I was looking for a quiet place to die. Someone recommended
Brooklyn, and so the next morning I traveled down there from
Westchester to scope out the terrain. I hadn't been back in fiftysix
years, and I remembered nothing.【开头素朴中包孕奇崛。小说创造了迥异的开头。保罗奥斯特的开头往往还要以插叙方式，糅合进一个过去的故事，从而为奇崛的风景坐标，做好根基，使之成为阅读视界的地平线。其实也是建筑物。】

【继续。小说的推展才看出写作者的水准。其实也是节奏掌控能力】

At first, I didn't know what to do with myself. I had spent
thirty-one years commuting back and forth between the suburbs
and the Manhattan offices of Mid-Atlantic Accident and Life,
but now that I didn't have a job anymore, there were too many
hours in the day. About a week after I moved into the apartment,
my married daughter, Rachel, drove in from New Jersey to pay
me a visit.

【继续保持与开头之“死”的联系】

  I explained that I was probably going to be dead before the
year was out, and I didn't give a flying fuck about projects. For
a moment, it looked as if Rachel was about to cry, but she
blinked back the tears and called me a cruel and selfish person
instead. No wonder "Mom" had finally divorced me, she added,
no wonder she hadn't been able to take it anymore. Being married
to a man like me must have been an unending torture, a
living hell. A living hell. Alas, poor Rachel—

【因为小说是重复的艺术，也是差异的技术。小说是在重复中制造差异，并以差异来生产重复，进而形成漩涡，攀升或下沉。唯独不会走直线。直线的人生不值得度过，唯有曲线才是美的本质。所以，艺术品的格式塔，大概就是对“O”的不同切分或分割。最终形成了M型，W型，U型，N型。】

为保持叙述节奏的好看，奥斯特必须使用第二人称“你”作为附属人称。小说以“我”为叙事发动机，倒没什么，问题在于，中国当代作家不懂得“我-你”的变奏，更不懂得“我你他她它”之间历史的构成和本质上的多位一体（三位一体），以至于声音单一，节奏贫乏无味，缘故在于，他写着写着，就忘我了。坐忘了。呆若木鸡了。庄周梦蝶了。最终也务虚了。小说不是务虚的艺术。小说必须务实。【精彩地】【讲述】+故事。

On my good days, I'm as sweet and friendly as any person I know.【You
can't sell life insurance as successfully as I did by alienating
your customers, at least not for three long decades you can't. You
have to be sympathetic. You have to be able to listen. You have……】