Paul Auster is one of the few authors who have over 5 books of their work on my main library shelf at home. The others are Charles de Lint with 14 books and Jonathan Carroll with 8 books. These three authors have shaped me as a reader and writer more than I could have ever realized. Charles de Lint’s influence has been apparent since I started my blog in January 2011; however, Jonathan Carroll and Paul Auster have been just as influential.

Baumgartner is the fourth Paul Auster novel I have read to date, and with three more novels on my shelf to read, it will not be my last. Auster tells the story of Seymour T. Baumgartner at age 71, who has lost his beloved wife, Anna, recently and is trying to pick up the pieces after such a devastating loss.

We learn how he first met Anna, a well-regarded poet, and the nature of the relationship right up to her untimely passing. Also, we learn about Baumgartner’s life as a child and how unfulfilled dreams of his parents shaped his own path in life. Coincidences are a recurring element in Auster’s novels, influencing the protagonist’s path, although less noticeably than in other of his books that I’ve read. This novella still shows traces of those chance happenings in a person’s life.

Baumgartner is not my favorite Auster novel (Oracle Night and The New York Trilogy are my favorites.) but his storytelling was on full display, and I contend he is one of the most readable authors I have ever read. I become completely absorbed in his fictional world, and I find myself reading twenty to thirty pages in a matter of minutes without noticing. In my opinion, that’s Auster’s greatest strength as a writer. I’m eager to continue reading the remaining Paul Auster novels I own, which include The Brooklyn Follies, The Book of Illusions, and The Music of Chance. He was one of the best modern American fiction writers we had working before his passing in 2024. I am grateful to have found his work in the late 1990s; although he will not be creating any new writing, Auster’s existing body of work is unparalleled and should be read by readers for years to come.