Leviathan

Title: Leviathan

Author: Paul Auster

Number of pages: 245

Started: 5 July 2011

Finished: 8 July 2011

Opening words:

Six days ago, a man blew himself up by the side of a road in northern Wisconsin. There were no witnesses, but it appears that he was sitting on the grass next to his parked car when the bomb he was building accidentally went off. According to the forensic reports that have just been published, the man was killed instantly. His body burst into dozens of small pieces, and fragments of his corpse were found as far as 50 feet away from the site of the explosion.

Plot summary:

The explosion that detonates the narrative of Paul Auster's remarkable novel also ends the life of its hero, Benjamin Sachs, and brings two FBI agents to the home of one of Sachs' oldest friends, the writer Peter Aaron. What follows is Aaron's story, an intricate, subtle and gripping investigation of another man's life in all its richness and complexity.

What I thought:

I am getting close to having read all of the Paul Auster books, so I am having to pace myself. This book had an intriguing start and slowly the back story unfolded throughout the book to explain why a man blew himself up.

The book was in Auster’s usual style, slightly quirky characters who have somehow distanced themselves from life the intertwining if people’s lives and people reflecting back on how things turned out the way they have. This was a good read and one I might revisit.