Book Review of THE BROOKLYN FOLLIES 1

1. OVERTURE – AN EXPECTED ENCOUNTER (p.1-20)

This is the story of death and revival, departure and encounter and darkness and brightness. At the same time, this is the story of miracle and the story of chance. Everything changes as the time goes by while there’s something unchanged.

Nathan is “looking for a quiet place to die.” (p.1) He is almost 60 years old, divorced his ex-wife, Edith, sold their house, retired his job, his only daughter, Rachel, is already married and he got a lung cancer. He chose Brooklyn as the place to die in, where he was born.

He has a nephew, Tom. He has not seen Tom since their mother died. But in a used book store in Brooklyn, he meets his nephew by chance after seven years. Tom and Nathan used to talk about literature, sometimes about Poe and Thoreau. Tom was very talented, and he was sure his nephew would ascend “the academic ladder.” (p.18) But he meets Tom at a second-book store, where Tom was working.

The man, who is searching for the place to die, and his nephew, who has lost his way in his life, meet at a second-hand book store. The second-hand book store is the place of the end of the first life and the beginning of the second life. The books are waiting for the new life here for a long time. They don’t know who will buy them, when they will be bought, or if they will be bought or not. But they are still waiting for the time of the new life to begin. It is very simbolic that Nathan and Tom meet again. Something new is getting ready to start.