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4 3 2 1

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4 3 2 1

By: Paul Auster
Narrated by: Paul Auster
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About this listen

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

Critic reviews

"One of the great writers of our time." ( San Francisco Chronicle)
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An engaging story that explores how turning a different corner, making a different choice, can affect ones whole path in life. I loved the characters and really enjoyed following their stories. The fact that their paths were set against and entwined with real events..the civil rights movement. ..the war in Vietnam etc. made their journeys all the more vivid. A very good audible download.

engaging

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I enjoyed the first 2/3rds of the book but then it became increasingly tedious. List after list of names, books, records, anything you can think of. Lots of repetitive sentences. An increasingly monotone and mumbling narrator, so that by the end of the book I used to play it to put me to sleep. I enjoyed the various stories, got a real sense of the different people who were key in Ferguson's four lives, though not of him, he was kind of empty, just a vessel for the author to push his thoughts through. With a serious edit this book would have been great.

Interesting concept but too long

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it did drag a little and quite pretentious in places but overall it was very enjoyable.

cool novel

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Loved this book. But hard going if you’re not familiar with the politics of the era. Learnt loads. The story is very clever from 4 view points. Really did enjoy it. The author narrates and he has an odd accent but you do get used to it.

Amazing American history novel

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The depth and precision in this novel and structure is superb. This is a must read for anyone who has the patience and enjoys long descriptive prose. Don't expect a page turning romp but the scenes and the relationships are both reflective and gripping. Recent novels I've loved are 'A little life', 'the Goldfinch' and 'the amazing adventures of Kavalier and Clay'. If you enjoyed any of those you should enjoy this.
Also getting to hear the author narrate what feels like a partly autobiographical experiences is deeply personal and draws you in.

A masterpiece in depth

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