About this title: Jim Nashe, a Boston firefighter abandoned by his wife, inherits money that he promptly squanders on an aimless, endless drive across America. Close to desperation, he meets a bitter young itinerant card sharp, Jack Pozzi, who lures him into a poker game with two shady recluses, Flower and Stone, on their Pennsylvania estate. Nashe and Pozzi lose ...
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Note: This is a general synopsis. Each listing is described below.
Edition: First edition.
Binding: Trade paperback
Publisher: Faber and Faber
Date Published: 1992
ISBN-13:9780571165261ISBN:0571165265
Description: Good. No dust jacket as issued. Cover has some wear with different cover design, but same ISBN as listed; pages are unmarked. SHIPS NEXT DAY. 217p. read more
Description: Acceptable. Former Library book. Shows definite wear, and perhaps considerable marking on inside. Shipped to over one million happy customers. Your purchase benefits world literacy! read more
Description: Good. Shows some signs of wear, and may have some markings on the inside. Shipped to over one million happy customers. Your purchase benefits world literacy! read more
Description: Very good. Book has appearance of light use with no easily noticeable wear. Millions of satisfied customers and climbing. Thriftbooks is the name you can trust, guaranteed. Spend Less. Read More. read more
Description: Very good. Book has appearance of light use with no easily noticeable wear. Millions of satisfied customers and climbing. Thriftbooks is the name you can trust, guaranteed. Spend Less. Read More. read more
Description: Good. 0140154078 Former library item may have library binding and show stamps, stickers or other marks. Items not meeting quality expectations may be returned. Due to the large scale of our operation, we do not have access to the specific contents/condition of our items. read more
Binding: Paperback
Publisher: Penguin (Non-Classics)
Date Published: 1991-12-01
ISBN-13:9780140154078ISBN:0140154078
Description: Very Good. Previous owner's name on end paper, pages and covers are otherwise clean, crisp and unmarked.; 100% Satisfaction Guaranteed! Free Delivery Confirmation! Ships same or next business day! read more
Description: Good. FIRST PRINTING Hardcover former library book with dust jacket & plastic cover, small piece of dust jacket along spine has been cut out by library, binding partly loose. read more
Edition: First Edition, Second Printing
Binding: Paperback
Publisher: Penguin Group USA, E Rutherford, New Jersey, U.S.A.
Date Published: 1991
ISBN-13:9780140154078ISBN:0140154078
Description: Near Fine. 8vo-over 7¾"-9¾" tall. An excellent paperback copy, unread and like new. The binding is solid and there are no reading creases in the spine. The cover shows almost no wear, just the lightest possible rubbing. The text is clean and unmarked. 217 pages. read more
Binding: Paperback
Publisher: Penguin (Non-Classics)
Date Published: 1991-12-01
ISBN-13:9780140154078ISBN:0140154078
Description: New. Brand New. Gift Condition. Free tracking # included! International buyers are welcome. We ship every business day. 100% Satisfaction Guaranteed! read more
Description: Good. The Music of Chance (Paperback) Guaranteed availability, condition & fast dispatch. PLEASE NOTE IF PURCHASING A VIDEO: Unless otherwise specified, all our videos are VHS PAL-UK & Europe Format. read more
Binding: Mass Market Paperback
Publisher: Penguin Putnam Inc USA
Date Published: 1991-10-03
ISBN-13:9780140157390ISBN:0140157395
Description: Good. Mild shelf wear; Mild wear\bumping to corners; Faint spine crease; Mild spine slant; Tanning and mild soiling\foxing to page edges; Mild rubbing\wear to covers and spine; ** Free USPS tracking and confirm on US orders ** read more
"Loved this book, probably even more than Mr. Vertigo, which I read a couple months ago. I guess you'd call Auster a fabulist? His books are realistic, but there is always something just a bit unreal about them. Wonderful stuff."
"I picked this up at the library after spotting it randomly on a shelf. I had seen the movie a while back and enjoyed immensely. It was far enough back however that I did not remember all of it. So it seemed a like a good idea the book. I'm glad I did. I'm pretty sure I'll have to get a copy for myself sometime in the future.
All that being said this is not a book to read if you are looking for something uplifting. As the title states it's about chance and the role it plays in our lives. In the book chance is a thing that gives and takes. Takes with a vengeance. And the ending leaves you wondering just what card will be turned for the main protagonist. While I love a good open ending, as I did with this one, if don't stay away from this book. You might hate. Then again might want to take...a chance."
"Pretty simply written story, which I really like. Strange. I felt the ending was sort of a bust. But if I put myself in Auster's shoes, I really can't think of anywhere the novel could have gone. Overall, very sad and lonely - but it has some funny parts which made it not depressing. Loneliness isn't always the pits, right?"
"Cuando era muy chico y en la televisión me dedicaba principalmente a ver el cartoon network, un día en la tarde puse HBO mientas comía pan con palta y empecé a ver una pelicula muy extraña. Habia dos tipos que viajaban hasta una mansión my tétrica para jugar poker con otros dos tipos mas tétricos aún que (por alguna razón) tenían una ciudad en miniatura construida dentro de su casa, y que entre otras extrencidades habían importado un castillo desde Europa (piedra por piedra: en el cesped enorme de su mansión estaban amontonadas las piedras). Los dos tipos (los protagonistas) pierden la apuesta en el poker, y como no tienen tanto dinero para pagar tienen que quedarse trabajando como casi-esclavos, construyendo con las piedras del castillo una pared que cruzara el enorme campo de pasto verde en las afueras de la mansión. Creo que fue la primera pelicula que vi con escenas de sexo implicito (era HBO a las 14:00 hrs no mas), con algo de violencia moderada pero sobre todo con un trasfondo super fuerte. La pelicula era rara. Me quedo pegadisima para siempre la escena en que Pozzi (el protagonista mas joven), después de que hubieran terminado parte del muro, caminaba por sobre él, feliz.
Tiempo después, cuando ya me gustaba mucho Auster y me había leído casi todos sus libros, uno de los últimos que agarré fue este, y ahi recién me di cuenta de que estaba leyendo esa película (Doh).
Este para mi es el mejor Auster. No soy un fanático de la primera época, la de la trilogia de Nueva York, cuando esta demasiado precocupado por existencialismos (a mi parecer) un poco baratos, con muchos artefactos literarios que parecen sacados de un libro de castellano. Tampoco me gusta la ultima época, desde Oracle Night (y sobre todo "Travels in the scriptorium"), en que lo unico que hace es mirarse el ombligo, escribir sobre-escritores-que-escriben-sobre-escribir y usar lugares comunes.
Pero para mi tiene un periodo dorado, principalmente: La Musica del Azar, Leviathan y El palacio de la luna (este ultimo, ocasionalmente lo considero como mi libro favorito. En la historia). Y podriamos colocar a lo mejor Mr vertigo. Estos son los libros en que pareciera que deja que las imagenes que tiene dentro fluyan, sin ponerse a interferir él. Imagenes como la ciudad miniatura de la pareja bizarra en La Musica del Azar, o Pozzi feliz corriendo sobre el muro. O el viaje de M.S. Fogg a pie a través de l desierto americano en el Palacio de la Luna. O las estatuas explotando en Leviatán. O las 36 pruebas a las que es sometido el protagonista de Mr Vertigo por el maestro Yehudi.
Auster tiene muchos detractores, y creo que muchas de las cosas que se dicen son ciertas. Los personajes son a veces increiblemente similares en todos los libros, y es cierto que su existencialismo a veces puede ser un poco adolescente y reiterativo, y que incluso a veces apela a la mistificación, sin realmente crear misticismo. Pero a mi en lo personal, que no leo los libros de literatura como ensayos, me parece que es el es escritor mas talentoso de su generación (teniendo en cuenta que el mas talentoso no siempre es el mejor). Un "natural".
El mayor argumento que puedo dar es que ya pasaron varios años desde que me leí el libro, he leído desde entonces varios libros de Philip Roth, de McEwan y otros que supuestamente estan dos o tres pasos mas arriba en el canon oficial... y todavia me acuerdo mucho más de Pozzi corriendo sobre su muro.
Recomiendo mucho este libro; es realmente hermoso."
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