by Nicole Krauss
Excerpt:While they treated him in the emergency room in Las Vegas for whatever he was suffering, one of the police officers put in a call for a search on Samson Greene, d.o.b. 1/29/64. When it was discovered that Samson Greene had been missing for eight days, last seen walking out of the gates of Columbia University and down Broadway into the clear afternoon, things began to get interesting. Someone in the Twenty-fourth Precinct in Manhattan was able to connect the police officer to the social services agency where Samson's wife worked, and after speaking to three people he was finally put through to her. Hello? she said quietly into the phone, already informed of who was on the other end. Is he alive?
Review:
Samson Greene, a young and popular professor at Columbia, is found wandering in the Nevada desert. When his wife, Anna, comes to bring him home, she finds a man who remembers nothing, not even his own name. The removal of a small brain tumor saves his life, but his memories beyond the age of twelve are permanently lost. The story starts off with a lot of questions unanswered and by the end of the novel I felt like I needed more information. I was not satisfied with the second half of the book and would recommend this book as a "two read"at the least. After thinking about the beginning of the book, I feel like I need to reread in order to piece together some details. I love the language and the author is one of my new favorites, but this particular story starts strong, and ends weak. If you haven't read anything by Krauss, I suggest you start with her more popular novel The History of Love: A Novel.
About the Author
Nicole Krauss was born in New York in 1974 and lives in Brooklyn. She has published in Esquire, the Paris Review, and Best American Short Stories. Called "one of the most impressive debuts of 2002" by Esquire, Man Walks Into a Room was a finalist for the Los Angeles Times Book Award.
