Leviathan

One sentence synopsis... After his estranged friend and fellow writer Ben blows himself up with a bomb, Peter attempts to reconstruct his life and discover what led him to that end.

Read it if you like... post modern narrative techniques or Historiographic metafiction. There are some strong Ted Kaczynski vibes from Ben in the later half of the book. Auster is taking liberties with history - think Quentin Tarantino but actually good.

Dream casting... too many good options for this one. I need a Joseph Gordon-Levitt/Tom Hiddleston type for the straight man/try-hard Peter Aaron and someone who can do descent-into-madness like Jake Gyllenhaal or potentially Ryan Gosling as charming, provocative, unhinged Ben Sachs.

Same thematic elements present in The New York Trilogy but with a developed story. Enjoyed the ambiguous nature of the narrative but wish it went a bit further.

I loved the writing but the story left me unmoved, unconcerned and, perhaps, even uninterested.

About a friend, a estranged guy trying to find himself and falling a) in love b) off a balcony c) victim of a belief in some crazy bombing shit and his own connections with the whole caboodle. Very well written and involving.

An incredible book, compelling from the start. Though the book commits a very serious taboo, focusing not only on an author, but also the writing of a book, it does not estrange the reader. Instead, the main character tells the story of his dead friend before the authorities can figure out what happened and broadcast their own findings. In the process, everything about the main character is revealed.
Similar to other absurd books like Murakami, but works so much better...