Book Review: Travels in the Scriptorium

Travels in the Scriptorium, by Paul Auster
This is a spare and haunting novel, which takes place over just one day. The main character, named Mr. Blank, is alone in a room and can’t remember where he is, and why he's being kept this way. His set-up could be either for protection or for punishment– he just can’t tell which it is. As the day progresses, he is visited by several people and he seems to just vaguely recognize each one, but can’t remember the circumstances of their relationship to him. It’s all so uncertain. Fans of Samuel Beckett or the TV show The Prisoner may see similarities in this book. If you’ve read previous works by Auster, you will come to an understanding of the theme earlier in the book. I hadn’t read any of his earlier works, so this was all new to me. I still can’t decide if I liked it or not! Why don’t you try reading it and see for yourselves– leave a comment, too. --Linda