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.

Posted on goodreads on January 28, 2017

This is a wonderful and intelligent in depth look at the 4 different lives of the jewish Ferguson born in March 1947 to Stanley and Rose. Set in New York and New Jersey, it is a novel full of details, it begins with giving us the disparate backgrounds and families of store owner Stanley and photographer Rose. It charts the relationship between Stanley and Rose and their heartbreaking attempts to have a child. Once Ferguson is born, we are given a non linear but simultaneous life trajectory structured in distinct episodes for each Ferguson. 

It made me laugh when the first young Ferguson has every intention of marrying his mother! What Auster does is bring home how each different decision and event changes the life of Ferguson through an intense and tumultuous period of American social and political history of the 1960s up until the early 1970s. So we get the awareness of the fate of the Rosenberg's, the civil rights movement, the Vietnam War, and the protests in which Ferguson takes part. 

I found it difficult to remember which Ferguson is which at times, partly my fault but partly because whilst Ferguson has different lives, he is essentially the same person. He is a writer in every version of his life, his politics are progressive, and Amy is the girl he gets involved with albeit with differing results. He dwells on the nature of money and whether it should necessarily dictate that the family should therefore move into a bigger house just because they could. Auster captures the raw energy, vitality and intensity with which the young live their lives and the central role of and obsession with sex. I loved the cultural references such as the books and movies that marked the period. Different events in the family mark each Ferguson, such as the death of his father in a arson attack on the store. One Ferguson experiences an early death as a result of a lightning storm.

This is a very long and ambitious novel which might not be to everyone's taste and there are some extremely long sentences in it. I loved it, although it is not perfect and there are parts which tended to ramble a little too much. The prose is beautiful and I found the narrative a gripping read most of the time. Near the end, Auster informs us why the novel was structured as it is. Elements of the novel have been informed by the autobiographical details of the author's life. Characters from his previous novels make an appearance in this book. Auster is connecting his life's work and life brilliantly in this novel. This is essentially the story of the life and times of Paul Auster. A highly recommended read. Many thanks to Faber and Faber for an ARC.