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4 3 2 1

By: Paul Auster
Narrated by: Paul Auster
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Shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize 2017

Narrated by the award-winning author himself, this epic tale invites you into a world where the fate of a single person takes four different turns. Graceful and eloquent, it's a touching story of how a life can be dramatically altered by the choices you make.

Paul Auster's first novel in seven years. His greatest, most provocative, most heartbreaking, most satisfying work. A sweeping story of birthright and possibility, of love and the fullness of life itself. A masterpiece.

This audiobook contains exclusive bonus material in the form of an interview with the author.

On March 3, 1947, in the maternity ward of Beth Israel Hospital in Newark, New Jersey, Archibald Isaac Ferguson, the one and only child of Rose and Stanley Ferguson, is born. From that single beginning, Ferguson's life will take four simultaneous and independent fictional paths. Four Fergusons made of the same genetic material, four boys who are the same boy, will go on to lead four parallel and entirely different lives. Family fortunes diverge. Loves and friendships and intellectual passions contrast. Chapter by chapter, the rotating narratives evolve into an elaborate dance of inner worlds enfolded within the outer forces of history as, one by one, the intimate plot of each Ferguson's story rushes on across the tumultuous and fractured terrain of mid twentieth-century America. A boy grows up - again and again and again.

As inventive and dexterously constructed as anything Paul Auster has ever written, 4 3 2 1 is an unforgettable tour de force, the crowning work of this masterful writer's extraordinary career.

Paul Auster is the best-selling author of Winter Journal, Sunset Park, Man in the Dark, The Brooklyn Follies, The Book of Illusions and The New York Trilogy, among many other works. In 2006 he was awarded the Prince of Asturias Prize for Literature and inducted into the American Academy of Arts and Letters. Among his other honours are the Independent Spirit Award for the screenplay of Smoke and the Prix Medicis Etranger for Leviathan. He has also been short-listed for both the International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award (The Book of Illusions) and the PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction (The Music of Chance). His work has been translated into more than 30 languages. He lives in Brooklyn, New York.

©2017 Paul Auster (P)2017 Macmillan Audio
Family Life Fiction Genre Fiction Historical Fiction
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Critic reviews

"One of the great writers of our time." ( San Francisco Chronicle)
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From the first few moments I knew I was going to love this book. Auster's prose is beautiful and poetic. I don't want to write a review that gives away plot details but know that I was sad to finish as it meant I would no longer be spending times with The Fergusons. Splendid.

Was sad when it ended

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Paul Auster is a writer of real intelligence, wit and is a master of complex plotting. The concept of this book -the lifestory of one person told in four different imaginings- is inspired and daring but the author pulls it off. Loved all the interwoven characters and the inclusion of the politics of 1960s/1970s USA. I was so sad when it ended but I will look forward to listening to it again n the future.

Brilliant. A complete masterpiece. Loved it.

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It is quite daunting to start listening to a 35 hour long book. Perhaps even more so when it feels like a literary experiment in the writing of several parallel stories with the same characters and binding them into one novel. Nevertheless, it works. Both as a complete work and the holding together of the different strands.

One can't help wondering about the possible biographical nature due to the fact that all the "Fergusons" are of the exact age and clearly the same generation as Paul Auster himself. This is clarified at the end in the useful interview with author.

Although I was a bit worried about the book not being read by an actor (or even several actors as in the Haruki Murakami audio books), I found the straight reading quite appropriate to the book and loved listening to the author's slightly lispy voice.

Interestingly, I had recently finished listening to Donna Tartt's "The Secret History" which is another aspect of the the same period in the USA and featuring people of the same generation though of a completely different social class.

If I were to offer any criticism at all for this wonderful audio book, it would be to say that if you lose you place, it can be very difficult to find it again due to the way the book is set out.

Overall, I loved it!

A master storyteller in good form

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I had really mixed feelings over this book. I started it and then gave up as it was really hard going and the author reads his own work which was a departure from many narrators who are more expressive. Anyway after a month or so I went back to it and stuck with it. And it needs a lot of sticking with as its a really long book. I find the idea of having different outcomes based on some random change in your life really interesting and it was good how this was developed - with 4 'lives' for one character hence the title. But it sort of meandered along and although neatly tied up at the end which gave it a good tight finish it was a bit aimless in places. It didn't help that some of the books parts were excessively detailed. For example when saying that the character studied English authors of the 20th century it would have worked to give 2 or 3 examples - but not over 20 - it was just a little pointless. So I think it is a genuine book by a good author and a very interesting idea. The concept is well structured and works well - but overall a little long and not sure that the book was worth the many days investment I put in. However, it is a Booker prize nomination so is well thought of.

Interesting idea - a little drawn out

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I was hooked from beginning to end. I've been a fan of Paul Auster for some time. This is him at his very best. I really enjoyed his narration as well. It's a big one but worth every minute.

Clever, beautiful and heartbreaking.

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