Oracle Night

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Oracle Night is a 2004 novel by Paul Auster. The Guardian calls the novel a "postmodern ghost story". The work is reminiscent of that of Vladimir Nabokov, and the novel is about a writer named Sidney Orr (short, americanized version of the polish surname Orlowski), who, after making a miraculous recovery from close-to-killing injuries, buys a new notebook and starts writing a story about a man who completely changed his life when he realised how much his existence was ruled by coincidence. The base premises for the book is this, Sidney Orr trying to come back to his life and begin writing again, but a lot of things happen in his life at the same time, and the reader gets introduced not only to Sidneys work and personal life, but also in some extent to the life of the person in his work-in-progress novel. Before the end of this period in Sidneys life, events will take place that are truly life-altering, and Sidney will, much like the fictional character he writes of, have to deal with issues and questions he has previously (perhaps unconsciously) been avoiding for several years.

Biographical

The main character has many similarities to Paul Auster himself, both being residents of Brooklyn, middleaged, married, and of course, writers. Some similarities between Auster and a supporting character in Oracle Night - John Trause, are also apparent. Trause, an anagram of Auster, also lived in Paris for a period of his life.

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