klc

rare auster L - bizarre hybrid of (1) the typical auster protagonist, the steely yet neurotic drifter, and (2) pained attempts to explain dog psychology. this brand of anthropomorphism has been far improved by cartoons, it's unclear what this novel still offers

another late auster that leaves me cold. the characters are repetitions from before that don't seem to add new dimensions and so now it gets grating when they all speak with that same introspective austerian voice in a hermetically sealed plot. especially as auster tries to write about the gfc here and shows limited understanding of what it meant to anyone who isn't a baby boomer who loves baseball and doesn't use a phone

uneven between halves. you can tell auster is extremely intelligent - neuroticism excels in assailing the concrete but less the abstract

lesser auster, this one finally breaks the levee of verbosity, meandering without a clear course to follow

moon palace meets leviathan - rehash of old auster themes (fevered protagonist trying to recover fast disappearing stories, missing artist skipping town/s to new lives, pathways steered by chance not agency) with only one addition (cinephilia, but that doesn't hold up well in a novel)