4 3 2 1: A Novel

Full disclosure, I am only two-thirds of the way through this book. I'm not that familiar with Auster's work but enjoyed the screen-play "Smoke," and later the film with Harvey Keitel. I was attracted to the premise of this book - as others have said, who doesn't wonder what their life would have been like if one had taken a different turn at any point in life - all the "what ifs." However, the major twists and turns of the protagonist, Ferguson's, alternative lives were not as a result of his choices or agency, but of events beyond his control - events that happened to his parents, and choices they made - that sent Ferguson's life in different directions. While Auster's exploration may be about changes that can alter a life in relatively minor ways or, at least, ways that don't alter the protagonist's personality, interests, or prospects very much, that is my main issue with the book. The directions were just not that different so each story is only a small variation on the next, to wit: as a rich kid, he goes to Columbia University (where Auster also went); as a relatively poor kid you might think he'll end up perhaps at Brooklyn College where he'd be thrown into another New York, a rougher, less well-heeled and more diverse one - in those days, CUNY colleges were populated by the children of Irish, Polish, and Italian Immigrants, and working class Jews. But no, he becomes the recipient of a newly-minted scholarship that sends him to another bastion of upper class privilege: Princeton!!! In a third life, a less well-behaved Ferguson opts to forego university go to Paris for a period. Good - it's the 60s, so travel, back-packing, grape-picking, emergent hippies or, at least, young radicals hatching plots in cafes, you might think; now he surely has to find his way and survive in a foreign country, discover a totally different milieu and spiral off in a whole other direction? But no, he gets a handy gaff free of charge, no worries about paying for rent or food, and the financial freedom to spend his days working on a memoir (Auster's own first success was a memoir). Seemingly he is also going to teach kids English to pay lip-service to at least supplement his allowance from Mom and Step-dad, but so far (to where I am in the book), and months into his Parisian sojourn, he has not needed to do that. His host in Paris is a sophisticated friend of his step-father's, a woman of similar age to his mother, yet he doesn't have any interest in exploring Paris on his own terms or discovering his own peer group. Also, although I don't know what visas were required in the mid to late 1960s, this isn't even an issue for Ferguson - he seems to have a blank visa as well as a blank check. Each of the alternative Ferguson's is deeply interested in books and writing in one form or another and, in each life, there is someone who mentors him - a university professor aunt Mildred in every life, and an intellectual step-father in a third, who shower him in books and reading lists. But what if no such person had been present in at least one life? That is not explored. This boy cannot escape being charmed no matter what way life turns. And there is such an inordinately large amount of words given to his literary education that I felt lectured to myself; in one story, the boy's first effort in fiction is told in excruciating detail where a one-paragraph outline would have sufficed, all adding to lengthening an already overly long book. I think it does an author a great disservice to read their works of fiction as biography but, on reading Auster's bio on his Wikipedia page, it seems clear that Ferguson's lives are closely culled from Auster's own, from a childhood in the same New Jersey superb as one story to Columbia University to a sojourn in Paris as a young man - by sending one of his alter-egos to Princeton, another Ivy League is, IMO, hardly stretching the author's imagination. Frankly, the person who really lives radically different lives is the character of the mother Rose and, even more so, Aunt Mildred - she really has agency in a way that Ferguson doesn't and, BTW, it isn't clear why since none of the things that send Rose off in different directions happen to Mildred. I do like that his love interest is the same girl in each story implying that, regardless of the directions life might send you, lovers will find themselves in each other's orbit. Well, one other reviewer mentioned an ending that pulls it all together so, although I had decided to move on to something else, perhaps I'll go on reading and see if the book redeems itself and, in that case, I'll come back and amend this review and the star rating. Or maybe I'll just skip to the last couple of chapters...

4, 3, 2 and 1. These are the four possible stories of Archie Ferguson, a Jewish boy born in New Jersey in 1947, the only child of Rose, a photographer, and Stanley, an electrical appliance retailer. This is not a quirk-of-fate, had-this-happened-it-would-have-worked-out-one-way, had-that-happened-it-would-have-worked-out-another-way kind of narrative. The essence of Ferguson remains a constant, the paths of his coming-of-age altering according to changed family circumstances, his interior life affected by key events in the US in the mid-1960s. Ferguson’s historical, social and cultural frames of reference will resonate with many baby boomers, though the arcane complexities of baseball and basketball may fly over the heads of most British readers. No matter, this is an immersive read for most of its 880 pages and the writing is superb.

One of the most impressive things here is that Paul Auster’s mile-long sentences are so readable; Auster is the master of sentence construction and never uses a 10-dollar word when a perfectly ordinary one will do just fine. He is sparing with dialogue and raises explication to an art form. Each chapter of the ongoing threads of Ferguson’s four incarnations are almost like fully-formed novellas in their own right. It’s hard to tear oneself away from them and one must be prepared to set aside at least an hour for each one. In any event, this book is best read, I think, in large chunks. And talking of large chunks, here’s one of many passages that chimed:

“They all watched television for the entire weekend, Ferguson and his stepfather sitting together at one end of the long sofa in the living room and Amy and her stepmother curled up together at the other end, Rose with her arms around Amy and Amy with her head resting on Rose’s shoulder, and Noah had the wit to take out his camera and film them, all four of them for the better part of two days, moving back and forth between their faces and the black-and-white images on the television screen, the face of Walter Cronkite, Johnson and Jackie Kennedy on the plane as the vice president was sworn in as the new president, Jack Ruby shooting Oswald in a corridor of the Dallas police station, the riderless horse and John-John’s salute on the day of the burial procession, all those public events alternating with the four people on the sofa, grim-faced Dan Schneiderman, his blank, burned-out stepson, and the two wet-eyed women watching those events on the screen, all in silence, of course, since the camera couldn’t record sound, a mass of footage that must have come to ten or twelve hours, an intolerable length that no one could have sat through from start to finish, but then Noah took the rolls of film back to New York, found a professional editor to help him, and cut those hours down to twenty-seven minutes, and the result was stupendous, Ferguson said, a national catastrophe written across the faces of those four people and the television set in front of them, a real film by a sixteen-year-old boy that was more than just a historical document but a work of art as well, or, as Ferguson expressed it, using the word he always used when describing something he loved, a masterpiece.”

A long quote. But then, it’s a long book. Despite its length and the ease with which one can immerse oneself in Ferguson’s four-fold stories, it has to be said that Archie Ferguson is hardly the most scintillating of characters; phenomenally clever, yes, intellectually impressive, certainly, but lacking the wit, warmth and verve to be truly appealing. And even after 800-plus pages of spending time in his company (company that I imagine I'm going to miss, incidentally), I could never quite picture him in my mind’s eye. Then finally, an image of Ferguson came to me: why, he must look just like a young Paul Auster.

My thanks to Faber & Faber for the ARC via NetGalley.

One of the best books I’ve read. Actually, I listened to the author reading it. Having grown up in Germany and missing the 50s and 60s in the US, this was a very educational book for me. I’ve learned so much more about history through this book that I asked myself a few times why I didn’t know more about particular events over there in Germany. I’ve also learned a lot more about what it’s like to grow up as a man. The way Auster describes the path of Ferguson from a boy to a man alone is worth reading the book. I’ve learned more about literature and want to read some of the classics he has talked about. I know the book is long, but I never got bored. It was like I was right there with Ferguson (all Fergusons) throughout the book. What a treat. I’m ordering the paperback so I can read it again. I highly recommend this to the younger generation who were born after the 70s. Another thing that struck me while listening to the book is how similar politics and race relations were to how they are now. Gives me hope that we will make it through our current political environment.

This is a book to be savored - to be read with care over time. At 866 pages of detailed passages, it demands a commitment that many current, popular books do not require. At times the writing feels inordinately slow, but then the rich, evocative language would capture my imagination and interest to keep me engaged.

It all starts with an endearing story of Isaac Reznikoff, a Jewish immigrant from Minsk who is misunderstood when asked his name at Ellis Island and is assigned the improbable name of Ichabod Ferguson. It is just such twists of circumstances and choices that leads the author to explore four parallel lives of the protagonist, Archibald Isaac Ferguson, the grandson of the above-mentioned immigrant. These four storylines coupled with the author's creative vision offer a depth of character development rarely experienced. The format is highly unusual and a bit confusing until you get into the rhythm of the narrative, which has very little accompanying dialogue. The novel unfolds in sets of four distinct plotlines from Ferguson's birth on March 3,1947, through his childhood, adolescence and young adulthood up to 1971.

With this format we meet four unique, yet essentially the same, Fergusons. Each one has his own path influenced by his relationships, life choices and relevant historical events. While the book is organized by reading the same time period for each of the four lives (1.1, 1.2, 1.3, 1.4) I think it would be interesting to re-read the book focusing on each life as a whole (1.1, 2.1, 3.1 etc.).

I have not read any of the author's other works, so I did not know what to expect with his writing style. I enjoyed the book, but be sure you have the time to devote to this intricate and lengthy novel.

Paul Auster explores in great detail the effects a change early on can make in a life. The subject is Archie Ferguson and the change is the burning down of his father’s appliance/furniture store. As Archie himself muses fifty or so pages in, “Such an interesting thought, Ferguson said to himself: to imagine how things could be different for him even though he was the same. The same boy in a different house with a different tree. The same boy with different parents. The same boy with the same parents who didn't do the same things they did now.” The last line is the theme of the novel, a “what if” game played on what is at once a small and large field, these being one man’s life through some turbulent times, the 50s, 60s, and 70s. It’s an interesting thought for the very reason it is unoriginal: nearly everybody wonders what if at some point. Few, however, flesh things out in the extravagant detail you’ll find in 4 3 2 1: A Novel.

Auster groups Archie’s four possible lives into seven chapters, dividing each chapter into four parts, Archie’s four lives. This can make for some reading challenges. As you might imagine, once you’ve read through a full chapter you have to pick up the thread of Archie’s first life again. Auster thankfully puts in small markers at the start of each to help you orient yourself. Just a guess here, but he’s also anticipated that some readers after the first chapter will decide to simplify things on their own by reading each life straight through. Not a bad strategy for keeping everything straight as Auster cobbles on a coda at the very end which sorts out the real and imagined. The only proviso here: you’ll want to read them in order, that is life one first, etc.

Prepare yourself for lives in great detail. Few of us probably are as introspective as the four Archies, even as a small child, since he is quite a precocious fellow. Archie delves deeply and in detail into home life, all school levels, sports, current events (assassinations, wars, elections, poverty, white flight, etc.), and particularly love and relationships, his own, his parents’, grandparents’, and friends’. No wonder the novel clocks in at 866 pages.

However, because Auster writes deftly, the whole thing moves along at a fairly rapid pace. So, don’t be put off by the massive paragraphs and the long winding sentences. They may appear intimidating, but you’ll find yourself gliding along without much trouble.

Will you like the novel and will you be willing to spend a considerable amount of time with it? You will if the idea of “what if” intrigues you. You will probably pause from time to time to consider your own multiverses. You certainly will if the time periods interest you. Auster does a remarkable job of hitting all the high and low points, a memory jogger for older readers and an introduction to interesting times for younger readers. And, finally, if you click with the fellow who will be with you every minute of the trip, Archie.

I’m still working out this book. It took me an insanely long time to get through (almost three months!) And while I enjoyed it, I’m still not sure whether or not I liked it.

The book centers around Archibald (Archie) Isaac Ferguson. Well, technically four different Archie Fergusons. While each Archie is genetically identical, each takes a slightly different path in life, and as he grows from boy to teenager to young man, those paths diverge (and yet, still converge) all the more. Archie is born in 1947, enjoys a sometimes more, sometimes less (depending on the Archie) bucolic childhood in the fifties, and comes of age during the tumultuous sixties. The stories follow each Archie as he grows, one chapter for each period of each Archie’s life. Throughout the story, we see how each Archie is separate and distinct, yet at the same time, similarities and sameness abound.

As I said before, I’m still not sure whether I like the book or not. The writing is phenomenal. Archie (in all his iterations) is brought to life as a fully-realized human being. The boy seems to live and breathe within the pages. So too, is the setting he finds himself in. You can almost feel yourself immersed in the 1960s as Archie grows older, taste the tang of revolution and change in the air, the frustration of the United States’ useless war in Vietnam, and the longing of the younger generation to enact broad social reform. This book is real, and Auster is certainly a master of his craft.

So what the hell is my problem? Honestly, it may be more of a formatting and grammatical issue than anything else. This book was a slog. At 800+ pages, it’s physically imposing. But more than that: the chapters are generally forty to fifty pages long, sentences run on for the length of a (very long) paragraph. And while you find yourself immersed in the story, at the same time, you just want it to end; for the sentence to finish, for the chapter to be over.I really had to push myself to finish the book, and took to reading one chapter at a time, in between books. While I’m fully aware that all this is likely just my ADD throwing itself at the walls, be warned: this book is great, but this book is a commitment (which I may or may not mean in the sense of being incarcerated).

So in sum, this is a good book, a very good book, and one written by a very talented author. But I have to say that the more casual reader may want to pass this one by. But if you’re looking for a literary challenge, this is the book for you.

A copy of this book was provided by the publisher via Goodreads in exchange for an honest review.

I listened to the book on audio books over several weeks. There were a few gaps of days between listening sessions. I didn't realize there are only 4 Fergusons. I thought there were many more, until I heard the author-interview at the end of the book. I thought Auster was playing with the concept of an infinite number of universes. He was, sort of, but in a more limited way than I had thought. I was a little let down with the book on a conceptual level to discover his framework was merely 4 parallel universes. Still, it is very clever.

I feared I might find the structure confusing or irritating. I didn't. Each story, not just the totality of each of the 4 lives, but each epoch from each of the 4 lives was engaging. However, I did get irritated with his lists of subjects taken in college, the lists of books read, the lists of movies seen -- too many lists. Auster is unnecessarily pretentious in showing off how well educated and culturally sophisticated he is through his character. The book would have been more enjoyable and the character more interesting if the lists were ditched and Auster followed the rule of "show, don't tell".

He also pushed too hard on the stereotypes of white rural-men as racist and brutish, while all people of color are interesting, except when in a rioting mob. While Archie was able to discern when Leftist radicals had departed from a position of reason and compassion and entered a state of nihilistic violent-anarchism, there is no sympathy for reasonable/compassionate conservatism. Of course, there is no artistic requirement to be balanced in the politics of fictional characters. But, one of Auster's stated purposes was to provide a history of the late 60's. His history is strongly biased to the left and is not objective or balanced. Still, he is a marvelous story-teller.
Monsters of the Midway 1969: Sex, Drugs, Rock 'n' Roll, Viet Nam, Civil Rights, and Football

I cannot give Paul Auster’s 4 3 2 1 more than three stars, even though there are many clearly four-star or five star passages, as when adolescent Archie Ferguson gets his driver’s license and first car. Too much of the time, the writing is terribly padded, and the book’s length is pretty hard to justify. You frequently suspect that Auster is being paid by the word and out to break the bank. Were he to mention cereal, you’d brace yourself for an endless catalog —Rice Krispies, Raisin Bran, oatmeal, etc., the whole aisle in the supermarket, probably with commentary on each cereal. This could go on for pages.

Still, every time I wanted to throw the book across the room, something, such as Ferguson’s first encounter with classical music, would pull me back in, so that I stayed with Auster through all 866 pages, able to savor and admire a lot but also having to endure and forgive a lot, such as Auster’s ubiquitous use of italics, which quickly becomes a tic.

In short, this book requires a very patient reader. I should also point out that you’re probably going to have trouble with this book if you’re unwilling to allow the concept of fictiveness to be carried to the extreme. Auster’s four wildly conflicting concurrent narratives are not for the conventional reader, and following all the threads can sometimes require at least aspirin.

I have no way of knowing the extent to which this book might be autobiographical. if the extent is considerable, a damning charge of solipsism would not be out of order. At any rate, much of the time Archie Ferguson is hard to take.

When asked why he preferred the city to the suburbs, Ferguson once answered with this: “density, immensity, complexity.” This could stand as an Auster signature. You have to admire his attempt to achieve that combination of qualities in this novel, but with reservations about the fog that frequently develops.

For this reader, a highlight of the book is Ferguson’s admissions interview with a Princeton professor (pages 494-496.)

One critic has written of having been compelled to the end, only to close the book feeling conned. Not an unreasonable reaction.

I listened to this book on audio while my book club pals read it, and there's definitely a difference. Where it's fairly easy to discern the changes in timeline in text, it's nearly impossible on audio, which significantly extends the natural confusion about the format of the multiple timelines/realities.

I liked the idea of this book but think it's been rendered much more effectively elsewhere. Here, the x.1 chapters are the first Archie, the x.2 chapters the second Archie, who experiences a slightly different life based on the outcome of certain events, and so forth -- which took me nearly 12 audio hours to figure out. If there had been more difference in each reality/timeline, I think the book would have been more interesting and the timelines easier to remember and keep sorted. As it was, all of us had to take notes to help us get through the book -- not usually easy to do while listening to an audio version and not effective overall for the plot of any book.

I also enjoyed the detailed context of the 60s and 70s and the hallmark events of those decades in the story, plus the positive attitude of the main character and narrator, but found myself rolling my eyes at the end of the book as the narrator explains the story and timelines, which would have been oh-so-helpful at the beginning -- but, again, is not a good sign that it's even there at all and so desperately needed.

At the end, it was clear to me where hundreds of pages and several hours of audio could have been edited out to better support such an ambitious format, but I'm still scratching my head about how it could be less confusing and a more positive, interesting experience.

I wish I could give it 2.5 Stars, but I'll round up since I'm an Auster fan. I've read every book of his save for the poetry. His early work remains his best, from the NY Trilogy to Leviathan (minus In the Country of Last Things). I keep reading Auster's books because I hope he will recapture the magic that was in those novels. Since Leviathan, all of his novels have been a repackaging of the old themes, and with less effect. With the long wait between Sunset Park and 4 3 2 1, coupled with the length of the latter, I had hoped he would have found a new tune for my imagination to dance to. Don't get me wrong, this is a better book than most since Leviathan, but Auster just can't shake what he knows. All the same themes are here: Chance, despair, protestations, baseball, getting lump sums of money and then plotting out how long it will last, New York, Paris, and, sadly, characters who are writers. There's nothing worse than reading a writer write about fictional writers. It's as if Auster is so detached from the rest of life that he cannot write a believable character who isn't a writer or a professor; any other type of profession is but a thin shell.

The structure of 4 3 2 1 is good, and the youth of all four versions of Archie Ferguson are the most interesting. However, the concept is stolen from Jorge Luis Borges brilliant story "The Garden of Forking Paths". Borges doesn't waste time writing out all the possibilities of a life, or lives, though; here, Auster writes four of them for the one character. Without spoiling too much, once the novel reaches the '60s, the same protests and tumult that characters such as Marco Fogg and David Zimmer and Quinn dealt with are again rehashed. It's clear where Auster stands politically, and that's fine; I'm not arguing against his politics. However, I think Auster would have shown so much more ambition and skill as a writer if he chose to write one of the versions of Archie Ferguson as a young man who was either drafted for Vietnam and served reluctantly or, shudder to think, volunteered and was for it, and then saw the horrors of it and came home, etc., instead of the same-old, trite left-wing anti-war conviction. More to the point, his characters are just witnesses to events, mere stand-ins for the author's own view; they would be far better served as characters--and we would be better served as devoted readers--if they lived it.

This was, for me, what I had hoped to be the mature capstone of a favorite author's oeuvre. I do enjoy being in his world; but there's so much more he can do. I await his next effort.

It's always refreshing reading literature, not fiction. The author is brilliant and "the prose flows", though he does love to "name drop" famous authors and philosophers. The theme of the book is universal - how would your life be different if you made a different choice, took another turn, grew up in a broken home or a nuclear family? The execution is unique - each of four strands of the main character's life gets a different set of variables shaping his past, present, and future. Each timeframe in his life gets its own chapter (1-7), and the sequence of chapters follows each strand for a single timeframe (1.1,1.2,1.3,1.4). Once you get the rhythm down it makes more sense.

That said, it's not often that I read a book 866 pages long (...not since the summer I read all of the Game of Thrones books, in fact.) I have never run a marathon, but I imagine that reading this book is a lot like running one. At some point, about halfway through, you're at the point of no return and you have to press on or die trying. I had to read it in small chunks and renew it twice at the library in order to ensure that I'd finish.

Have read so much about this author ever since learning we lived in the same hood (Park Slope). Tried and abandoned one of his earlier works (as too Grand Olde Gotham-y than I was in the mood for) and picked this up to give him another chance. First thing that comes to mind is: what wonderfully winding sentences. Second thing: does he not have an editor courageous enough to reign it all in? If it's to be read as Joycean stream of consciousness, well and good, but, if not, if it's meant to be tightly built narrative, then a lot of redundant sentiments can be done away with, even with Archie-as-a-child's POV. The narrative needs tightening so blatantly that you could almost take a red pen to it yourself. But, I'll stick with it, b/c I'm already invested in little Archie, and I loved Life After Life, the structure of which this mimics, I think.

Through 4 variants of Archie Ferguson’s life story, Paul Auster shows the huge power and impact of contingency, (bi)sexuality, extended family lives, and political turmoil and upheaval on the development of young life in 1960s USA society. Ferguson’s intensive intellectual, artistic and love life is fashioned through this maelstrom. Extreme social conflict rages around racism and the Vietnam war. Auster blends keen observation, interpretation and imagination throughout this long read. He recounts Ferguson’s eclectic sex life in graphic detail as a powerful drive in personal experience and development, without this becoming either gratuitous or salacious. Ferguson’s journalist and author career may well be an autobiographical reflection. In Ferguson’s hilarious Hank and Frank shoe story, Auster appears to mock the imposed drive for meaning in literature, but perhaps the story really does address themes of slavery and Holocaust? Maybe Auster is warning us from trying to force meaning from his 4 3 2 1 story?

4.5* Part of my #manbooker50 challenge. Starting with the shortlist of 2017.
Never in my lifetime would I pick up this book - 1070 dense pages, few chapters, paragraphs sometimes 3 pages long: content not attention grabbing but I’m so pleased to have read it. Auster’s prose is masterful. His tone a perfect combination of dry and witty juxtaposing some of the tragic scenes with a perfect air of nonchalance. Sentences so vivid they practically lift off the page. The research that must have gone into these 4 stories is mind blowing. The book takes you deep into an incredibly tumultuous political period of American history, each Ferguson impacted and interpreting the situation a little differently. Each story is complex but subtle signposts from the author help to keep you on track. 4.5* as there were a few, I felt, unnecessary, paragraphs and pages and I was a little underwhelmed by the ending and the unnecessary recap at the end of the book. Auster will definitely be featured on my to read list.

4: This book needed some serious editing. The author specializes in long run-on sentences and tangents unrelated to the main story. On multiple occasions the book consists of recounting the plot of another book (or, in one instance, printing the other book within the story). This was wholly unnecessary to the novel and contributes to an overlong 800+ pages.
3: Not a great book on a e-reader. You'll want to flip back and forth to try to follow the various stories and doing so on an e-reader is much more difficult than in a paper copy.
2: This is not a Sliding Doors type story where a single life is followed through several decision points that branch into different stories. If you're looking for that, find another book.
1: Despite all of the above, I took a break from reading the book about halfway through and read something else, but kept thinking about this book and came back to it. It is a clever concept, a tricky read, and an interesting story (or 4 stories).

If you are preparing to read this book on an electronic device, you most likely won't be thinking about its length. It is in fact a very long book.

You will have discovered long before the author explains it to you that he has explored several varied versions of the protagonist' s life, personality, sexuality and politics. He is in all versions a writer and always a sexual personality, more often than not successful in his amorous pursuits.

The author has done an exceptional job of researching and weaving into his plot(s) the complex social history of the 1960s in New York.

It is an epic novel, worth reading and contemplating if one has the time and inclination.

Ednichols

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.

My uncle broke his leg a few weeks before his ship was due to depart England for the United States. My father was then told by his brothers that he would nowbe the one chosen to emigrate to America. Had that chance accident not occurred, I might not have been born, let alone become the person who I am today. Paul Auster explores this notion of chance in his novel titled, 4 3 2 1. Given the brevity of his earlier novels, which I enjoyed, I was willing to commit the time to this book which is almost nine hundred pages long. I was richly rewarded by a clever structure and finely written prose. Auster presents protagonist Archie Ferguson in four variations. Pivots, luck, accidents led Ferguson in one direction or another. Auster spends long enough with each Ferguson so readers can see the similarities and differences. I enjoyed each Ferguson variation and expect that this novel will be enjoyed most by patient readers who enjoy finely written prose.

Rating: Five-star (I love it)

4 3 2 1 looks like the kind of book that people would read because it makes them look smart. Or at least it would have made them look smart back in the day when people carried books to prove something about their intricate and capable brain. Now someone might download it in eBook format, but this is not a book that would find itself and its many words and ideas comfortable performing on so small a stage. Or should I say pontificating? Because even though Paul Auster’s latest effort is not a bid for proselytizing about the inanities and sometimes holy mistakes of life, it is a novel of ideas. Big ideas. Big storylines. Big characters. Or rather one big character and four parallel lives he lives. Are you confused? Yes, I was at first too, but Auster’s poetry takes over and helps him tell a story that is at once epic and intimate, expressive and very, very quiet at the same time.

The book tells the tales of the four parallel lives of one American immigrant, Archibald Isaac Ferguson. He was born of Russian-Jewish descent in New Jersey in 1947. The first indication we have of this multi-platform story is that one of the first chapters ends when a despicable uncle raids his father’s white goods store and then the next chapter rewinds the narrative, making it clear that the store burned down but wasn’t robbed. When the store burns down a third time, Ferguson’s father is in it. The final possibility is all about how the business is a great American success. What is Auster doing? It feels like he consulted with Joyce or Borges and learned how to meta the hell out of one man’s life story. This kind of metafiction is so postmodern, it seems intergalactic, a tale more fitting for a Christmas episode of “Dr. Who” than a brave and serious literary outing. Yet, somehow, no matter how weird it all seems, it is compelling enough for you to want to know what happens next.

According to Auster, Ferguson is “still too young at that point to understand.” He tells us that Ferguson’s parents appear “in the all-inclusive, authorised edition of The Book of Terrestrial Life,” an alien work that we happen upon five times in the narratives. It helps us place 4 3 2 1 as a Rothian coming-of-age tale of sexual longing and literary ambition, the son of a stranger in a strange world, an immigrant like all others --- looking for a new place to plant their life, make real their dreams, eschew the stiff laws of past generations to become something bolder, braver, better. The hero could love Amy Schneiderman or Brian Mischevski; he might attend Columbia or Princeton, and be a BMOC or not; he might turn into a sports reporter or a movie critic. The four lives offer so many options. Ferguson could die in a major car accident or walk away injured. Somehow the storylines exist very separately and almost take us back to square one. They don’t seem to add up to anything bigger because there are so many storylines in all.

However, regardless of this disconnect, the stories on their own are engaging and interesting. Every Ferguson life is one that could speak well on its own to the immigrant experience, a topic worth pursuing today even more than ever before as our America redefines, against its better judgment, what makes value in a life of someone whose family was not here since Pangaea. America is evolving, just like Ferguson, offering many paths to many people at a time when those paths are changing and evolving themselves. I think Auster is trying to reflect some of the possibilities inherent in the American ideal of being whatever you put your mind to, but he is also smart enough to know that environment, access to education and health care, and so many other factors will direct the course of one’s life in a more potent way than would be determined by the boat in which your ancestors made their way to these shores.

As for literary merit, the experiment is just that and remains so. There is no satisfying juxtaposition of the storylines, so you feel as if you are reading a Choose Your Own Adventure tale that was filled in by your older brother. Someone has made the choices for you, but they are no less compelling and interesting because you are looking at all the choices at once. And, of course, there are so many other choices for Ferguson, too, but Auster has clearly decided that four is the best amount for this tome --- just like believing that the future that is presenting itself to us right now can be changed if we decide it needs to be. Auster is an old hand at poetic longing, and this book provides so much that you may find yourself having to take a deep breath before jumping into any of its many parts.

4 3 2 1 is a blast-off into a rich, rewarding and sometimes stultifyingly confusing read that still warrants your time. If you put in the effort, you can get much out of it. So, dear reader, my advice is to take your chances. I think it’s worth the shot.

Reviewed by Jana Siciliano

I am not enjoying this book at all. I still haven't finished it and I have been reading it for 3 months!!! I always finish books that I start but this book is interminable!! It is way too long and very confusing. His sentences are very long and his paragraphs are way too long as well. The author seems to brag of his knowledge of the Columbia and Princeton campuses - I could write about Harvard since my son spent 5 years there but I wouldn't boast about all of the buildings, streets and watering holes in the area. It got too confusing - it was just way too much for one book!! I will be glad when it ends already!!!!

This is a great read that functions on many levels. Its about what can happen to a person when they are exposed to different influences and events.

It is also about living in the sixties, and the Age of Optimism and Disillusionment. The simple confidence with which the characters negotiate their world and their concern with what they see as a betrayal of America and American values runs through the work throwing up a stark contrast with modern society and its narcissistic satisfaction at any cost mentality.

It is very long but never boring. Brilliantly written with a very human feel that makes one sympathise with and want to see what happens in all the hero's incarnations and adventures.

All in all one of the best books I have read in a very long time,

I love Paul Auster but I find that he's not the most accessible writer. A lot of times the humanity of his characters seems to come second to the twisty, existential plots in his books. But this book felt oddly intimate, with the lives, thoughts and fears of the main characters being delineated in minute detail. There are lengthy descriptions of high school years playing baseball, experiencing your first love, and forging friendships with like-minded people. In fact the book is so intimate it feels almost autobiographical. This is also a "book about books", with many literary works being woven into the plot at various points to demonstrate the tremendous influence of literature on people's lives.

I don't think I need to summarize the plot as many reviewers have already done that. This novel is actually four novels, each telling a different life story of its main character, Archie Ferguson. The idea is that we're always haunted by the infinite 'what ifs' of our lives, the endless possibilities for different paths our lives could have taken.

There is no doubt that this is an interesting and well written book. It follows the three possible lives of one man. Though well written, at almost a 1,000 words, it's length is perhaps it's most noticeable characteristic. It follows the events through the sixties and seventies- Kent state, the Vietnam war, Nixon......It is extremely clever and though long it keeps you engaged. I found it however an intensely male book, perhaps because the main characters are all male. The women are not particularly well written, nor are they important. This has been shortlisted for the most prestigious literary prize, the Mann Booker prize and this is a reflection of the fact that it is a impressive accomplishment.

Being about halfway through this tomb of novel I feel that I can start to share my experience. The last time I read Auster was about fifteen years ago in college and all I can say is that I vaguely remember liking it, so when I saw the giveaway for a novel from an author I vaguely remember liking I decided to enter. Lo and behold, I received my copy about six weeks ago.

The novel is essentially four books in one, four stories of a boy, Archibald (Archie) Ferguson, that start from the same point but progress along divergent paths. While on the face of it the stories are unrelated with each having independent narratives, they are deeply intertwined as it is the same Archie, with the same innate qualities, who is the protagonist throughout.

The stories have broad appeal. For those into philosophy it touches on absurdism, existentialism, nature vs. nurture. But it does so in an uncontrived way leaving behind an accessible and enjoyable story that lets the reader take away what they wish.

The work is well thought out with the author going to great lengths to keep the reader engaged, a particularly challenging feat given the four different narratives. I was impressed with the author's ability to know the precise moments when the reader would need to be reminded of key details from the four plots.

In short, this is a fun and thought-provoking novel. While a bit of an endeavor given the book's sheer size and complexity it is well worth the investment.

Brilliant story idea! What would a life be like under four different circumstances? A child is born and 4 time lines ensue. But really, nearly 900 pages?! It was a marathon I had to give up on. Sorry. I'll read more of it in the future. Ok, I realize it was four entire life times to cover, but still. Too long for my short vacation reads. If you have time and find this sort of subject as interesting, you'll love it ! It's very well written and the author is highly recommended a read. But not for me.
I received an advance copy from the publisher in exchange for a fair review.

Paul Auster loves stories: he loves reading them and he loves writing them!
His latest novel is full of them and at no less than 865 pages must seem intimidating to most readers, especially those not accustomed to his prose and the easy flow of his narrative. A huge venture for both the author and the reader and a very satisfying one for both parties, although, yes, a bit tiring at some points. I did struggle through the last 150 pages but it was such a jewel of a book that I'm willing to forgive Auster for his wordiness from time to time. After all, he has the right to get carried away from time to time, having taken his readers along his captivating mind travels for so many years. It takes a writer at the top of his game to produce such elegant prose, seemingly simple but so rich in substance and Auster is a master of his craft. What is this book about? In the author's own words: “a parable about human destiny and the endlessly forking paths a person must confront as he walks through life”. I would add that it's a beautiful attempt to give some plausible answers to the eternal question of “what would have happened if...” that haunts not only the author but (almost) all of us. It's also a detailed description of those few magical years of adolescence and early 20s when “everything is still in front”. There are many autobiographical references throughout the book, none more so than the heroes' struggles in the world of words, a heartfelt account of how one becomes a writer. The volume of the novel demands much of the readers' time and attention, but there's huge pleasure to be found within its pages. Even when I got weary, a sentence or a paragraph (most of his sentences are as long as paragraphs!) of immense beauty came along and I couldn't wait to plunge in the next chapter in search of the next one. It's a bit confusing to remember what each character did and thought but you get the hang of it after a while - I even made a chart to help me remember who did what. Auster doesn't leave any loose ends by the time he writes the last words. Somebody familiar with his work must have guessed midway through the book what the title stands for, an apt choice closely connected to the structure of the book. Throughout the narration one has the sense that this book has been haunting its author for years, perhaps for ever. Auster confirms it: he did have it in him ever since he became a writer. We, as readers, can only be grateful that he managed to put it together and offer it to the world.

Because I write fiction myself, I prefer to examine aspects of a novel that reviewers often don't. I hope you don't mind. My first thought about this novel is that the style and themes are departures from what is being taught in many (most?) writers' departments. The theme of carrying a reader through different fictional paths a character might take is--of course--quite different. But it's more than that. The title is a bit of a jolt. So are the chapter headings. Some might say original. Thoughtful. It will come to make sense.

Dialogue is almost non existent. Auster introduces characters so fast it could cause some to put the novel aside figuring they would never track them. (Advice: Just go with the flow. You will eventually figure it out or discard the details as unneeded over the long run. ) This novel reads more like a novel from the last century: Compact. Character-driven. Definitely not Grisham's or Patterson's style.

And that is all to the good. Readers need to be stretched a bit just as writers do. If you love Russian literature, you'll be fine with this. If you studies literature in college, you'll welcome it.

I can't strictly call this a review because I didn't read the entire book. But I read more than half of it before becoming too bored to continue. I just want to let you know what you're in for if you start this book.

It's about 860 pages long. But it feels twice that long because there's not really any dialogue, at least not in the traditional sense. There's nothing to break up the pages. Some pages are one or two paragraphs. It just stretches on and on. For 500 pages, this book kept me interested, but as the main character entered college, the book slowed down and student politics became a more central focus. It became hard to continue.

The writing is great. The story is less great. I'm not opposed to long books; I saw how long it is before started reading, after all. I just wish it moved a little faster.

Simply put, 4 3 2 1 presents Archie Ferguson's four possible lives. That is, one Ferguson is born, but his life might have gone one way or another or another or another. 4 3 2 1 examines each way his life might have gone.

I liked 4 3 2 1, and I didn't like it. Its references to history, literature, and movies are superb. But the length of the book combined with the disjointed presentation of Ferguson's four possible lives often leads to confusion.

I have read Paul Auster and liked his work . I read a review of this book in the NYT and the premise was intrigueing. When I walked into my local bookstore , Eureka Books , there it was displayed on the top shelf of new books . I picked it up and read the first page and I was hooked . One page . I was caught up and remained caught up . The writing is exquisite. Being a baby boomer , the references - books , art, movies, poems , places , events are fantastic . The last 100 pages were a tad slower but it ended nicely. I recommend this book to my friends and anyone reading this review . It is a great book to spend time
with .

WOW, Talk about holding a grudge on his father! Ferguson is a troubled young man after he learned that his parents had fallen out of love with each other and were acting like a loving couple until he was out of school so they can get divorced and marry their flings. Surprising 4321 twists, turns , and splits into FOUR boys who struggle to lead four parallel and different lives! You almost need a score card to keep up!

Paul Auster’s 4, 3, 2, 1 is an entertaining, perplexing and at times confusing take on the concept of multiple versions of the same life. What would happen if the same person’s life was lived at four different ways? Auster’s writing style in this over 800 page novel (in its original hardback) is filled with sentences that run hundreds of words long but flow easily. The book raises a lot of perplexing age-old questions: is a person’s character and sexual orientation fixed upon birth, or would it vary with different external circumstances? How much of what happens to us is fate, luck or based on our own choices and effort? If the key to a great novel is whether it challenges you to think deeply about the characters and feel both joy and pain when something good and bad happens to them, then this is a book worth the effort.

I have been quite a reader for 65 years. This is the book I have waited my entire life for. From the first paragraph it had me. It is complicated. In fact, I made out a cheat sheet to help me remember which boyhood he was writing about. I am not really sure how to say this, but I have waited for a book for years that would help me make sense of my life and this is the book that did it for me. I am listening on Audible and in addition to my Word cheat sheet, I have marked many places that I want to go back to and listen. Paul and I are roughly the same age. All I can say is wow! This is some book.

Loved it. LOVED IT LOVED IT LOVED IT!!!
This was my first Paul Austere book. It grabbed my interest via an NPR interview and threw me into a journey I had often explored as a kid: the What-Ifs of life being different, perhaps better than what I felt to be the wrong life or set of circumstances of my own.
I do question the idea that circumstances can redirect sexual identity: we are born with an identity which we must work through and resolve inwardly .
A journey it is: joyous, sad, courageous, and often with disappointing yet realistic realities
Time to start building my own Austere collection!

It's a long one so stock up on supplies beforehand. Having said that, I was profoundly saddened when I reached the final page. This was a complex, carefully thought out, beautifully crafted piece of literature. Highly recommend.