About this title: A detective-story writer named Quinn becomes involved in a bizarre case. A phone call from a man who believes someone is trying to kill him leads to a case more mysterious than anything Quinn could concoct. In this tale of strange reversals and shifts of identity, a character named "Paul Auster" makes an appearance as a man obsessed with Quinn's ...
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Note: This is a general synopsis. Each listing is described below.
Binding: Trade paperback
Publisher: Penguin Books
Date Published: 1987
ISBN-13:9780140097313ISBN:0140097317
Description: Good. No dust jacket as issued. Spine lightly creased, a little edge wear, clean pages. Near very good. Trade paperback (US). Glued binding. 208 p. Contemporary American Fiction, 1. Audience: General/trade. read more
Edition: Re-issue
Binding: Paperback
Publisher: Penguin USA, E Rutherford, New Jersey, U.S.A.
Date Published: 1987
ISBN-13:9780140097313ISBN:0140097317
Description: Very Good. 8vo-over 7¾"-9¾" tall. Often described as Auster's break-out novel, it is the first volume of his famous "The New York Trilogy. " It is at once a good mystery story--it was nominated for an Edgar Award--and a piece of modernist fiction. Someone described it as the kind of detective story Kafka might have written. The main character, Quinn, is a writer of detective novels. He is hired by a man named Stillman to protect him from his father, who has recently been released from an insane ... read more
Binding: Paperback
Publisher: Penguin (Non-Classics)
Date Published: 1987-04-07
ISBN-13:9780140097313ISBN:0140097317
Description: Excellent Conditon. Softcover, Excellent Condition, text is clean/unmarked, tight binding, minor edge/cover wear, from a private collection. read more
Binding: Paperback
Publisher: Penguin (Non-Classics)
Date Published: 1987-04-07
ISBN-13:9780140097313ISBN:0140097317
Description: Good. 1987 diff cover, see my image, cover no marks, corner, edge wear, spine not creased, not ex lib, no remainder marks, inside page has po name embossed, pgs tanned, clean tight no marks, flaws, deliv confirm 9309G. read more
Description: Fine. No dust jacket as issued. Trade paperback (US). Glued binding. 210 p. Contemporary American Fiction, 1. Audience: General/trade. read more
Description: [0-14-009731-7] 1987, 1st thus., 1st thus. (Trade paperback) Near fine. Publisher edition: Contemporary American Fiction. Series: New York Trilogy 1. (Mystery) read more
Binding: Softcover
Publisher: Penguin Group USA
Date Published: 1987-03-01
ISBN-13:9780140097313ISBN:0140097317
Description: NEW. Softcover. From an inventory that is 100% brand-new, 100% direct from the publishers' distribution channel. We carry NO pre-owned, NO remaindered. We pack in CARDBOARD to ensure the pristine quality is maintained. (Bubble-wrap alone is NOT sufficient to protect from USPS equipment. ) Guaranteed brand-NEW, protected with CARDBOARD, your satisfaction is guaranteed. BKLUVID: 9780140097313. read more
Binding: Paperback
Publisher: Penguin (Non-Classics)
Date Published: 1987
ISBN-13:9780140097313ISBN:0140097317
Description: New. Brand New! Buy with confidence-your satisfaction is guaranteed at B-Logistics! Due to the large scale of our operation, we do not have access to the specific contents/condition of our items. Please note that Expedited shipping is not available at this time. read more
Edition: 1st Printing
Binding: Trade Paperback
Publisher: Faber and Faber, London
Date Published: 2005
ISBN-13:9780571226337ISBN:0571226337
Description: Very Good. 8vo-over 7¾"-9¾" tall. Square tight copy with light wear on covers. A graphic novel adaption of the novel with an introduction by Art Spiegelman. read more
Binding: Paperback
Publisher: FABER AND FABER Country = UNITED KINGDOM
Date Published: 2005
ISBN-13:9780571226337ISBN:0571226337
Description: BRAND NEW PAPERBACK. 144 pages. (144 pages) in the expert hands of david mazzuchelli (batman), paul karasik (raw) and art spiegelman (maus), auster's spin on the detective story has been given a unique and unexpected new life. illustrations (Paperback) read more
Edition: First edition. Stated 1st Edition.
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: Sun and Moon Press
Date Published: 1985
Description: Good in very good dust jacket. Ex-library. Library Markings; mylar cover; binding firm; pages clean; some spine lean. Sewn binding. Cloth over boards. 203 p. read more
Description: Reader copy. *EX-LIBRARY withdrawn copy w. mylared dust jacket and usual labels/1985 Sun & Moon Press hardcover, 1st edition/1st printing. Spine is canted; tape marks on inner covers; gluebreak on pgs. 16-17; else clean, solid and unmarked. read more
"I started the New York Trilogy but only finished part 1, City of Glass, before I had to return it to the library! However, if I get the chance I would definitely like the read parts 2 and 3. I found the first story be thought-provoking and it certainly kept me guessing about what was going to happen next. During the course of this unconventional mystery, Auster takes us along for the fiction writer's investigation while also raising questions about the relationship between an author and his subjects, as well as where to draw the line between being committed and too committed to one's work. There were a lot of twists and turns in the story that I would not have predicted and overall it was fun to read."
"Like Travels in the Scriptorium, there is no tidy conclusion to Auster's City of Glass, which is on the surface a detective story. As others have mentioned thousands of times, it's a detective story in name only, using the form to pose questions about identity, the relationship between the author and his characters, etc.
I'm choosing to defer judgment until I've read Ghosts and the Locked Room, the second and third installements of the so-called New York Trilogy. But I have to ask: What's wrong with tidy conclusion? Why must I, the reader, work to understand what a novel is about? Why do I care what the author's relationship is to his characters?
Either way, I did enjoy the book, despite the absolute confusion I felt when I finished; and although it's tagged as postmodern fiction, it was compulsively readable."
"An interesting, spiralling twist on the detective-fiction genre, the main issue I had with City of Glass is that I couldn't ever really decide WHY? Not 'Why' as in 'why-are-the-characters-doing-this?', but 'why' as in 'why-does-this-book-exist?'. Yes, sometimes a ripping yarn is reason enough for a book to call attention to itself, and be brought into existence, but Auster's book seems to demand a deeper reading, and seems to be working at unveiling a larger, more complex message, but it is not illuminated here. I am curious about the remaining two books in the so-called New York Trilogy, but only if they feature (and advance) the story of Quinn. More existential prattling for its own sake would just get tiresome.
Really, this book reads like a modern-ized, meta-centric version of The Man Who Was Thursday, except set on the New York streets rather than the British countryside. Which, y'know...is fine, I guess."
"This book is the first book from The New York Trilogy. I like the author's style of writing because, he evokes many questions through his literary elements and other writing components. This author creates a well-rounded character but yet; he evokes many questions that make the readers very curious about the character.
In this book, Paul Auster, the protagonist is confuse about his identity therefore, he goes through many life experiences in order to find his real identity. Through his life experiences, the author uses many themes to convey this message and he also tries to create a story that has relevant themes like today's world."
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