mandy reviewed In the Country of Last Things. by Paul Auster
None
5 stars
I don't know why it took me so long to read a Paul Auster book but here we are. Throughout this reading, I've been conscious of how great it feels to read a truly good book and it's awakened a desire to see what else I missed over the years.
(I read a lot of 20th century literature in the early 90s before moving into serial-killer fiction and then YA. Even now, I'm more inclined to read brand new fiction instead of the classics).
Written in 1987, this book remains timeless in its depiction of a post-apocalyptic city (or at the very least, a collapsed city). The book has been described as dystopian but at no point does the government consider itself to be the answer - rather each successive government is trying to manage the economic, ecologically and physical disaster the city finds itself in.
With dire descriptions of …
(I read a lot of 20th century literature in the early 90s before moving into serial-killer fiction and then YA. Even now, I'm more inclined to read brand new fiction instead of the classics).
Written in 1987, this book remains timeless in its depiction of a post-apocalyptic city (or at the very least, a collapsed city). The book has been described as dystopian but at no point does the government consider itself to be the answer - rather each successive government is trying to manage the economic, ecologically and physical disaster the city finds itself in.
With dire descriptions of starvation, poverty and life at the very edge of survival, <em>In the Country of Last Things</em> felt viscerally real. The writing, written in epistolary form, reminded me of firsthand accounts from actual war and disaster zones I’ve read from writers in Rwanda, Bosnia, and South Africa.
