Why a Booktrail?
Shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize 2017
4 3 2 1
What you need to know before your trail
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 Fergusons made of the same genetic material, four boys who are the same boy, will go on to lead four parallel and entirely different lives.
Chapter by chapter, the rotating narratives evolve into an elaborate dance of inner worlds enfolded within the outer forces of history as, one by one, the intimate plot of each Ferguson’s story rushes on across the tumultuous and fractured terrain of mid twentieth-century America. A boy grows up-again and again and again.
Travel Guide
This is a story which takes you across various countries, cities, experiences and times. The life journeys of one man, four times, four different versions. For reasons of the booktrail, since they all start in Newark, NJ, this is the focus of the trail, but be prepared to travel worldwide….
Father’s arrival in New York
Travelling from his native city of Minsk, there is a nice legend of how Reznikoff travelled to New York as an immigrant. English was not is mother tongue and he had been told to say that his name was more american – “Tell them you’re Rockefeller, he was told, as you can’t go wrong with that”
But he forgets this name and mumbles “Ikh hob fargessen(I’ve forgotten in Yiddish) at the US immigration officer. And so he is called Ichabold Ferguson from that moment on…
Autumn
The hardback cover is a rich autumnal reddish-brown and comes with a wrap-around of Early November Tunnel by David Hockney.
Then there’s the journey to Paris:
Ferguson was euphoric. Not just Paris, but Paris under the same roof as Vivian Schreiber, Paris under the benevolent care of Women kinds’ most glorious incarnation, Paris on the rue de l”university in the seventh arrondissement. Left Bank Paris with all the comforts of rich and tranquil neighbourhood just a short walk to the cafes of Saint Germain.
Booktrail Boarding Pass: 4 3 2 1
Destination: Newark, New Jersey, Worldwide Author/Guide: Paul Auster Departure Time: Various
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