<b>"A beautifully poetic work" -- Joyce Carol Oates<br><br>In his debut memoir, renowned author Paul Auster shares heartfelt and personal meditations on fatherhood that “integrates heart and intellect, sensation and speculation . . . as it relentlessly tries to make sense of the shocks of living” (<i>Newsday</i>)</b><br><b> </b><br><b>“Moving, delicately perceived portraits of lives and relationships.”—<i>The New York Times Book Review</i></b><br><br><i>“One day there is life. . . . And then, suddenly, it happens there is death.”</i><br><br><i>The Invention of Solitude, </i>split into two stylistically separate sections, established Paul Auster’s reputation as a major voice in American literature. The first section, “Portrait of an Invisible Man,” explores Auster’s memories and feelings after the death of his father, a distant, undemonstrative, almost cold man. As he attends to his father’s business affairs and sifts through his effects, Auster uncovers a sixty-year-old family murder mystery that sheds light on his father’s elusive character. In “The Book of Memory,” the perspective shifts from Auster’s identity as a son to his role as a father. Through a mosaic of images, coincidences, and associations, the narrator, “A,” contemplates his separation from his son, his dying grandfather, and the solitary nature of storytelling and writing.