True Tales of American Life

True Tales of American Life is a collection derived from a project launched by Paul Auster on US National Public Radio. Auster credits his wife with the idea of having listeners send in their own short pieces of true-life writing, from which Auster would choose half a dozen to be read on air each week. But, for all the success of the radio programme, as Auster writes, "you can't hold the words in your hands". Here, then, is the fully "holdable" book. Auster has selected 179 pieces from the 4,000 plus he had received by October 2000. Split fairly evenly between male and female authors, with an age range of 20 to "pushing 90", the collection revels in its multifariousness: the contributors include "a postman, a merchant seaman, a trolley-bus driver, a gas-and-electric-meter reader, a restorer of player pianos, a crime-scene cleaner", and so on. The biographical detail is relevant because inevitably most of these true stories draw on the rawest of raw materials, the writers' own experience.

Auster wanted "true stories that sounded like fiction". In an age where talk shows (think Jerry Springer and Ricki Lake) demand that we tell our life stories as fiction--and encourage us to live our lives as fiction--it's a particularly timely and potent meeting place of reality and art, or in Auster's words, "an archive of facts, a museum of American reality" in fictional form. Unlike Auster, who regularly has to wade through 60 of these tales in a day to meet his weekly radio deadlines, the regular reader can dip in and out. And at a rate of, say, one story per day, this book will keep you fascinated with (and occasionally horrified at) American's true life tales for just about six months. --Alan Stewart

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an amazing idea - Rated
It's a book which gives you a pleasure to red. It's ab overview of american lifestyle caming form the story of the people. those stories which are far from the classic literature and therefore more genuine and true.
Giovan Battista - Italy

Mixed bag - obviously. - Rated
I agree with all the other reviews! There are too many banal tales of dubious coincidences, but there are enough gems to make it worthwhile. It's an obviously great idea which doesn't live up to the hype, but does fulfill any reasonable readers expectations of such a project. In the Introduction, Auster says these stories are typical of the whole, but it felt to me like there was a flavour to the whole that could only come from an editors' preferences. It is natural that this should be the case, just think it worth noting.

Bores reunited - Rated
I had high hopes of this book but frankly it's rather dull. There are one or two arresting anecdotes but the rest plods, wiht far too many of the tales revolving around coincidences or (alleged) premonitions. Auster and the great intellects who've raved over this book are probably not even aware that this sort of piece has been a staple of household magazines for years. The cumulative effect is of being trapped for hours in a dentist's waiting room with nothing to read but an infinite pile of 20-year old Readers' Digests.

Share It! - Rated
I was bought this book as a present, by someone who had only read the first story about the chicken. The great thing about it is that you can stop wherever you like in the book, and carry on later. Its an ideal book to be reading alongside your novel.
The best part is that some of the stories you instantly want to tell the first person you see about, and others remind you of tales of chance, coincidence or just quirkiness from your own or your friends experiences.

All in all a thoroughly worthwhile and enjoyable book

Stories for Austerians with short-attention spans - Rated
Norman Mailer once said that the average American's attention span was fifteen minutes - as that was the time until the next commercial.

This collection of stories is perfect for anyone who fits into this category.

Paul Auster has a peculiar knack of giving anything associated with him an 'Austerian feel', and these stories are no exception. Many are sentimental, a few are badly written, some are fantastic, but each one deserves its place and gives something unique to the book.

It has the same fascination for a Englishman that road movies have. Somehow, trivial events just count for more in America. Somewhere in that vastness, the magic that these writers imply just may be possible. And 'possibility' is the key to all of Auster's work. You might not get your wish, but keep your eyes open and you might get something better.

'True Tales...' isn't about writing style, cinematic sweep, or literary prizes, it is about a feeling, an attitude, a humanity. Something that fifteen minutes of television just doesn't give you.

You want a breakfast cereal, watch t.v.; you want to feel that life can be a bit more than that, buy the book.