Man in the Dark

Man in the Dark by Paul Auster, was one of the novels that my friend E, had let me borrow and let me just say that I loved it. The plot is about a man who in his old age has lost the love of his life, is living with his recently divorced daughter and his grieving granddaughter. He has insomnia and to keep his thoughts at harbor he tells himself stories to make the time go quicker. He lies in his bed and attempts to make time fly, by creating another world, another him and another life.  In his other world things changed and time because circumstantial. In the daytime he is spared from his thoughts and focuses his energy on his granddaughter as they watch foreign films and she loses herself into the stories to escape her pain. The story is told from first person point of view and Auster delivers something beautiful in a very short, but moving novel. This book is about what happens when you’re left alone in the dark with your thoughts, with nothing to distract you from the realness of life but your own imagination.  How when you’re at this point in your life the only thing you want is comfort, someone to love and to share happiness and sadness and the realness of life.

I read this book because E asked me too. Now I’m going to read it again because I simply loved it. I  even asked Salinger to put aside her book projects for the moment and read this, because it’s simply beautiful. I love that its short and told in a Kiss of the Spider Woman way. Incorporated with snippets of a different story in one interwoven delicate beauty, where realism and fantasy coexist harmoniously. Best of all I love the idea of being to give you a full plot summary without spoiling any of it. There are still many surprises left. I absolutely loved it and think everyone should read it.  Especially considering that I had to read Girl with the Curious Hair I had lost some trust in E's reading prefereces but I came out with a huge smile and glad she lent it to me.