Rating: 
Summary: Thought provoking book by a master of language
Review: This book reminds me in many ways of The Great Gatsby; if you were to turn it into a film, nothing would work, but if you read it as an allegory of America, it works beautifully. I think too many readers want a good story with a good punch (and here there are several interesting stories and wonderfully bizarre characters), but Moon Palace is about looking for meanings. Perhaps it will take another century for people to realize this is one of the great American books of the second half of the 20th century. Read it, re-read it and then read bits and pieces of it. And if that sounds like too much work, at least read The Invention of Solitude.
Alternatively go have your head banged against the bull on the bridge at Salamanca like Lazarillo, for you have a lot to learn.
Rating:
Summary: A Great Read
Review: I don't read much. After I saw the film "Smoke" written by one Paul Auster, I knew I need to read something by this guy. I quickly picked up "City of Glass" and read as though I was some type of bookworm. If you've never read Auster before, he has a particular style of writing in some type of mixed 1st/3rd/5th person point of view. This might sound confusing but it really isn't.Auster's writings seem to deal with certain issues of individuality. How does the individual affect others in society? How does literature affect us? These are dealt with in this text as well as others. "Moon Palace" is the story of one Marco Stanley Fogg. I won't go any further than that. The book is wonderfully written and will keep you reading it till you're done. I won't spoil anything but there is quite a surprise in the end. Like most Auster's books I did enjoy some part of this one more than others. I really enjoyed reading the section which deals with Fogg's homelessness. Made me wonder "how *do* homeless people survive?" All in all it is a wonderful painting of a man, and his adventures. If you enjoy this book, by all means pick up any one of Auster's other works. Also recommended: The Losers' Club by Richard Perez
Rating: 
Summary: More tales of Paul Auster woe
Review: I'm finding Auster's fascination with suffering to get a little annoying, and this book is one of his worst in that respect. Its still a fun plot, as are most of his novels, but the stories about how the main character starves himself and makes himself a little crazy get a little tiresome. Its almost as bad as his horrible autobiography Hand-to-mouth. I'm not a writer, but it seems the 'less is more' attitude toward writing about suffering, like that guy Hemingway, might be more effective. Its like watching a fish flop on the beach. You stop feeling sorry for it pretty quick and just wish it would die. Happy reading!
Rating: 
Summary: Magic moon and crazy coincidence...
Review: How much credibility can a novelist have when saying that he has written his book only by chance... without any ulterior motives or a planned strand? Not much, after you've read "Moon Palace", Paul Auster's novel about a man who retells his life in such a detailed way, that you have to chew through more than 300 pages while reading it. "What's the matter with it? A biography can also be interesting.", you would say. One maybe, but definitely not three in one book! I asked myself many times what I can make of this novel. Should I keep in mind the many historical allusions in order to enhance my general knowledge? Should I be warned about what can happen if you let yourself go and trust in coincidence? Would it be better for me to work for an egocentric, old grumbler who emerges in the end as my own grandfather? I'm not sure about it. But I'm pretty sure that I haven't really learnt anything from that book. I was rather irritated by Marco's behaviour, in particular in the first chapters, because I can't identify with him at all. The most incomprehensible fact for me is that the protagonist, who seems to be so intelligent, doesn't think of a job at first, even when he sees that the landlord will soon throw him out of the apartment. How can a man let himself go in such an immature and senseless way? Also, shortly before Solomon Barber's death, Marco is so shocked that Solomon is his father that he shouts at him and insults him - another reaction that I can't understand. Wasn't it already obvious when he told Marco of his affair with Emily Fogg that Solomon would be his father? But the most ridiculous thing about the novel is the implementation of coincidence and chance: Kitty and Zimmer find Marco accidentally in Central Park, Effing is by chance Marco's grandfather and Solomon Barber writes a book containing incidentally an adapted, but coherent life story of his unknown father - wow... what a coincidence, isn't it? Mr Auster, you really seem to make fun of your readers! Even the cheapest mountain-doctor and schoolgirl romance novel is more realistic than your "Moon ballast". You should rather go back to Columbia University and teach the students real literature, just as Shakespeare or Goethe...
Rating:
Summary: a mediocre book
Review: After first reading the novel "Moon Palace" by Paul Auster seems to be a quite mediocre book. It just deals with the life story of a man called Marco Fogg and includes a number of sub-narratives. Although the blurb promisses "the history of modern America" and the main character`s "quest for his identity" and re-examination of "his relationship with America" these points are not really clear after reading the book once. I would have expected these topics to be developed more precisely so the reader can understand and recognize them more esily in the book. Generally the story has not got much tention in it, but in spite of that it is not boring, either. It just goes on and on without any climax or specific aim. To my mind the book is okay, but I would not read it twice.
Rating:
Summary: coincidence and surprise
Review: When I started reading Moon Palace by Paul Auster I expected to be very bored because I thought M.S. Fogg's life story would never become interesting for me. But I was surprised that it was so easy for me to get into the story and after a while I constated that I really enjoyed getting to know more about the devellopments in Marco's life. The topic of coincidence leads trough the whole story, and when you think there is no way out for Marco, Paul Auster offers an unexpected new way. The complicated situation of Marco's family seems too unreal to me, but I must admit thatI liked the ideas the Author presents in his book. In some parts, the reader needs lots of imagination to get what the author wants to express.
In general I would say that the book is worth reading it, though I would probably not have chosen it on my own( we read it in school). You can find lots of interesting and up-to-date topics in it, so it does not belong to a special kind of books like "love-stories" or "crimes". The story offers many different items so you start thinking about the same things Marco has to deal with, so you can sometimes really identify with him and ask if you would have reacted in the same way.
It is a pity that Marco explains what will happen next right at the beginning of the chapter, so a lot of suspense is taken, even if the story does not get boring when you get to know all the details. With "Moon Palace" Paul Auster offers an unusual but great story full of surprise and coincidence and leads Marco Fogg's life not - like the reader would have expected- to an end but to another perspective for the next steps into his future.
Rating:
Summary: Moon Palace, a strange but fascinating novel
Review: Moon Palace was supposed to be in one part a story about the history of modern America and about a young man trying to find his identity in it.Although the topic is not really up-to-date,it is quite interesting to get to know things about life in an extreme city like New York or in a lost paradise like the deserts of Utah.
Marco Fogg's story is -in my view- in a few parts extremely over-emphasized;all the coincidences in his life are so unrealistic,but that is what makes a book interesting: things happening that nobody would have expected to happen.
I believe that it is a pity that a few really important facts of the story are told right at the beginning of a chapter.I was really disappointed,for example,to get to know already on the first page that Marco would loose all his possessions,that he would be saved by a girl called Kitty Wu and that he would discover who his father is.That point takes a lot of the tension away and makes the novel less interesting than it could actually be.
BUt,all in all I have to say that "Moon Palace" is the first book of its kind I have ever read;the story is quite strange,but mostly fascinating and it is worth being called a "good" book.
Rating: 
Summary: Neil Armstrong is a policeman and Marco Fogg is Hölderlin
Review: "Moon Palace" is about a young man, Marco Stanley Fogg, who is searching for his identity. Many strange things happen to him and that's why he lives through the most different stages of life: He turns from a student to a homeless person, who nearly dies, and then to a rich man.
In the book Marco once says "Reality is a Yo-Yo, change is the only constant"
and that's exactly what Marco's life is about. Even at the end of the book he wants to start a new life. The American Dream plays a big role in the novel. You can see the old saying
„From rags to riches" in Marco's life. Auster uses the myth of the "West" as a symbol as well. This also connects Marco with his father and grandfather, for example when Marco walks through the desert of Utah like his grandfather once did. American history appears several times, mostly in art. The „Moonlight" painting by Blakelock reflects the lifestyle of the Native Americans and their relation to nature.
These are just two of the many connections in the book. Another one is that Marco, Effing and Uncle Victor love books and that they all read a lot. So Uncle Victor gives all his books to Marco and he uses them as furniture until he has to sell them because of his financial problems. On the day when Marco sells his last book, men land on the moon for the first time. The moon has an important meaning in the novel, because it reflects the beginning of a new part of Marco's life.
That's one of the many coincidences in the book. He gets to know every important person in his life by coincidence: His grandfather Thomas Effing, his father Solomon Barber and his girlfriend Kitty Wu, who saves his life when he stays homeless for several months in Central park. That is one of the authentic settings which the author uses in the novel. There is also Chinatown, Columbia University with its Dodge Hall and Brooklyn Museum. We think that the book is difficult to understand when you don't know the way Auster is writing. He uses many coincidences, every name has a deeper meaning, for example Solomon Barber which could mean sun or ground, loneliness and moon. The historical background of America appears in his book, too, for example the moon landing. You have to put all the different and connected events and people in order.
Another typical feature is that he uses his home town of New York as the central setting of the plot. The reason is that in this city many people from different parts of the world are mixed together with all their different cultures, lifestyles and languages. Accordingly Marco lives through all the levels of society.
Although it is a difficult way of writing, the book can be very interesting when you know the background. You get impressions of the society and mentality of America, of the myth of the West and of many strange lifestyles.
Rating:
Summary: Required Reading
Review: Paul Auster has written a coming-of-age story so compelling as to replace "Catcher In the Rye" as an American Classic--at least in my mind. I wept at the the end of the story, out of happiness, out of relief, out of sadness. What a beautiful story.
Rating:
Summary: A weird book, great feeling when everything comes together.
Review: Although this book has been written severel years ago I think that it is still worth reading and Auster's greatest work.
In the end everything comes together not only in the book but also in the reader's mind. Auster seems to build up things after his own rule. He doesn't have to look out for any moral values or societies unwritten laws. People do what they need to do. With the description of an author and the mind of a poet Austers knows how to evoke strong feelings in the reader. The book keeps on astonishing with surprises. The only negative point in this book is that he lets characters end. (If I write more about this I would suck the tension out of parts of the book ) For all the people who didn't like the ending I would recommend to read the last 10 pages once again and then it keeps its brilliancy. Have fun and enjoy.
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