My knowledge of American literature is pretty woeful. I haven't even read the supposed classic 'Catcher In The Rye'. My Polish penpal studied American literature at university so I asked her to recommend some good American authors and she put me onto Paul Auster. The New York Trilogy is his fictional debut, three novels based in The Big Apple. They are not conventional crime fiction. A more accurate description would be philosophical queries within a crime fiction or mystery setting. The three stories have an existential and nihilistic thread running through them, which is probably why Auster chose New York as his setting. Auster's New York is a large, sprawling, disconnected city where nothing really makes any sense. Despite this bleakness the trilogy is a compelling and worthwhile read. Auster wrestles with themes like individual identity, and personal meaning and purpose in life (or lack of). The intriguing nature of the three plots is skillfully interwoven with these issues and although the trilogy is never a page turner in the popular understanding of the word the mystery surrounding the bizarre situations of the protaganists is very interesting and the reader is always driven by a desire to understand the characters and their actions. This is a bold and extremely accomplished debut by a writer of undoubted talent. 8/10
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