A retired professor and his grief. A dead wife, literature and a lot of contemplation, down memory lane.

Best book I’ve read this year!

“Does an event have to be true in order to be accepted as true, or does belief in the truth of an event already make it true, even if the thing that supposedly happened did not happen? And what if, in spite of your efforts to find out whether the event took place or not, you arrive at an impasse of uncertainty and cannot be sure… Even more to the point: If the story turns out to be so astounding and so powerful that your jaw drops open and you feel that it has changed or enhanced or deepened your understanding of the world, does it matter if the story is true or not?”

This quote captures the essence of this novel for me. ‘Baumgartner’ is a quiet, powerful narrative on memory and history, those stories we take for granted as true that yet are built on the shifting sands of time. Baumgartner, an aging philosopher-writer, ruminates on his life, effortlessly captured in seamlessly connected vignettes from his past. Even as the present interrupts the many stories he tells, the ‘grand narrative’ of his life drives the story forward.

Despite this novel’s brevity, it asks some urgent questions about what we remember, how we choose to remember, the choices we make, the choices that are made for us, and how we choose to narrate the whole lot into a ‘my story’ that makes meaning of our place in the world. A lot to think about with this one, and a book that’s due a second read in a few months!

Thanks to NetGalley and Grove Atlantic for the ARC!

Thank you Grove Atlantic for an advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review!

Sy Baumgartner is a man still reeling from the loss of his wife after a tragic accident at the beginning of Baumgartner and we slowly learn about Baumgartner as we follow him in what seems like a slice of life novel that quickly turns into an introspective look at his life and what has made him who he is.

This is a small novel that spans many decades so it ends up feeling almost more dense than it actually is, but that also means Auster really puts what he needs here and nothing else is added. This means that the novel is taut but it also means that everything matters which at times made it a tiring read.

Really the enjoyment of this relies on how much time someone wants to spend with Baumgartner as a character. I can’t say anything bad about the writing (which is very good) and there is no plot to speak of. What did bother me in parts were the use of mixed media stories written by Baumgartner and his late wife took you away from the main story which is already short to begin with.

I loved this book! Beautifully written, I absolutely fell in love with the characters. It's smart, funny, ironic, and a delight till the cliffhanger ending. I doubt there will be a sequel, but I will certainly hope for one!

We are entering the last days of the first bout of pop culture with many figures aging out with just their work staying behind and it is with this aging that each new piece from a favourite author or any other kind of creative figure becomes more and more precious.

Baumgartner is the latest novel from Paul Auster and comes as a surprise following the epic 4 3 2 1 and see the eponymous character looking back upon his life with his late wife, his childhood and his ancestry.

It is very much a book of an old man looking back and it would be an interesting task to parse out the non-fiction from the fiction within this tale. There is the Austerian device of stories within stories as we read essays and poems by his late wife and tales written by Baumgartner himself.

It is a slim novel, but it is absolutely packed with substance and a book I found to be devastatingly sad in places. For me, the novel was let down only by it's ending which felt hollow compared with what had gone before it.

Suffice to say, I am delighted to have another Auster novel and hope there are at least a few more to come!

This was, despite his prolific career, my first Paul Auster reading experience. I am so pleased to have stumbled across this short character-driven work. The prose is beautiful. I found the detailed and rambling thoughts of Baumgartner more than relatable. They were created in an incredibly skillful way and I paused often to reflect on what seemed to be the multiple intentions of the author. Baumgartner was incredibly charming and I am no excited to begin my journey with the writing of Paul Auster.

Sy Baumgartner, 71, is about to retire from Princeton University. A phenomenologist and author, he most of all was husband to the love of his life, Anna, who died unexpectedly 10 years ago. As he looks back on his life we learn of his parents and early history, his coming of age and career development, and the ravages of loss and aging.

Do not expect a lot of action or intricate plot, but rather revel in the memories of a learned man as he comes to terms with the losses he has experienced in life, including the invincibility of youth. In this, the autumn of his life, he finds something to pull him out of reminisces of the past; something in which he looks forward to investing his time and energy.

I thought the explanation of the book he is writing, “Mysteries of the Wheel”, which will probably be his final piece, to be brilliant as an allegory of life in which “ (it is) a free-for-all of careening, out-of-control cars speeding down highways of loneliness and potential death.” Auster’s poignant portrayal of the physical and mental changes experienced in aging are painfully astute. And, oh, that ending!

This is not a book for everyone. It is a contemplative, character driven fictional memoir.

Thanks to #netgalley and #groveatlantic #Atlanticmonthlypress for the ARC

i’ve been a fan of paul auster’s novels ever since i first bumped into the new york trilogy during the third year of my degree — i loved it to bits, then went on to devour a number of his other novels, with brooklyn follies and sunset parks becoming my all-time favourites of his. 4321 was also very solid, albeit a little too long, and i had high hopes for this one. but unfortunately it didn’t deliver; even though auster’s writing is as neat as ever, i felt little to no sympathy towards baumgartner, who is yet another middle-aged widower mourning the death of his wife (has paul auster ever written a different sort of main character?). it’s not that there’s anything fundamentally wrong with it, but i just felt a little… underwhelmed, i suppose. i did like the stories within baumgartner’s story, though — i thought they were a nice little touch that lifted the entire narrative a little bit. but yeah, i’m sad to report that it was nowhere near the author’s past brilliancy.

I was all set to give this a very possibly review, until I read the final paragraph. Omg, this from an author as able and achieved as Auster? We, his readers, deserve better.
Much of what precedes the disappointment is fine and interesting. The book’s terrain is life and literature, and the writing, in various voices , is notable. I was especially struck by the Sebaldian episode when Baumgartnee returns to the Ukrainian village of origin. Short, perceptive, low-key yet affecting at times, this is another notch in the Auster belt. Except for that maddening conclusion.

Ten years after the death of his wife Anna, Baumgartner finds himself still grieving, old and alone in his 70s. One night, Baumgartner is woken up by a ringing telephone in his wife‘s former study - except that line has been disconnected for years…

Tenderly, Auster tells the story of Baumgartner‘s life, the relationship to his parents, and first and foremost of his love for Anna. I loved Auster‘s persoective on aging, on the things that really matter when you mostly look back instead of looking forward despite there still being things to look forward to.

I really enjoyed the story quite a bit and was therefore surprised and disappointed when it ended rather abruptly. It was in fact so surprising that I thought that things might have been left out of the ARC.

Because of the abrupt ending I can only give three out of five stars to this novel.

This was really boring and messy. Parts of it I just didn't understand but maybe it was because I wasn't liking it. Will try Auster again but this was not a good introduction

The publisher’s description tells you all you need to know about the plot/story so I will not add to it. What it doesn’t tell you is this is a lovely, lovely book, beautifully and sympathetically written. Reading this feels like sitting down for a long chat with an old friend. It’s not gripping or fast paced but it is very compelling. I need to read more Auster and so should you.

Paul Auster is back - and we're all the better for it. Once again he has written a novel that feels quite autobiographical at times, what with the thoughts about aging and flashbacks to the past. The short stories woven into the main story were wonderful to read as well. Not my favorite Auster novel perhaps but then again his writing never disappoints.

Auster takes a break from his existential men and turns his attention to old age, a year in the life of Seymour, Sy, Baumgartner, Jewish, scholar, widower of roughly a decade. During that decade he kept busy working, as a philosopher he writes about Kierkegaard, not Kierkegaard the existentialist, Kierkegaard the humorist of numerous pseudonyms. Baumgartner sees his solitary life as a writer as a bit Kafkaesque—that similarities to the characters of Samuel Beckett escape him may be his identification with realism of his personal history. His genealogy is rich with stories, one of them incredulous. As his memory begins to fail, certain memories become crucial to revisit and savor in what time he has left. Memories of his parents and Anna, his wife, poet and professor, idealist to his realist. After her death by freak accident, with work time passes and when he burrows out from a project, he believes he’s ready for a new wife.

Auster does not make this slapstick. Loneliness and desire are distanced of what has become the trite and familiar, the expected ridiculing an old man to set him up for ultimate tragedy. Instead, Auster has written a careful character study of a man who made concessions and lived his life, which, dull as it might seem in the moment—know that an existential moment, late in the book, does not make an existential character nor an existential novel—is not done. Not one of Auster’s best, but worth reading.

Thank you to Net Galley and the publisher for an advanced copy.

As a young adult, when my parents and their cohorts were aging, I remember them saying that the golden years are not very golden. Paul Auster, in Baumgartnet, takes a look at the aging process through the eyes of Princeton Professor, Seymour Baumgartner. Rife with philosophical wisdom, and flashbacks to happier days, Baumgartner tries to come to terms with what IS versus what WAS.
After two at home accidents , 71 year old Sy is at a place in his life where retirement looms and the best days of his life with his deceased wife, Anna, are but cherished memories. What might have been a morose diatribe, instead is a beautifully rendered, skillfully written, self evaluation of a life well lived.
Auster’s in depth tribute to the aging process feels like a glimpse into his own soul. It encompasses A loving testimonial to a life well lived with the ability to overcome and overlook the foibles of an aging body.
I loved this book as I am a lover of character driven novels. If you enjoy descriptive language and characters who come alive on the page you will feel the same. Look for publication on Nov 7, 2023.
Many thanks to NetGalley and Grove Atlantic for providing me with an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I so wanted to be enthused by this book however I found it too wandering and rambling to really get in to it. I was definitely out of my depth with this book.

Baumgartner feels semi-autobiographical, different than previous works I have read by Auster but nonetheless contains his excellent and fluid prose, and packs an emotional punch. Plot-wise it is not the most eventful novel, but Auster manages to keep the reader compelled throughout. For readers who enjoy character-driven literary fiction and Auster's previous works.

There were happy times. Happy, yes, but not without some issues. Troubles, even. Life happens, things happen, all sorts of things, but we are busy to see these. Too busy to stop and ponder.
This elderly professor finally has time to stop and think. Finally is able to let his memories overwhelm him and to grief like he had never before.
This book starts with what the Spaniards call un golpe. It´s a strong opening after which the pace slows down and settles. Not everybody is going to like it. Yet a reader who has lots of time on his hands will find true pleasure in reading this story and perhaps it will go back to him when he himself becomes a retiree.

Still not sure what to make of this novel. I have many thoughts about it. That in itself is a good thing, I think. The novel seems to invite you to think further than just the story.

S.T. Baumgartner is a 72 year old writer and retired professor. We are introduced to him in a hilarious opening chapter, having a series of minor non-fatal accidents, almost ten years after having lost Anna Auster, the love of his life and wife of 40 years

In the following chapters he keeps stumbling around, reminiscing, touching on memories of himself, Anna, and their family histories. Halfway through the novel, I felt my enthusiasm waning a little, not convinced it was going anywhere. Though, I did like how all characters were kind and full of empathy.

As I put the book aside, and reflected, I started wondering if I should take Baumgartner’s version of events at face value. I’m not sure if this is a valid way of looking at it, but I picked it back up, and got really into reading it with this new perspective.

And, perhaps I should not attribute thoughts a character has to the real life author, but often I could not help myself but imagine Paul Auster himself being the main character, or at least Baumgartner having thoughts Auster might have had about his own life, and place in the world.. I enjoyed doing this. It made me feel connected to the author, not just to Baumgartner.

I will read this book again after the summer. Thank you Netgalley for the ARC.
-Joep

I love this author, but this book wasn't my favorite. I am not a fan of flashbacks, and I sort of lost interest in it. I needed more stories and fewer flashbacks, but the author is fantastic.