My sentiments for this novel consist of a bubbling collage of intrigue, confusion, curiosity and slight disappointment. One of the things I liked about Oracle Night, was Paul Auster's writing style. The use of the footnotes as a mean of elaboration enhanced, for me at least, the feel of a notebook, and the desire/compulsion to write. It also helped create a feel of a historical document, or more of an autobiography about the events, trying to maintain one chronological framework while introducing information about others in a unique, interesting way.
Perhaps on a shallower, less important level, I found Auster's selection of names for his characters rather bland and dull, giving an almost cliche tinge to the novel. Undeniably, the plot of the novel was very interesting, playing with the themes of time, reality and human flaws. I found the scene where Sidney slips and engages in sexual activity with the "African Princess" rather cogent. The scene was not a long one, but still showed that Sidney was not a perfect person, contrary to the image he sets when mentioning the blue team in camp and his disgust at the thought of abortion; his moral scope was flawed.
Another weakness in the novel was the overly brief mention and description of the "Actual" Oracle Night, Sylvia Maxwell's novel, within the novel, within the novel? I felt the idea Flagg's gift of foretelling the future needed greater emphasis, as did the consequences. The plot was already overly intricate, so perhaps a rebalancing of emphasis on different aspects of the story is important.
As a whole, I did enjoy the novel, an interesting twist on a love triangle, and the power of words and the future, though I was left with many questions after I was done reading. The ending was too abrupt, insignificant and in fact disappointing. My final thoughts were "Huh, this seems like the foundation for a good book."
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2 comments:
Your thoughts on the novel were quite interesting, as many of your observations and conclusions differed to mine. In general I do agree with your comments, yet when I analyze the "flaws" of this novel I tend to believe that they were purposely portrayed as such by the author to convey a certain message. For example the lack of significance given to Sylvia Maxwell's Oracle Night did at first strike me as a weak point. Later, upon completion of the novel, I concluded that perhaps Auster was trying to solely emphasize the narrator, Sidney's, story. The "novel within the novel, within the novel" was only there to add to the main plot and to the characterization of Sidney. Also the "flaws" in the sub-plots could be explaied as flaws in Sidney's writing style, not Auster's. As a whole, I agree with you to. Although I was somewhat more satisfied with the ending, I agree that more elaboration could have added to the integrity of the novel.
On the whole i agree with the ideas published in your post however with some exceptions. I personally find it annoying to have to interrupt what your reading and scroll to the bottom of the page then read there and sometimes have to flip the page to find out something that couldve easily been included besides the topic its related to. I also thought that the actual oracle night novel shouldve been discussed more in the novel and not just briefly mentioned. I never noticed the Cliche names but now that you mention it you have a point. To me the best part of the novel was the insights into human nature such as the blue team discussion which you mentioned.
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