The Book of Illusions
Written by Paul Auster
Narrated by Paul Auster
4.5/5
()
About this audiobook
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.
Paul Auster
Paul Auster was the bestselling author of 4 3 2 1, Bloodbath Nation, Baumgartner, The Book of Illusions, and The New York Trilogy, among many other works. In 2006 he was awarded the Prince of Asturias Prize for Literature. Among his other honors are the Prix Médicis Étranger for Leviathan, the Independent Spirit Award for the screenplay of Smoke, and the Premio Napoli for Sunset Park. In 2012, he was the first recipient of the NYC Literary Honors in the category of fiction. He was also a finalist for the International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award (The Book of Illusions), the PEN/Faulkner Award (The Music of Chance), the Edgar Award (City of Glass), and the Man Booker Prize (4 3 2 1). Auster was a member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters and a Commandeur de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres. His work has been translated into more than forty languages. He died at age seventy-seven in 2024.
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Reviews for The Book of Illusions
32 ratings4 reviews
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Paul Auster at his best, with the added bonus of being read by the author himself!
1 person found this helpful
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5I have read/listened this book couple of times and i can say, it is one of the greatest creations by Paul Auster. The book that makes you think a lot, the book that lives you confused and satisfied at once. Once you read it you can never stop thinking about it. Thinking about what was real and what was just an imagination. Or was anything real at all?
1 person found this helpful
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5A masterpiece of contemporean american literature!!! Auster’s imagination and poetry in the best shape
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5This book is drawing you in with every story and story-in-the-story and the voice of the narrator is a big part of it. At times lengthy, it becomes clear why so much attention is paid to details. It is to prepare you for the heart of the plot, of the truth.