Why read The Music of Chance?

Book cover of The Music of Chance

Book description

Nashe comes into an inheritance and decides to pursue a life of freedom. He meets Pozzi, a gambler, who exerts a terrible fascination over, him and together they take a desperate gamble. By the author of "The New York Trilogy", "Moon Palace" and "The Invention of Solitude".

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Literary fiction

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Why read it?

2 authors picked The Music of Chance as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?

John Bowie

Author

This is Auster exploring all the themes he’s well known for now, and crafting them into a beautifully absurd almost surreal tale. Not strictly a noir book this has a protagonist struggling with his place in the world and his identity, whilst getting drawn into situations out of their control—all tropes which are seminal to the genre.

Auster’s first book released under the pseudonym Paul Benjamin, called Squeeze Play, is a more typical crime, or pulp noir. And it's easy to see his blend into literary fiction whilst holding the noir handles close for The Music of Chance.

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From John's list on The best gritty noir novels full of poetic lines, dirty realism, and dark humour.

Alex Pavesi

Author

Paul Auster is known for taking motifs from noir and playing around with them. Of all his books, this one works the best as a straightforward thriller. A pair of drifters attempt to hustle some millionaires out of their money but get outsmarted. After a disastrous poker game, they end up in debt to their victims, who set them to work building a useless decorative wall. It's one of those novels that reads like it could all be a dream.

From Alex's list on The best thriller books that will make you question reality.