Like the best 18th-century fiction, this witty and wildly inventive
novel revels in its implausibilities, and it does so with an
attention to character and cosmos worthy of Swift, Fielding, or
Sterne. Auster (The New York Trilogy, In the Country of Last
Things) here fashions three personal histories that span the
20th-century and range across the American landscape, from the
chaotic city to the desolate frontier. Marco Stanley Fogg,
illegitimate and orphaned at 11, seems a victim of fate and a child
of his time. At Columbia University during the 60's, Marco, always
an oddball and outsider while growing up with his bachelor uncle in
Chicago, begins his descent into nothingness, hoping to create from
his screwy life a work of art. At best, he becomes a minimalist
artifact, as he abandons his few friends and possessions, and makes
a job of daily survival. Soon after graduation, this restless
explorer of the self takes to the streets, sleeping in Central
Park, eating from trash bins, and discovering the meaning of utter
loneliness. Eventually saved from self-destruction, Marco finds
love with the enigmatic Kitty Wu - a beautiful "orphan in the
storm" herself- and a job with Thomas Effing - a dying octogenarian
who chooses Marco as his biographer. This cantankerous codger turns
out to be "a kindred spirit," a former painter who took advantage
of a disastrous trip out West in 1916, and created a new identity
after he was presumed dead. With his actual death planned for the
near future, Effing wants the son he never met to know the truth.
After Effing's death, Solomon, the abandoned son, spins his tragic
tale to Marco as well. An indiscretion with a 19-year-old student
back in the 50's led this "scholarly curmudgeon" on a path to
academic obscurity and personal dejection. The stories of Marco,
Effing, and Solomon, each told in their time and sharing a similar
design, suggest not only a synchronicity of life cycles, but also
prove to have a more intimate connection - a connection discovered
too late to save Marco from yet another encounter with absolute
loneliness. Coming so soon after a string of masterly little
novels, Auster's latest attests to the expansiveness of his vision
and the deepening of his voice. (Kirkus Reviews)
Marco Stanley Fogg is an orphan, a child of the sixties, a quester tirelessly seeking the key to his past, the answers to the ultimate riddle of his fate. As Marco journeys from the canyons of Manhattan to the deserts of Utah, he encounters a gallery of characters and a series of events as rich and surprising as any in modern fiction.
Beginning during the summer that men first walked on the moon, and moving backward and forward in time to span three generations, Moon Palace is propelled by coincidence and memory, and illuminated by marvelous flights of lyricism and wit. Here is the most entertaining and moving novel yet from an author well known for his breathtaking imagination.
General
Is the information for this product incomplete, wrong or inappropriate?
Let us know about it.
Does this product have an incorrect or missing image?
Send us a new image.
Is this product missing categories?
Add more categories.
Review This Product
No reviews yet - be the first to create one!
Welcome to Loot.co.za!
Sign in / Register |Wishlists & Gift Vouchers |Help | Advanced search
