An interesting review for Sunset Park that I found was published by The Independenet. The review was conducted by David Mattin, and provided interesting background information on Auster's writting career. Mattin discusses how throughout Auster's 28 year career, his literary works have constantly returned to the same themes. He describes how Auster's use of damaged protagonists, violent life-altering events, and baseball and Americana anecdotes can be seen as common narrative devices.
Mattin titled the review, "But where are the tricks in this all too-realist tale?"and he argues that Auster tries to create a more realistic tone for the book, but fails to do so. Mattin states that the foundation for the story, the death of Bobby and the economic crisis during that period, are "really never more than a cardboard backdrop". I tend to agree with Mattin on this point. In my opinion, the book doesn't really reflect the economic crisis in a most realistic manner. This book and the character's situations could have been set in many time periods. The book reflects more on The Best Years of Our Lives than a depression.
The link to the review can be found here: http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/books/reviews/sunset-park-by-paul-auster-2130474.html
I agree with this review. I also think that the economic crisis, which is supposed to be the vehicle for plot movement throughout the piece, often takes a back seat to the depression and references to The Best Years of Our Lives.
ReplyDeleteI do tend to agree that this book can be about any economic depression and not necessarily the one Auster aims to write about. However, I don't think this detracts from the novel b/c it does give it a sense of universality.
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