2019 Book Reviews

#8 The Invention of Solitude by Paul Auster

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This memoir is split into two parts: Portrait of an Invisible Man and The Book of Memory.

I really enjoyed Portrait of an Invisible Man. It is written in the first person and covers the story of the authors recently deceased father. We learn that his father was neglectful and absent throughout his life and never really understood his son. I felt very drawn to this nonfiction story and in particular to the underpinning theme of a son attempting to connect with and gain the admiration of his distant father.

I hated the second part: The Book of Memory. Here the author comes back to his own life and through various chapters he covers a range of topics such as fate, solitude and the impacts of chance and coincidence. He switches to a third person writing style and begins referring to himself as "A". I found that very pretentious and really struggled through these chapters. Whilst I felt the content was, generally speaking, interesting, this stylistic choice made them hard work to finish.

My rating: 4.6/10