paul auster - sunset park

just finished reading paul auster's sunset park. generally an enjoyable read.

as always the author writes well about new york, books (in this novel one character owns a publishing house which is on the brink of collapse) and the loneliness of misfits. he also does a good job of pulling together the various story lines of the disparate characters (although some are pulled together too conveniently to be realistic).

i couldn't help feeling however that the tone and pace of the writing changes part way through, as if the author was in a rush (possibly to make a deadline to save the publishing house from collapse) to wrap up story lines in a few pages when he had previously devoted whole chapters to describing individual characters and their relevance to the story. the crescendo of the book (the meeting of mother and son and then father) is far too brief to be savored and enjoyed.

still it's generally good (and better than the new york trilogy but not as good for brooklyn follies).