meilufay’s #CBR4 review #89 The New York Trilogy by Paul Auster
When I first read The New York Trilogy in my late teens it blew my mind. I became slightly obsessed with Paul Auster and read everything he published for about ten years (through the 90s) and then… I sort of lost interest in his writing. I was curious to see how I would respond to these three novellas, reading them a second time.
Each of the novellas takes on a different story about writers, private investigators and identity. Each storyline has a surreal element. These novellas are seething with ideas and are a very intellectually stimulating read and have that haunting quality that all good noir fictions seem to have but I have to say that while I found the trilogy an interesting read, I didn’t really love The New York Trilogy. In the time since I first read Paul Auster’s books, I’ve become increasingly more disenchanted with literary fiction – generally I don’t find litfic particularly satisfying to read and The New York Trilogy is no exception. Still, this is a well-written and thoughtful collection of stories.