I’m not going to pretend that I understood what Auster is trying to tell us through this book. In fact, to be really honest, I am totally clueless as to what this book is about. I had picked up this book thinking it was some sort of suspense novel that will eventually tie up all scattered clues into one satisfying knot (obviously, I’ve not read Auster before). Of course, this was not the case. There’s no denouement to speak of. All the readers are left with are a bunch of clues, and an open ending.

My immediate reaction, upon completing this, was to reread certain parts of the book, in the hope of finding some crucial bits I’ve missed. Of course, I found none. Hence, as of now, I’m still pretty clueless about what’s going on.

It was at Amazon.com that I found out why this book totally lost me. It turned out that many of the characters in this book are actually characters from his OTHER books. So this book works like some kind of inside-joke for his fans, while non-insiders like me are, like how one reviewer put it, left out in the cold.

This book should have come with a warning at the very least.

But that aside, I’ll have to say that the premise is rather interesting. Auster writes brilliantly, so I guess what I’m going to do is to pick up his earlier works, and revisit this novella after I’ve acquainted myself with all the characters that have made an appearance here. Only then will I decide whether or not I like this little novel.

This was an interesting and somewhat odd little book. I was prepared to be late to work if need be so I could finish it. I haven’t read anything quite like it before and enjoyed it.