''The Brooklyn Follies'' is a 2005 novel by

Paul Auster Paul Benjamin Auster (born February 3, 1947) is an American writer and film director. His notable works include ''The New York Trilogy'' (1987), '' Moon Palace'' (1989), ''The Music of Chance'' (1990), '' The Book of Illusions'' (2002), '' The B ...

Plot summary

59-year-old Nathan Glass returns to

Park Slope Park Slope is a neighborhood in northwestern Brooklyn, New York City, within the area once known as South Brooklyn. Park Slope is roughly bounded by Prospect Park and Prospect Park West to the east, Fourth Avenue to the west, Flatbush A ...

Brooklyn, New York Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...

after his wife has left him. He is recovering from

lung cancer Lung cancer, also known as lung carcinoma (since about 98–99% of all lung cancers are carcinomas), is a malignant lung tumor characterized by uncontrolled cell growth in tissues of the lung. Lung carcinomas derive from transformed, mali ...

and is looking for "a quiet place to die". In Brooklyn, he meets his

nephew In the lineal kinship system used in the English-speaking world, a niece or nephew is a child of the subject's sibling or sibling-in-law. The converse relationship, the relationship from the niece or nephew's perspective, is that of ...

, Tom, whom he has not seen in several years. Tom has seemingly given up on life and has resigned himself to a string of meaningless jobs as he waits for his life to change. They develop a close friendship, entertaining each other in their misery, as they both try to avoid taking part in life. When Lucy, Tom's young niece who initially refuses to speak, comes into their lives, there is suddenly a bridge between their past and their future that offers both Tom and Nathan some form of redemption. ''The Brooklyn Follies'' contains the classic elements of a Paul Auster novel. The main character is a lonely man, who has suffered an unfortunate reversal. The narrative is based on sudden and randomly happening events and coincidences. "It is a book about survival" as Paul Auster says. The novel was published in Danish in May 2005, under the name ''Brooklyn Dårskab''. It was published in English in November 2005. The

Traditional Chinese A tradition is a belief or behavior (folk custom) passed down within a group or society with symbolic meaning or special significance with origins in the past. A component of cultural expressions and folklore, common examples include holidays ...

version appeared in October 2006 with the title slightly altered as ''Mr. Nathan in Brooklyn''.

External links

An interview and a collection of essays on Auster's ''The Brooklyn Follies'' (English and French)

References

2005 American novels Novels by Paul Auster Novels set in Brooklyn Henry Holt and Company books Faber and Faber books {{2000s-novel-stub