4 3 2 1

4 3 2 1 by Paul Auster
Published by Henry Holt and Co. on January 31st 2017
Genres: Literary Fiction
Pages: 866
Format: Audiobook
Source: Audible

Astonishing, a masterpiece, Paul Auster’s greatest, most satisfying, most vivid and heartbreaking novel -- a sweeping and surprising story of inheritance, family, love and life itself.
Nearly two weeks early, on March 3, 1947, in the maternity ward of Beth Israel Hospital in Newark, New Jersey, Archibald Isaac Ferguson, the one and only child of Rose and Stanley Ferguson, is born. From that single beginning, Ferguson’s life will take four simultaneous and independent fictional paths. Four identical Fergusons made of the same DNA, four boys who are the same boy, go on to lead four parallel and entirely different lives. Family fortunes diverge. Athletic skills and sex lives and friendships and intellectual passions contrast. Each Ferguson falls under the spell of the magnificent Amy Schneiderman, yet each Amy and each Ferguson have a relationship like no other. Meanwhile, readers will take in each Ferguson’s pleasures and ache from each Ferguson’s pains, as the mortal plot of each Ferguson’s life rushes on.
As inventive and dexterously constructed as anything Paul Auster has ever written, yet with a passion for realism and a great tenderness and fierce attachment to history and to life itself that readers have never seen from Auster before. 4 3 2 1 is a marvelous and unforgettably affecting tour de force.

Have you ever asked yourself the tricky questions of “What if?”? I believe we all did at one time or another. 4321 is a book of the What Ifs.

This is a book that I have really truly deeply loved. Probably the best book I have ever read. For me 4 3 2 1 sounded like the final countdown to the most wonderful and fascinating journey ever. A journey with the Fergusons. And with the start of this journey, my mind began a never stopping spinning journey too. This is a book that’s beyond any review, for no review can give it enough credit.

4 3 2 1 is a book that came big on more than one dimension. Nevertheless, the size of course. For almost 900 pages and 38 hours of listening, the Fergusons’ world and mine have coincided. Having reached the end of this journey, I can’t imagine how my days will go Ferguson-less! I’ve got used to listening every day to something new about one or two of the Fergusons. I believe for a writer to write a book that large and still be astonishingly captivating, he must be an exceptionally talented author.

The structure of the book was fascinating and the idea was genius. I am still feeling dazzled. I can’t imagine how Paul Auster could come up with such very innovative idea. Yes, Genius is the word for it.

This is the book about Archibald Isaac Ferguson, born in 1947 to the descendants of two immigrant families. And as the story of Ferguson’s life (or lives) proceeds, Paul Auster challenges the “What Ifs”.  For a boy born, raised and coming of age in the US of the fifties and sixties, what can be the different alternatives and possibilities? To answer this question, Paul Auster considers four different scenarios with different circumstances and life events. Each scenario is the life of one of four identical Fergusons. The four Fergusons are copies of just one Ferguson sharing same background and DNA.

4 3 2 1 starts with a chapter zero that’s common to all the four Fergusons. Then it proceeds in seven cycles to tell the story of each Ferguson covering one interval at a time for each one in parallel.

The alternative scenarios concept in itself is quite genius. A thought provoking idea that kept my mind spinning. Is a person bounded by his own DNA or is he the outcome of his circumstances? What happens if the same person makes different choices, takes different actions and leads a different life? Does this make him a different person? Just like applying different chemical experiments to a certain metal. Those experiments might yield different results while the core element stays the same. Copper can never turn into iron no matter what the experiment brings on. So each Ferguson has a different life story and consequently different inclinations and different sets of choices to make. Brilliant!!

But more brilliant was the storytelling. There’s no one as good as Paul Auster when it comes to storytelling. He is the best storyteller ever. Just imagine this, as one of the Fergusons starts writing his own stories, I got so engaged in those stories that I forgot about the main four stories. And just like the Russian Dolls, I found myself reading a book of books, where stories are inside stories inside stories… all of them amazing stories… unbelievable!! It’s like Paul Auster is playing with stories.

Moreover, this is a book that you should listen to. 4 3 2 1 is narrated by Paul Auster himself, who is also the narrator of all his previous books. Such a wonderful narrator. His voice flows through your ears into your mind and makes you feel like the author himself is sitting beside you, talking to you and telling you the best stories you can listen to in your whole life. A story after a story after a story. And you don’t want him to stop. You plead for more. And as is the case with all the good things, the book ends while you are still there, wanting for more.

That’s not all. Imagine this. A book coming with a reading list! Paul Auster is giving us a reading list of the best classic books to read and enjoy with hints every now and then about one of those books. 4 3 2 1 teases your appetite for books and leaves you craving for those amazing classic books.

This is also a book that ignites the sense of purpose in you. I felt more eager to go on with whatever work I am doing and take it seriously. The way the Fergusons planned their days and worked on their books, studies or whatever they did was contagious. I felt I wanted to do the same with my work.

4 3 2 1 is a book that has to be a mark in literature. A classic for years to come. This book has changed the way I perceive books. Unfortunately, the highest rating is 5 stars. But since I am rating this book as a five stars book, I will rethink the way I rate the future books I read. While four stars rating will be for the books I really like, five stars rating will be reserved for the exceptional books such as 4 3 2 1.