure, who vanished from sight in 1929 and has been presumed dead for sixty years. When the book is published the following year, a letter turns up in Zimmers mailbox bearing a return address from a small town in New Mexicosupposedly written by Hectors wife. Hector has read your book and would like to meet you. Are you interested in paying us a visit? Is the letter a hoax, or is Hector Mann still alive? Torn between doubt and belief, Zimmer hesitates, until one night a strange woman appears on his doorstep and makes the decision for him, changing his life forever.This stunning novel plunges the reader into a universe in which the comic and the tragic, the real and the imagined, the violent and the tender dissolve into one another. Show Less
LibraryThing member twomoredays
he Book of Illusions by Paul Auster is a strange book in a few ways. It was definitely and enjoyable and quick read, but I can't for the life of me figure out why. The story itself doesn't sound so literary or engaging. A widowed man finds himself wrapped up in the life of a supposedly missing
There's a quote on the back of the novel from The Wall Street Journal suggesting that Auster is perfecting his own literary genre. If this is the case I would suggest the genre be called something like literary biography. The book reads almost like a biography, but the story is pure fiction.
The final thing about Auster's writing that confounds me is the way he seems to have separated himself so clearly from his work. While reading The Book of Illusions it's easy to forget that you're reading a story or that the is a piece of fiction. The Book of Illusions is nice and immersive, a book that makes it easy to forget the rest of the world.
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director of silent films. At best that plot sounds like a bad grocery store novel, but Auster's writing is amazing and surprisingly profound.There's a quote on the back of the novel from The Wall Street Journal suggesting that Auster is perfecting his own literary genre. If this is the case I would suggest the genre be called something like literary biography. The book reads almost like a biography, but the story is pure fiction.
The final thing about Auster's writing that confounds me is the way he seems to have separated himself so clearly from his work. While reading The Book of Illusions it's easy to forget that you're reading a story or that the is a piece of fiction. The Book of Illusions is nice and immersive, a book that makes it easy to forget the rest of the world.
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LibraryThing member Kristelh
Reason read: This is part of the 1001 books to read before you die. It also was the April word event.
I generally don’t mind Paul Auster’s writing. This was okay but not wonderful. A story that involves themes of isolation, writers as characters,
The main character goes into depression and
I generally don’t mind Paul Auster’s writing. This was okay but not wonderful. A story that involves themes of isolation, writers as characters,
The main character goes into depression and
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isolation, then becomes obsessed by a “fictional” actor from the silent movies. Show Less
LibraryThing member evanroskos
An interesting book that probably would make a better film (since half of the book describes old films). I'd be curious to see this made, but I doubt it will happen. I don't really like Auster, but found myself enjoying this book. And my cousin who doesn't read novels LOVES Auster. I guess it's
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just not my thing. Show Less
LibraryThing member Cecilturtle
I must say that this novel didn't hook me as much as some of Auster's other books. While the concept was intriguing, art for art's sake, traveling through time to reconstruct art and art as salvation, none of these themes are particularly novel and I didn't find their treatment very original
The read itself is enjoyable: I liked Hector's adventures, the descriptions of the desert, the makeshift studio and the movies, but I found they were an excuse for a story rather than a story in itself. For me, Hector's choices and life would have had much more impact recounted through him, rather than through two characters, who although well delineated, stayed rather mysterious.
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either. I think it was the excess that bothered me, not in Frieda's actions, but in Alma's, starting with her threat with a gun.The read itself is enjoyable: I liked Hector's adventures, the descriptions of the desert, the makeshift studio and the movies, but I found they were an excuse for a story rather than a story in itself. For me, Hector's choices and life would have had much more impact recounted through him, rather than through two characters, who although well delineated, stayed rather mysterious.
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LibraryThing member roblong
An academic grieving for his wife and children finds distraction in writing a book about a minor silent movie actor, Hector Mann, who disappeared mysteriously in 1929. One day, he receives a letter from someone claiming to be Hector's wife saying that Hector is still alive, and would like to meet
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him. For the most part I thought this was excellent, brilliantly written and intriguing, a smart book that also managed to be a really compelling mystery. I was slightly disappointed by the ending, not because it was bad or inappropriate, but because it didn't quite have the kick that could have made this a truly brilliant or even great book. Still very, very good though. Show Less
Subjects
Awards
Language
Original publication date
2002
Physical description
204 p.; 9.21 inches
ISBN
0571212131 / 9780571212132
Other editions
The Book of Illusions by Paul Auster (Paperback)