Displaying the kind of linguistic skill and character probing she would put to use with greater effect in her masterpiece, "The History Of Love," Nicole Krauss' first novel signaled the arrival of a major talent, and is a deeply contemplative meditation on memory and the hold it has on us.
Part Alzheimer-type narrative, and part science fiction, "Man Walks Into A Room" is the story of Samson Greene, onetime Columbia University English professor, found wandering in the Nevada desert, with no memory beyond the first twelve years of his life. Some corrective surgery extends his present life, which is spent, via the rest of the book, in trying to unravel who he is, where he came from, and why he was left to exist, in this fashion. There are no easy answers, and the book does not exactly end on an upbeat note--it almost demands some lighter reading following it-- but if you care about writing it is a must.
Though I have to say, if Nicole Krauss was not the writer, and I had not read her other works, I might have had more reservations than I did. At times dense, but richly detailed and emotionally wrenching, the novel has a way of getting under one's skin, making the reader somewhat uncomfortable, which is, I think, its intention. Nicole Krauss wants you to think about ideas via the situations she presents, and on that level she succeeds.
Is it a blast????????? Hardly, darlings!!!!!!!!!! And her scope is reduced, unlike her later works. But, in view of what she went on to do, if you have read Nicole Krauss already, go back and read "Man Walks Into A Room." If you have not, this may not be the best place to start. But once you have, it is worth going back to see where and how Nicole started!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
And Miss Krauss is not botox, girls!!!!!!!! Unlike that OTHER Nicole!!!!!!!!!!!
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