Ghosts

The mystery book, Ghosts by Paul Auster has by far been my favorite book read for this class. I love the story line and the way that every character in the book is identified by a given color instead of an actual name in order to protect their identity. This is a different approach towards introducing the characters. Usually, the author gives very detailed descriptions about the characters in a book. however, in this book, Auster purposely choses to use colors instead. This sometimes made understanding the story a little bit more difficult.

The story centers around Blue, a detective who has been hired by White, to spy on Black. In the beginning, it appears unclear as to why Blue has to spy on Black, and it becomes foggy when Blue starts losing track of what is real and what isn’t. While reading this book, I picked up on different themes, and the one that stood out the most was the constant feeling of loneliness experienced by Blue. I seemed to me that even though he kept himself preoccupied by doing his detective work, he always felt lonely. I can relate in a way, because I think there’s a lonesome feeling in doing the same thing everyday, without anything different. Blue knows Black’s routine like the back on his hand, and he can even predict what he will and wont do next. At one point, Blue feels that while watching Black, he is watching himself. 

Auster represents time in a confusing way, I think. Before we know it, years have passed in the novel, and Blue is still going on with the case. We see this when he loses connection with the future Ms.Blue, and passes her in the street, in the arms of another man. Much like in the previous book we read, Shoplifting from American Apparel by Tao Lin, it seems like Blue also had a hard time dealing with his expressing his emotions concerning the future Ms.Blue. He found himself debating if he should call her or not, since they were away from each other due to his mission. Later in the book, Blue has a thing with a woman from a bar he went to one night. This only proves how lonely he is feeling, because as he explains, “every man needs a little comfort” (43). 

The title Ghosts, makes sense to me now. For the duration of the case, Blue loses himself, I would say, thus becoming a ghost.