It strikes me that, were a creative writing tutor to use Paul Auster’s Baumgartner as a sample text, they might tell you that it was a good example of how not to write a novel. The reasons? Firstly, masses of ‘telling’ rather than ‘showing’; and secondly, enormously long sentences – sometimes half a page – which are difficult for readers to follow. Oh, and maybe the end is a bit ‘limp’.
And they would be right: there is a lot of telling – which can get boring at times – and many of his sentences are far too long. But does that make it ‘bad’ writing, or a ‘bad’ novel?
I don’t think so – though it’s clearly not his best work.
Having said that, it would make a interesting case study for a Creative Writing course. And for a writer reading it, Baumgartner is a reminder of two of the traps one should try to avoid falling into.
Ian Gouge - Writer 