Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #26826 in Books
• Published on: 2005-02-03
• Binding: Paperback
• 208 pages

Synopsis
In this novel Paul Auster offers a haunting picture of a devastated world - a futuristic world - but one which may be seen to shadow our own. Auster's other work includes "The New York Trilogy" and "Hand to Mouth", and the screenplays "Smoke" and "Blue in the Face".

Customer Reviews

Horror tale with a twist
Some of the reviewers here describe In the Country of Last Things as a realistic work. I disagree. This book is an allegory and aims at nothing else. But such is the force of Auster's writing that the reader is prepared to suspend disbelief.

It is a unique characteristic of the industrial world that none of us has a complete vision of how it works, and it is easy to imagine that what we don't understand, let alone control, could suddenly cease to function; Auster plays on this basic fear to weave a morbid, often horrific tale.

The heroine, in search of her brother, finds herself trapped in a city that we recognise as having once been 20th century American, but has now become a crucible of destitution, savagery, and violent struggle for survival. This grim novella describes a society which has ceased creating or even producing, and is thus reduced to consuming what is left... until that runs out. It holds a mirror to our own compulsory consumption, waste and greed, and it forces us to consider the actual value of modern material comfort. It also lets Auster exploit on a grander scale his pet themes of decay and degradation, of homelessness and its impact on identity.

Post-modern decay apparently isn't pretty. It is a place of book burners and ghouls, of cannibals and suicidal fanatics, of pathetic attachment to the most miserable objects, and of general disregard for human life and dignity, even if hope and love aren't entirely missing. But it makes for a fascinating read, one that it is difficult to complete in anything but a single, mesmerising sitting.

A BOOK FOR ONE NIGHT
From the very first sentence of the book I could not stop reading. I finished the book that very night, staying awake until 04.00. The surreal world drags you in and doesn't let go. My favourite book by Auster.

nostalgia
I read this book about 15 years ago and still have the haunting image of Auster's 'runners' playing in my mind. As a dystopian, spoilt future this is precise and believable. Close to the end of the Book of Illusions I am ready to re-read the country of last things. If you enjoy this try Margaret Atwood's Oryx and Crake for a double bill of near future pleasure!