Too long.. I changed my mind about reading this novel once I realised it would be at the expense of other novels.

This is certainly a book that demands a fair amount of reading stamina – and much concentration – although in many ways it is a straightforward narrative, the coming-of-age story of Archie Ferguson, born in 1947, as we follow him from infancy to adulthood. Only there isn’t just one Archie Ferguson, there are four, all of whom live parallel lives. These four versions of a life are not always easy to keep track of as they are very similar and I wasn’t always sure which one I was reading about. I found it difficult at times to distinguish one from another. Yet I found the novel absorbing and immersive and in a way I didn’t care that I occasionally confused one Archie with another. These plural lives, over nearly 900 pages, give the reader a panoramic portrait of one young man’s life in America over the often tumultuous post-war years plus a panoramic picture of American society in the wider context, with the historical background always in evidence, and the rich and detailed narrative drew me in so that I just went with the flow. Having now finished it I can’t in all honesty remember what each individual Archie did but somehow it doesn’t seem to matter. A bildungsroman par excellence and a wonderfully compelling tale. Not without its faults, admittedly – it sometimes meanders a bit too much and gets bogged down in some of the historical events described – but overall a remarkable and unforgettable novel.

Destruction, divorce and death; there is little that Paul Auster scruples to visit upon his characters. Not that this a doom laden 880 pages. Yep, 880 pages, 4 3 2 1 is a heavyweight novel in every sense.

We begin as Isaac Reznikoff arrives at Ellis Island from Minsk. He is advised to take an American name, like Rockefeller. When they come for him to give his name to the immigration authorities, his carefully prepared spiel deserts him and he blurts out “Ikh hob fargessen”, Yiddish for ‘I have forgotten’. This is misheard and he becomes Ichabod Ferguson. Fast forward to the birth of his grandson, Archibald Isaac Ferguson. Now the fun can begin.

On the surface 4 3 2 1 is all about what if, just like Sliding Doors but more literary. It’s that game that all but the most secure of us play at one point or another. How would my life have panned out if my parents were rich or if I went to a different university? During the course of this big what if session we are immersed in a crash course of mid century American politics and thrown into the mind of a sex obsessed teenage boy.

Delve a little deeper and 4 3 2 1 becomes all about writing. The germ of an idea that niggles. The drive and determination to sit down and write everyday until the story is on paper. Polishing prose until it glisters. Plucking up the courage to show the product of your deepest imagination to other eyes. Not only are you told the story of our hero but also of his stories. One magnificent one is all about a pair of shoes, they are Soul Mates!

You need time to read 4 3 2 1, sometimes the Kindle told me that the chapter would take 52 minutes to read. That is longer than I usually manage to grab with a book. Perservere, it is well worth worth it, although I confess that I did skim some of the treatise on American politics (I did that with battle bits in War and Peace too). Paul Auster gives a wonderful insight into the undeniable urge that great writers have to write and I learnt lots about the gender and anti war politics of sixties America too.

So apparently this Paul Auster guy is quite famous and there was much hype about this being his first book in seven years. I haven't read any of his previous stories so I didn't know what to expect from this book - but what a book! In every way, epic. I can't imagine sticking with a story this long (all 880 pages of it) and detailed if it wasn't as beautifully crafted as this one. I've mentioned in previous book reviews what a sucker I am for the 'multiple versions a life' narratives. I just love the idea of these parallel universe options for the same set of characters and this book is very brave in its attempt to present four possibilities. I ended up having to write notes on my phone so I could track what happens in each version but it wasn't that confusing really and the author absolutely nails the variation and engagement. Quite often through the month that it took me to tackle this book, I wondered where this was all headed but (without giving away any spoilers) I have to say I found the ending satisfying in a low-key way. This is a beautiful book, described by many as a love letter to New York, but I feel like it is a love letter to life and how much we are shaped by our circumstances and experiences. If you want a hearty book that you can really sink your teeth into and be carried away by, then this is undoubtedly the best book you could choose in 2017.

When I started reading this book, I was immediately hooked by the manner in which the Fergusen family acquired their surname. I remained engrossed throughout my reading of this novel, but must admit that I sometimes had some difficulty remembering and following each of Archie, the protagonist's, parallel lives. Eventually, I just had to accept that if I came across a conflicting fact, the story had veered onto another course, again. The story is well written, intriguing and easy to read, but a little confusing and very, very long. I wonder whether the author wrote each story and then alternated the events in the final publication, or whether he wrote them all simultaneously? It would have been quite a feat to keep track of everything. Thanks to Faber and Faber and NetGalley for the ARC.

This book explores similar themes to Kate Atkinson's "Life after Life ". What if events were different and how would that affect someone? What if different choices were made? How would that affect the "self" and who we are? This sort of narrative is often called the "Sliding Doors" sub genre after the eponymous film.

Archie's different lives are written about , taking in American culture on the way. In some lives Kennedy's assassination is a turning point in others it passes by. In different lives baseball, films and writing are important.

Then there are more personal events, the death or not of his father and the relationship with him. Sexual relationships with Amy, other girls or gay sex. The pivotal relationship with his mother stays more or less constant except her choice of career/ partner. Of course Auster uses Rose and Amy to reveal the changing roles of women in American society.

I wonder if the length of the book is "necessary"? Once we understand the basic premise of different selves/paths through life and American culture through these lives, is there much new to say? Is its wide ranging scope also a potential weakness? How curious can we be about this character and the supporting cast? Maybe a Sliding Doors film would be more successful?

The stand out parts for me were the grief Archie and Rose felt in the version when Archie's Dad dies and also Archie's grief over Artie.

I found it hard to sustain my interest in this novel to the end, skilful as the writing was.

This is an epic ambitious novel and for fans of Auster the themes will be familiar, especially those of identity. There are not only four versions of the main character/narrator but there are various alter-egos also. The novel has a relatively straightforward timeline as each of the four Archie Ferguson's move through their lives and covering key cultural, societal and political events of the time, primarily in the 1950's and 1960's. Sadly I felt that the share scale of the novel let's it down, as there was just too much un-necessary detail which may have benefitted from further editing.

I started off with an enthusiasm I could not hope to keep up through a book that was just too long. That isn't to say all stories can be told in a few words but this story certainly could have been less wordy.
I would still say read it but don't expect to finish it any time soon.

I’ve read quite a bit of Auster’s work over the years, mainly his novels but also some of his non-fiction output too. I’ve imbibed quite a bit of biographical detail in this time from books such as Hand to Mouth: A Chronicle of Early Failure and The Red Notebook: True Stories and consequently I can see that a good deal of the content herein is based on the author’s own passions and experiences. A quick list would throw up his love of novels, poetry, films and baseball, his college education at Columbia and his time spent in Paris where he lived in a top floor maids room. But there are other elements too, such as a real life incident he’s talked about a good deal in which, at the age of fourteen, a young boy next to him was struck by lightening and killed.

So is this book just a big biographical tome? No, its much, much more than that. The novel tells the story of four parallel lives of Archibald ‘Archie’ Ferguson, born of Russian-Jewish descent in New Jersey in 1947. Given the same start point for each of the four lives it follows that the paths diverge as a result of random events which lead each each Archie to follow a different route. All the Archies are interested in films, sport, politics and above all books – in fact they all aspire to become writers. In point of fact, there are many similarities with regard to the lives lived (i.e. some of the people they meet and a number of events that impact all of their lives) but the relationships between characters is different and Archie’s involvement in the common events and their impact on him deviate significantly. The result is we have four different stories, each using the same timeline, broadly the same geography and many of the same characters.

Some of the routes Archie takes are down to blind luck - good or bad - but at other times it’s subtler: often the path is influenced by the brilliantly observed behaviours of people who surround him. Each tale is told in alternating chapters, so we get to see four versions of a given stage of his life before repeating the process. If this sounds like there could be repetition, then that’s because there is – of some key events. But remember that we see these events through different eyes, each with an altered involvement in the given occurrence. At some points it does feel like the chosen structure slows progress to a crawl, but any reservations I have about this are more than offset by the pure enjoyment I got from the author’s prose. This man can certainly write!

If, like me, you think you’ve missed out on many of the literary works that you you feel - or have been told - you should have read then there is a veritable crib sheet of titles here. In fact, one of the Furguson’s has a list of one hundred books he must read drafted for him. I’m not sure I’ll get to many (if any) of these but curiosity may drive me to seek out at least one or two. The fact is that Auster’s love of the written word leaps off the page. This is a book for lovers of books.

It a huge book, at nearly nine hundred pages, and therefore it’s a significant enterprise for any reader to take on. However, it’s written in a straightforward style and as long as readers can keep track of the four storylines (I kept notes) then I feel there’s nothing off-putting here. Ok, there are some very long sentences, with quite a few words I’d never come across before, but I really did feel that the narrative flow was well controlled. The inventiveness and imagination demonstrated by Auster will come as no surprise to seasoned readers of his books and there are some brilliant thoughts and insights on all sorts of issues, literary works and on life in general. And above all, I became so invested in the lives of Ferguson that I became truly emotional when each tale had run its course. A good read? No, it more than that – a masterpiece as far as I’m concerned.

Very interesting read about the possible four lives of Archie Ferguson. Different towns, friends, passings etc. I was riveted wanting to find out how each life would turn out, even though this is a very long book! Definitely recommended reading!

A deep and thorough story of the Jewish Ferguson family in New York and New Jersey. A family history alongside American history.

What a wonderful and thought provoking book. It is proving nearly impossible for me to write a coherent review of a book this large (both in page count and in scope), so I am going to concentrate on a few things that I kept thinking about since finishing it.

This is Archie Fergusen's story, told in four alternating timelines. Auster uses this premise for a thoughtful meditation on what makes us us and how little changes lead to different paths. I adored the way Auster lets this play out and shows how different versions of people are possible, if key events turn out differently. While I think, Fergusen is the weak point when it comes to characters (he can be a bit insufferable at times), I absolutely loved his wonderful mother. No matter what time line, no matter what happens, she is unwavering in her love and devotion to her son. Some of the other supporting characters are brilliant as well; his father, while difficult is a great and fully fleshed out character, Amy Schneidermann is an enigma and female character that is allowed to be flawed and human, and Fergusen's grandfather was also wonderfully imagined. They are all allowed to make mistakes, to grow from those mistakes and to be complete people - even if they are not the focus of this grand work.

While the book is very long, it never felt indulgent in its wordiness - the story Auster wants to tell can only be told in this grand a scope, even the in-depth analysis of baseball games were necessary. This is a rare achievement in a genre where I often prefer tighter works to Dickensian ones.

It is really interesting to see what developments Auster sees as inevitable and which parts of Fergusen's life change depending on the time line. In all four versions, Fergusen is at the core, a writer. The genre he writes or the way he ends up as a writer vary, but nevertheless he is always a man of words. While this is fixed, the people he meets and the relationships he forges with them are varied and change immensely depending on how is life turns out. Given how close the biographical cornerstones are to Auster's own biography this can be seen a profound insight into what he considers most important. Which is why, at the core, this beautiful work of art is above everything else a wonderfully believable and moving love letter to the Arts (be it literature, music, theatre, poetry, photography or fine arts) and their power. This is for me the great achievement of this book and the reason why it kept me engaged while reading and thinking about it when I had to put the book away.

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I received an arc curtesy of NetGalley and Faber and Faber in exchange for an honest review. Thanks for that!

“What if… “ – this is the question Auster plays with in his latest and longest novel. One life, the one of Archibald Isaac Ferguson, born on March 3, 1947 in Newark, New Jersey, son of Rose and Stanley Ferguson, is confronted with four different variations, each triggered by only slightly different decisions or single events. Thus, four times, Archie’s life and chances in life develop in another way. One time, he loses his father as a young boy; one time, the family becomes rich; one time, Archie makes a wrong decision and has to pay with his life at a young age. It is always the same boy coming from the same family, provided with the same talents and liking for the same girl, but by coincidence, things change and his life takes another road.

Due to its structure, Paul Auster’s novel is quite challenging to read. It is not only the 900 pages which demand some endurance from the reader, but the plot requires a lot of attention and concentration while reading. In seven chapters, we always get four variations of Archie’s life. I sometimes had struggles remembering which Archie we were talking about, the character itself did not vary that much, but the circumstances in which he was growing up differed a lot. At times, I was tempted to read the development of only one Archie from begging to end and then continue with Archie2. Thus, from a literary point of view, this novel is great work, especially since you can see the parallels between the four stories and the development of Archie’s identity which, in its core, remains the same but changes slightly according to the events in his life. It is interesting to observe within oneself as the reader that one likes one or the other version of Archie better, I definitely preferred Archie1 with his political interest already in young years, although I also had a liking for the Archie who was fond of French films of the 1950s and 60s.

It did not really surprise me that time and again, Auster (or rather: the narrator) refers to the possibly of different outcomes, the possibly of having another life, the feeling of having several souls within one body. Once, Archie states:
One of the add things about being himself, Ferguson had discovered, was that there seemed to be several of him, that he wasn’t just one person but a collection of contradictory selves, and each time he was with a different person, he himself was different as well.
This self-reference or mise-en-abîme outline that there is not one story to be told, that we, in the end, do not know this is the original Auster had in mind, whose story he wanted to tell – and, transferred to real life, the is not the one way your life has to go and the one person you necessarily have to turn into.

Apart from the complex study of Archie’s character, the novel also whooshes through the American history, from the European dreamers arriving at the beginning the 20th century hoping for a better life in the new word, over the prospering 50s, presidents Kennedy, Nixon etc. and culminating in the Vietnam war and the fear of Archie and his friends of being selected by the national lottery. As in other novels by Auster, we also find is masterly capacity of telling the story. I am always impressed by his language, the perfect way of putting the action into words which makes him, in my opinion, one of the greatest authors of our time.

Unfinished. I'm sorry I left it unfinished, but the story was very slow paced and the enormous quantity of details (about minor daily events) made the reading mostly unbearable. If the book was aboot 200/300 pages I could have endured, but it is 800+ pages.

It's Auster, it's literary, the readers will enjoy it and the critics will love it. However, reading the same story four times in a row, with minute differences that absolutely make a point at the end does become tedious after a while. It's too long for it's own benefit...

I first acquired a taste for Paul Auster while I was at university and a good friend of mine, who has as big a crush on New York as I do, couldn't believe I hadn't read The New York Trilogy. Over the years, I've worked my way through most of his back catalogue and was excited to read about his newest novel, the 'Sliding-Doors-Squared' 4 3 2 1. If his other novels can be described as tapas or light meals, 4 3 2 1 is more of an epic banquet, spanning almost 900 pages of the life of Archie Ferguson — or, rather, the possible lives.

During the introductory chapters, Auster describes the arrival of Ferguson's grandfather in the United States in the early 20th century (explaining how the Russian Jew acquired the name Ferguson) and explains how Ferguson's parents met. The novel then diverges, with each chapter being split into four sections, each offering up a vignette of one possible incarnation of the life of Ferguson. There are often similarities between the different stories — some characters appear in multiple versions, but play different roles, suggesting that they are 'destined' to be part of his life no matter what twists and turns fate may have in mind. These similarities make it quite hard to differentiate among the different Fergusons, particularly during the early chapters, although I got into the swing of things eventually.

I was also expecting that the stories would span many decades of Ferguson's life, offering a rich portrait of middle-class American life in the latter half of the 20th century, but instead they focus on his childhood, adolescence and young adulthood, covering the 1940s through to the 1960s. And this is, I believe part of the problem with 4 3 2 1, which I admired but which I found slow-going at times. 866 pages is a long time to devote to one portion of a person's life — and a fairly ordinary person too — especially when the overlaps and recurring themes between the different strands felt a little repetitive at times. There were definitely sub-chapters that lost my interest — not many of them, for sure, and not always in the same strand — and led me to read more quickly, pushing on to the next version which I found more engaging.

This isn't to say that I didn't enjoy 4 3 2 1 — Auster is a wonderful writer with a great eye for character and you cannot fault his latest work for ambition, imagination or historical detail — but I think I might have enjoyed it more had it been half the length and with half the strands (2 1 isn't quite such a catchy title, for sure). Novels and films depicting two possible versions of a person's life are common, though, whereas four is a much more impressive achievement; this hubris, ultimately, is Auster's Achilles heel here. I enjoyed spending time in the company of some of the characters in some of the strands, but others felt overwritten. I also suspect that I will get a lot more out of 4 3 2 1 with a second read, so I am certainly going to return to it at a later date; I will probably revisit some of his earlier works first though.

Un romanzo di formazione, si delinea quattro vite parallele di Archibald Isaac Ferguson, nato di origine russo-ebraica nel New Jersey nel 1947

A quel punto, 4321 ha da tempo risolto in una gran parte sorprendente racconto coming-of-age del desiderio sessuale e l'ambizione letteraria.
Mentre c'è una tinta everyman di Ferguson, Auster ci tiene a mostrare come lui è speciale, qualunque sia l'incarnazione.



Dopo anni di attesa, è in uscita il nuovo romanzo di Paul Auster, 4321, che si presenta come qualcosa di significativo fin dalla mole, di quasi 900 pagine.

Il libro racconta “semplicemente” la storia della vita di Archie Ferguson, nato il 3 marzo 1947.
Auster chiama sempre il suo personaggio con il suo cognome, Ferguson – cosa che in qualche modo sembra quasi uno sberleffo, dato che, come ci è stato detto nelle pagine di apertura, il nome è un incidente causato da un burocrate impaziente, che l’assegnato a un nonno appena sbarcato a Ellis Island.

Ferguson non ha alcun potere particolarmente rilevante o tratti del carattere stupefacenti. In un certo senso, è una persona qualunque, benché la sua vita sia piena, abbia vaghe ambizioni di diventare uno scrittore, faccia molto sesso e ami viaggiare.
La trama, pur snodandosi come un romanzo di formazione, non narra grandi accadimenti, bensì accumula piccoli incidenti e avvenimenti, anche ordinari – i particolari traboccano e sono catalogati in modo esaustivo, ma anche arrivano ad annoiare quando diventano del tutto pedissequi e addirittura ripetitivi.

In realtà, non viene raccontata “la” vita di Ferguson, ma quattro possibili vite parallele del nostro protagonista, ciascuna con proprie peculiarità, ma anche con basi comuni – il tutto innestato su uno scorcio di storia americana che si verifica intorno alla vita dei personaggi.

4 3 2 1 a volte sembra un classico romanzo ottocentesco, ma il trucco del destino di Ferguson, il cui destino muta fino ad avere quattro storie in una, è un trucco che rende il libro assolutamente contemporaneo.

Anche la filosofia di base della storia è pienamente moderna: Auster sembra più volte suggerire come il caso e piccoli eventi in apparenza significanti giochino un ruolo fondamentale nello svolgersi del destino individuale, ma anche come nella vita apparentemente consueta di un Ferguson qualunque si può trovare qualcosa di eccezionale e materiale per raccontare una storia.

Questi presupposti rendono di sicuro il libro valido e significativo, ricco di spunti per una lettura multilivello.
Purtroppo, il troppo materiale, talora ribadito, non aiutano il lettore ad affezionarsi alla storia, alla lunga si percepisce un po’ di stanchezza.
La struttura peculiare e questo ammassarsi di dettagli crea anche in alcune parti sconforto per non riuscire immediatamente a capire a che punto ci si trova e chi o cosa si stia seguendo – sentimento alquanto frustrante, soprattutto in un libro di tale mole.

Queste caratteristiche, per quanto volute e con un loro senso narrativo, non sono riuscite a farmi godere appieno il romanzo, benché anche la vita di Ferguson non sempre mi abbia particolarmente colpito o coinvolto.

Super huge book that could have been a little bit shorter IMHO but still it was a good read. Different stories same characters, a sort of "Sliding doors" on written pages and another clear example of what means being a writer.

Libro veramente gigante che, secondo me, sarebbe potuto essere anche più breve, ma comunque ne é valsa la pena. Storie differenti stessi protagonisti, una specie di "Sliding doors" cartaceo, ma soprattutto un chiaro esempio di cosa significhi essere uno scrittore.

THANKS TO NETGALLEY FOR THE PREVIEW!

A grand and epic novel - long but rewarding. I loved seeing Ferguson's story play out differently in separate timelines. I didn't think it was espeically similar to Auster's other books, and would instead recommend to readers of Jonathan Safran Foer, Michael Chabon and Garth Risk Hallberg. I think it will bring the author to a whole new audience.