Ghost Stories: A Memoir

by Siri Hustvedt

A searing memoir of love and grief centered around the loss of Siri Hustvedt’s husband, Paul Auster.

"Genuinely moving...Hustvedt’s book is like Didion’s [The Year of Magical Thinking] in tone...a grainy and resonant book about loneliness, despair and confusion. It’s close to a howl."—The NYT Book Review

Ghost Stories is an intimate meditation on grief, memory, and enduring love, written after the death of Siri Hustvedt’s husband, Paul Auster. The book includes personal, never-before-seen writing by Auster—letters and notes to Siri and his last unfinished book addressed to his grandson, Letters to Miles. The memoir is both an elegy and a reckoning, a chronicle of personal loss that also bears witness to the sorrows of recent years—the tragic deaths of Hustvedt’s stepson and granddaughter.

Hustvedt explores how grief unmoors time, how the intimacy of a shared life continues to mark the everyday, and how the body experiences the absence of love as a presence. She reflects on the things and papers Auster left behind, the forty-three years they spent together, the rituals of mourning, and the nature of language, memory, and the self.

Part memoir, part philosophical inquiry, Ghost Stories is unflinching, tender, and wise. It is a story of a woman haunting her own life, and the ghosts that inhabit us even as we carry on.

Genres: Nonfiction, Memoir, Grief, Biography, Audiobook, Death, American

Audible Audio

First published May 5, 2026

About the author

Hustvedt was born in Northfield, Minnesota. Her father Lloyd Hustvedt was a professor of Scandinavian literature, and her mother Ester Vegan emigrated from Norway at the age of thirty. She holds a B.A. in history from St. Olaf College and a Ph.D. in English from Columbia University; her thesis on Charles Dickens was entitled Figures of Dust: A Reading of Our Mutual Friend.

Hustvedt has mainly made her name as a novelist, but she has also produced a book of poetry, and has had short stories and essays on various subjects published in (among others) The Art of the Essay, 1999, The Best American Short Stories 1990 and 1991, The Paris Review, Yale Review, and Modern Painters.

Like her husband Paul Auster, Hustvedt employs a use of repetitive themes or symbols throughout her work. Most notably the use of certain types of voyeurism, often linking objects of the dead to characters who are relative strangers to the deceased characters (most notable in various facits in her novels The Blindfold and The Enchantment of Lily Dahl) and the exploration of identity. She has also written essays on art history and theory (see "Essay collections") and painting and painters often appear in her fiction, most notably, perhaps, in her novel, What I Loved.

She lives in Brooklyn, New York, with her husband, writer Paul Auster, and their daughter, singer and actress Sophie Auster.

Reviews

[Bart Moeyaert · Rating 5 out of 5]

In september 2012 kon ik ongeveer elke avond in een New Yorkse boekhandel naar de lezing van een auteur die me interesseerde of die ik graag las. Voor Paul Auster volgde ik een lange wachtrij. Als een echte fanboy nam ik een foto waarop én Paul Auster én Siri Hustvedt én dochter Sophie stonden, die net haar hoofd tegen de schouder van haar moeder vlijde.
Dat beeld had ik voortdurend voor ogen toen ik dit serene, prachtig gecomponeerde, aangrijpende boek las.

[Helene Jeppesen · Rating 5 out of 5]

While I was reading this (highly anticipated) book, big changes took place in my life and left me with sorrow not unlike Siri Hustvedt after her husband’s death. Maybe that’s why I connected so well with it - even though I also did feel like some passages were a bit dragging (I’m not much into footnotes).
But behind these very well written lines and reflections sits a woman who is clearly very intelligent on both words and love, and it was a pleasure to be allowed into her marriage with Paul Auster who was and is one of my literary heroes. One can only hope to experience a love like theirs…

[Marion · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ein Jahr Trauer um einen geliebten Menschen, voller Erinnerungen und mit vielen Gedanken und Gefühlen.

[Frani · Rating 5 out of 5]

Left me sobbing 😭

[Natalia Weissfeld · Rating 4 out of 5]

A beautiful long letter of love and death to one of the most talented writers of our time from her equally brilliant wife, in this book Siri Hustvedt celebrates the life of Paul Auster and their 43 year long marriage, with the highs and lows of every relationship, but with a deep sense of mutual respect and admiration for each other. She invites the reader to step into their most intimate moments with a poignant honesty that jumps out of the book. In it she compiles letters, fragments of their books and anecdotes that reveal their deepest thoughts and sensitivity. And lovingly she allows the reader to step into the quietness of death.
If I already admired both of them before this book comes to cement that admiration and leaves me with the need of revisit their works again.

[Andrés · Rating 5 out of 5]

Me cuesta ser conciso a la hora de reseñar este libro. Primero, porque Paul Auster es mi escritor favorito desde que la literatura empezó a formar parte de mi vida cotidiana, y estuve esperando leer este libro desde que Siri anunció que había empezado a escribirlo. Segundo, porque no sé hasta qué punto Siri habrá conseguido ser concisa al contar esta historia.
¿A qué me refiero con esto? Son tantas las cosas que ella podría haber escrito sobre su matrimonio, sobre la vida de la persona con la que compartió 43 años, y ni hablar de todo lo que se puede decir sobre la muerte como tema en sí. Creo que habrá dejado mucho afuera, y lamento un poco que el libro no tenga mil páginas.

Es un gran ensayo en el que Siri nos acerca a Paul, nos abre las puertas de la intimidad que construyeron durante todos esos años y nos permite conocerlo desde un lugar profundamente amoroso. Es una oda al matrimonio, pero también una reflexión sobre la muerte de un ser querido y sobre cómo seguir adelante con un vacío que quizás nunca vuelva a llenarse.
El dolor y el amor aparecen conjugados en un libro precioso ("hermoso! brillante!" también podría decir), que me enfrentó con la dicotomía de "no puedo parar de leerlo y a la vez lamento que un día lo voy a terminar". Así fue. Y tal vez esa misma contradicción también sucede cuando amás a alguien con todo tu corazón.

[Pia Maria · Rating 5 out of 5]

Beautiful

[Laura Bomio Giovanascini]

Historias de fantasmas, de Siri Hustvedt, es uno de esos libros que se leen con una mezcla constante de admiración, ternura y desgarro. A partir de la enfermedad y posterior muerte de su marido –el escritor Paul Auster– Hustvedt construye un relato profundamente íntimo en el que la literatura se convierte en una forma de acompañar, recordar y, en cierta medida, sobrevivir.

Lejos de cualquier sentimentalismo fácil, la autora narra los últimos años de vida de Auster, marcados por el cáncer de pulmón, los tratamientos interminables, la incertidumbre médica y el desgaste físico y emocional que implica intentar convivir con la enfermedad. El libro incorpora además cartas y mensajes dirigidos a amigos cercanos, donde Hustvedt comparte con una honestidad conmovedora la evolución del estado de salud de Paul, así como textos del propio Auster, que aportan una dimensión todavía más humana y cercana al relato.

Pero Historias de fantasmas no es únicamente una crónica del duelo ni de la enfermedad. También es una evocación luminosa de una vida compartida: cómo se conocieron, cómo construyeron su relación, cómo crecieron como escritores y como pareja, y cómo aprendieron a envejecer juntos. En ese sentido, el libro funciona también como memoria de un amor largo, complejo y real.

Sin embargo, en mi opinión lo más poderoso de esta obra es que, más que una despedida o una oda al amor romántico, termina siendo una reflexión profundamente vitalista. Porque Hustvedt no solo escribe sobre la pérdida, sino sobre lo que significa seguir viviendo después de ella.

[Ilse Vermote · Rating 4 out of 5]

Heerlijk om in het leven van Paul Auster te duiken! Een gewoon leven bestaat niet, zo zien we nog maar eens, hoe saai en routineus de buitenschil ook lijkt, de verhalen, geschiedenissen, toevalligheden natuurlijk maar ook heel veel bewuste keuzes, kleuren het bestaan van dit mooie koppel, van deze warmhartige, lieve man. En wat kan die schrijven. Love Paul Auster ❤️

[Mónica · Rating 5 out of 5]

Qué relato tan generoso y lleno de amor.
Gracias, Siri ❤️‍🩹

[Sara]

muss das pausieren, zu viele Tränen :(

[WildesKopfkino · Rating 5 out of 5]

Eine große Liebe endet nicht einfach. Sie verändert nur ihre Form.

Ghost Stories von Siri Hustvedt fühlt sich an wie ein stiller Raum voller Erinnerungen, in dem jede Bewegung eine neue Spur freilegt. Schon nach wenigen Seiten entsteht das Gefühl, einem zutiefst persönlichen Tagebuch beizuwohnen, das zugleich weit über eine einzelne Beziehung hinausweist.

Der Verlust von Paul Auster steht im Mittelpunkt dieses Buches, doch es geht um viel mehr als Trauer. Hustvedt schreibt über die seltsame Gegenwart eines Menschen, der nicht mehr da ist und doch überall spürbar bleibt. In Kleidungsstücken, in Gerüchen, in Büchern, in Worten. Diese Momente wirken nicht wie literarische Konstruktionen, sondern wie ehrliche, manchmal fast rohe Augenblicke eines Lebens, das plötzlich eine andere Richtung nehmen musste.

Besonders berührend ist, wie Vergangenheit und Gegenwart ineinanderfließen. Alte Liebesbriefe tauchen wieder auf, Erinnerungen werden neu betrachtet und dazwischen stehen Paul Austers Briefe an seinen Enkel, die eine leise, fast zärtliche Zukunftsperspektive eröffnen. Dadurch entsteht ein sehr intimes Bild einer außergewöhnlichen Partnerschaft, die mehr als vier Jahrzehnte getragen hat.

Die Sprache ist ruhig, reflektiert und voller feiner Beobachtungen. Kein dramatisches Pathos, sondern eine kluge und sehr menschliche Annäherung an Verlust, Liebe und Erinnerung. Genau diese Zurückhaltung macht das Buch so eindringlich.

Manchmal wirkt der Text fast essayistisch und verlangt Aufmerksamkeit, doch gerade darin liegt seine Kraft. Dieses Buch liest man nicht einfach schnell durch. Es begleitet einen eine Weile und bleibt noch lange im Kopf, wie eine Stimme aus einem anderen Raum.

[Brandon Peterson · Rating 5 out of 5]

‘Ghost Stories’ is a beautiful peak into the world of Siri Hustvedt and Paul Auster, as they navigated Paul’s cancer diagnosis and the grief that followed his eventual death. But there’s a great deal of history and hope here, as well. Told in a scatter shot of letters and notes from both Siri and Paul to each other (as well as their new grandson Miles) ‘Ghost Stories’ creates a rich tapestry of a family with a strong foundation, and also a dark undercurrent. I put it right alongside ‘Levels of Life’ by Julian Barnes as a flagship book on grief and what all of this really means.

Thank you to Netgalley for supplying an advance reader of this book.

[Sander Steggink · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wat een prachtig memoir over de relatie tussen Siri Hustvedt en Paul Auster. Een memoir waar Auster, ook na zijn dood, heel erg aanwezig is bij alles wat Hustvedt doet. De brieven die Auster aan het schrijven was aan zijn kleinzoon, zijn (deels) opgenomen in het boek en zijn van een Austeriaanse schoonheid.

[David Torné · Rating 4 out of 5]

Històries de fantasmes és un punt i final, un punt i final del meu autor preferit, en Paul Auster. La seva esposa relata els seus últims mesos abans de cedir davant d'un càncer de pulmó i el primer any de la seva viuda. Un relat emotiu però també realista del que suposa anar-se'n i deixa enrere una vida, una família, un nou net i com primer sobreviure a un esser estimat i més tard integrar l'experiència entre altres coses perquè no queda més remei.

Tot això ens dona Siri Hustvedt i està bé, a vegades amb tristesa, amb serenor i certs moments amb algun que altre sentiment negatiu, però insisteixo, està bé, el conjunt que crea és emotiu pels seus lectors i el que és més important, funciona.

[Coffee & Words · Rating 5 out of 5]

Vierzig gemeinsame Jahre verbinden Paul Auster und Siri Hustvedt, als Auster 2024 an den Folgen einer Krebserkrankung stirbt. Die Autorin beschreibt in "Ghost Stories" das erste Jahr des Trauerns - um ihren Mann, aber auch um die verlorengegangene eigene Identität als Ehefrau, Gesprächspartnerin, Ko-Intellektuelle und "Sparringspartnerin", wie sie es ausdrückt. So entsteht das beeindruckende Porträt einer glücklichen Ehe. Neben Joan Didions "Das Jahr magischen Denkens" und Joyce Carol Oates' "A Widow's Story" eines der besten Bücher zum Thema Trauer und Verlust.

[Veronique Nolens · Rating 4 out of 5]

4,5 ⭐️

[Riva Sciuto · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5 stars — beautiful ❤️

[Josephine E · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wie schön kann Liebe sein? Was bedeutet Liebe nach 43 Jahren gemeinsamer Zeit? Herzzerreißend, klug vom Fortdauern der Liebe und ihrem ungewollten Ende.

[Joanne Gass · Rating 5 out of 5]

Not an easy read--it's searing, to say the least. It's also beautiful, but not hopeful. It's also a wonderful love story.

[Lise Højer Rømeling · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5 stjerner. Var helt vild med Hustvedts kærlige beskrivelse af sin mand gennem 43 år, Paul Auster, og deres liv sammen og allermest sorgen efter hans død. Den gav mig lyst til at flytte ind i deres hus i Brooklyn, lytte til alle deres samtaler og overvære deres middagsselskaber. En dejlig bog.

[Bookreporter.com Biography & Memoir · Rating 5 out of 5]

From the perspective of my own 50-year marriage, I know that every long union has its special flavor. It is rooted in enduring love but composed in varying parts of an adaptation to each other's quirks, a gentle acknowledgment that certain behaviors will always remain points of friction, a sizable collection of inside jokes, unique modes of communication, and an understanding that sometimes a companionable silence can speak volumes. Above all, it's an Everest-sized mountain of memories.

But few long marriages include a spouse capable of capturing all of those aspects with the skill of a writer as talented as Siri Hustvedt. The result is GHOST STORIES, a memoir written in the wake of the death of her husband, writer Paul Auster. Overflowing with anguish, humor, compassion and love, it's a marvelous testament to the 43-year relationship of these two gifted literary artists.

The spine of the book is Auster's brave 14-month battle with non-small cell lung cancer. Hustvedt chronicles that time with the skill of a medical expert in a chapter entitled “Paul's Illness in Twelve Email Letters to Friends Sent From Cancerland.” Her account, which began with hope (an emotion she distinguishes from optimism) that chemotherapy might shrink Auster's tumor to the point where surgery was possible (a hope eventually dashed), traces its few bright moments and growing setbacks, including stark descriptions of the side effects of powerful immunotherapy drugs that were as brutal as the ravages of his illness. It concludes with the weary concession that “Paul does not want more hospital experience. We are engaging hospice services soon.”

This was a mere three weeks before he died on April 30, 2024, at the age of 77, in the sunlit library of the four-story Brooklyn house that he and Hustvedt shared for 30 years. It now became a “haunted house, inhabited by a ghost Paul and I made together, a 'we' that doesn't exist anymore, not in the present anyway.”

Though GHOST STORIES features an elliptical structure and a variety of literary styles --- journal entries, poetry, and essayistic sections in which Hustvedt, who is an avid reader on scientific subjects and a medical school lecturer in psychiatry, delves into bereavement studies and literature that reports on the appearance of spectral presences --- she never loses control of her account, even as she writes to her absent husband, “I'm writing to hold on to you.”

Among the book's most memorable segments are a series of Auster's charming letters to his grandson, Miles, who was born on New Year's Day in 2024. Auster, who contemplated writing a book, Letters to Miles, began the project in March. He hoped to produce between 100 and 200 pages of material, but within a month he became too ill to reach that goal. The letters contain bits of family history, introducing Miles to the stories of his parents --- Auster and Hustvedt's daughter, Sophie, a singer-songwriter and actress, and son-in-law, Spencer Ostrander, who collaborated with Auster on BLOODBATH NATION, a book about gun violence in America. It's a poignant attempt to communicate from beyond the grave to a grandson who never will know his grandfather.

But not all of Auster's family life was so warm, as Hustvedt recounts in the tragic story of Auster's son, Daniel, who was born of his first marriage to another prominent writer, Lydia Davis. Hours after he was released on bail after being charged in the death of his 10-month-old daughter, Ruby, from acute intoxication from heroin and fentanyl in November 2021 while in his care, Daniel was found unconscious in a Brooklyn subway station. He died several days later. As Hustvedt describes it, his death was a culmination of years of mental health issues and addiction, afflictions that Auster tried --- and ultimately failed --- to help him overcome.

Hustvedt narrates the story of her grief and the experience of widowhood revealingly and without self-pity. She describes what she calls “cognitive splintering,” which included intermittently smelling smoke from Auster's small cigars after his death and wearing his favorite clothes during her writing of this book. But she expands outward from there, surveying the length and breadth of their relationship from a chance first meeting after a poetry reading at the 92nd Street Y in 1981, when Auster was still married to Lydia Davis (though separated), until the last day of his life. There’s a power that emerges from this candid, but warm and balanced, portrait of a marriage. Hustvedt and Auster weren't only life partners, they were accomplished writers who leaned heavily on each other in their professional careers.

They were frank, if consistently friendly, critics of each other's work, even sharing characters from time to time and occasionally unconsciously lifting sentences from each other's writing. Hustvedt describes without rancor, at least none directed at Auster, how it felt to write in the shadow of his relatively greater fame over the course of their joint careers. They joked that they preferred to think of themselves as “sparring partners” rather than “shawls,” the derisive term they coined for spouses who were little more than decorative accoutrements for a more prominent partner.

Hustvedt’s memoir inevitably will be measured against Joan Didion’s THE YEAR OF MAGICAL THINKING, another account of a long literary marriage and the aftermath of the death of a spouse, though Didion's loss was sudden and Hustvedt's played out over time. While the two writers' styles are markedly different, both books are worthy bookends on the shelf of stories about spousal grief.

Paul Auster once said that he “wanted to come back as a ghost,” and he gave the second volume in The New York Trilogy the title GHOSTS, so Hustvedt's acknowledgement that she is “telling ghost stories” is fitting. She recalls the time he told her, “If we lived together for another hundred years, we would become the same person.” After reading GHOST STORIES, one wishes the couple could have achieved that improbable milestone. But even as their lives merged, we're fortunate that they maintained their distinctiveness to the very end of this fascinating relationship.

Reviewed by Harvey Freedenberg

[Susana Duarte · Rating 5 out of 5]

How can I even begin to describe all the feelings this book brought up in me?
I started reading Paul Auster when I was 16 in 2008, and I immediately understood that we was going to be THE author for me, the one that didn't cease to amaze me, the one that brought me back after one or other crappy book. I remember I spent one entire new year's eve glued to New York Trilogy (or was it Oracle's Night?), hearing the fireworks outside our windows in a beautiful front side apartment we had in Quarteira. I didn't care about anything else other than his voice. The way he expressed the world through words. Even though I never saw him or took the inniciative to look him up talking on the internet, I always thought I knew his voice and the way he spoke. I wasn't wrong. They also matched his gaze that felt like a universe on its own. When he died I didn't quite take it as a shock, I was sad, but he had always just been a fictional person for me, one that lived through books, so it didn't quite shake me. Like a fictional person cannot really die, because he was never alive. However, when I saw this book just three days ago, that Siri, his wife had written about him, it somehow made him real, and therefore is loss. I started reading it immediately. I wasn't prepared. It got me sobbing. Siri is a great writer, and the way she encapsulated little details and ways of thinking of both of them in this book was entrancing to me. Little snippets of their intimate life, of their love. What a privilege it is to have lived while this great man was alive, and what a beautiful tribute this is. I don't think he gets all the recognition he deserves. While I was reading the book I went to see some of the interviews mentioned on YouTube and was surprised by how blatantly sincere he is. There is only pure honesty and transparency and that is so supremely valuable. I will treasure and reread his books for years to come and those of Siri also. To Siri: thank you for this book.

[Marzia Barberini · Rating 4 out of 5]

¿Cómo era Paul Auster, el hombre?

Era marido. Compañero intelectual, sincero, a veces con poco tacto, para nada interesado en la fama, interlocutor constante, hablaban mucho, se divertían, se peleaban.

Fue su compañero de vida durante cuarenta y tres años. Ahora que no está nota su presencia, huele el humo de su cigarro. Forma parte de ella, de su dolor cambiante.

Era padre. De Sophie, cantante y actriz; de Daniel, muerto por sobredosis en 2022 y acusado de la muerte de su pequeña Ruby.

Era abuelo. De Ruby, bebé víctima. De Miles, a quien dejó con meses de vida unas cartas extremadamente tiernas, para que las lea cuando sea mayor.

Era suegro de Spencer, el fotógrafo con el que trabajó, el que fue generoso durante su enfermedad, llevándole a las sesiones de quimioterapia, ajustándole en el molde para la radioterapia.

Paul Auster murió el 30 de abril de 2024 de un cáncer de pulmón.

Siri le sobrevivió rota, confusa. Lo llama fragmentación cognitiva. Física y mentalmente siente que las cosas están fuera de lugar.

Su “nosotros” ya no existe, es un fantasma que habita su casa de Brooklyn.

En este diario ensayo la autora hace un recorrido por momentos importantes de su vida junto al escritor norteamericano, desde el momento en que se conocieron, desde antes, y de su enfermedad. Tiene la suerte de conservar notas que él le escribía, papeles, cartas, retazos de vida.

Unidos en cuerpo y alma.

Conmovedor testimonio de una mujer que pierde al hombre de su vida, un homenaje que nos permite conocer no sólo al inmenso escritor, sino al ser humano.

Gracias Siri por acercarnos a Paul.

[GONZA · Rating 4 out of 5]

Dieses Buch, in dem Siri H. ihre Geschichte erzählt, ist wunderschön und herzzerreißend: die Geschichte ihrer Begegnung mit Paul A., ihres gemeinsamen Lebens und ihres Lebens nach seinem Tod.
Daneben wird die Geschichte der Vereinigten Staaten erzählt und wie die Politik eine grundlegende Rolle im Leben und in den Geschichten dieser beiden Autoren gespielt hat (die zu meinen Lieblingsautoren gehören, wobei ich sie mehr mag als ihn).
Oft musste ich das Hören unterbrechen, weil mir schlecht wurde, teils wegen der Schmerzen, teils weil der Niedergang von Paul Auster parallel zum Niedergang der Demokratie verlief.

Bellissimo e straziante questo libro dove Siri H. racconta la sua storia, quella del suo incontro con Paul A., la loro vita assieme e quella di lei dopo la sua morte.
Parallelamente la storia degli Stati Uniti e di come la politica abbia avuto un ruolo fondamentale nella vita e nelle storie di questi due autori (tra i miei preferiti e tra i due lei piú di lui).
Spesso ho dovuto interrompere l'ascolto perché mi stavo sentendo male, un po' per il dolore un po' perché il declino di Paul Auster scorreva parallelo a quello della democrazia.

Ich habe vom Verlag ein kostenloses digitales Vorab-Exemplar des Buches im Austausch für eine ehrliche Rezension erhalten.

[Hannah · Rating 3 out of 5]

Siri Hustvedt gelingt es, den Geist Paul Austers in ihrem neuen Buch zum Leben zu erwecken, so wie er es sich wohl auch kurz vor seinem Tod gewünscht hat. Sie gibt intime Erinnerungen preis, erzählt von Schicksalsschlägen, sowie großen Erfolgen, lässt ihn ein letztes Mal eine Stimme haben und recherchiert und informiert vielfältig über Diagnose, Übernatürliches und Psychologisches.

Der Text ist dicht und emotional, mal hat er mich sehr bewegt, ein ander Mal gelangweilt - es ist dann eben doch auch eine Geschichte von Krankheit und Alter. Die Beziehung der beiden inspiriert sehr, doch ist das Buch am Ende des Tages eine Collage aus Tagebucheinträgen, wissenschaftlichen Analysen, Briefen von Paul und eingefügten Notizen. Mir blieb es zu unfertig, oder vielleicht auch einfach zu wenig poetisch. Ihr Schreibstil überzeugt mich nicht so, wie sonst. Ist vielleicht die deutsche Übersetzung Schrott?

[Ana María Acosta · Rating 4 out of 5]

Siri Hustvedt nos narra su historia de amor con el novelista Paul Auster, desde su primer encuentro en Nueva York a principios de la década del 80 hasta su diagnóstico de cáncer pulmonar y su fallecimiento el 30 de abril de 2024.

Un mosaico que reúne recuerdos de cuarenta y tres años, fragmentos de una vida compartida:
cartas, diarios, correos, notas médicas, memorias del dolor… y hasta las páginas de un libro inconcluso que Auster estaba escribiendo para su nieto Miles.

Es un texto extremadamente conmovedor que profundiza en el tema del duelo, la intimidad y la pérdida, desde su propia experiencia. Siri nos dice que estas memorias constituyen un sincero y profundo intento de “buscar a mi compañero perdido escribiendo sobre él”.

Es el diario de una herida abierta, una obra sincera, tierna y profunda, escrita desde el dolor.

[Inma Tarrero · Rating 4 out of 5]

Más que una novela es una meditación sobre el final de una vida, la de la pareja de la autora y cómo continuar sin él.
Ya no hay un nosotros, ya no hay un i pero hay que seguir viviendo. Cómo?
"Vull ser un fantasma" le dice él a modo de despedida y a esas palabras se agarra Siri para seguir sintiéndose cerca de su esposo. Realmente se siente acompañada por una presencia que se le hace tan real. Hasta el olor de sus cigarros la acompañan en su soledad.
En la primera parte transita por el País del cáncer como ellos le llaman y una serie de cartas nos van informando de su evolución. Hay mucho dolor en estas historias de fantasmas pero también ternura y amor.

[Eline · Rating 5 out of 5]

'Ik leef. Mijn man, Paul Auster, is dood. Hij overleed op 30 april 2024 om twee minuten voor zeven 's avonds.' De beginzinnen van 'Ghost Stories', een boek over rouw en liefde. Siti Hustvedt presenteert dagboekfragmenten, brieven die zij en haar echtgenoot elkaar schreven, e-mails aan vrienden over het verloop van zijn ziekte en Pauls brieven aan zijn pasgeboren kleinzoon aan het eind van zijn leven. In krachtige bewoordingen doet ze verslag van haar eigen ervaringen en deelt ze literaire bespiegelingen over rouw.

Het resultaat is adembenemend mooi.

[Christiane · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love Siri Hustvedt‘s writing. Ghost Stories is brilliant in its emotion, but also in its intellect. It‘s personal, but still observes complex feelings of grieve that reach out to everyone.
It touches you, if you can relate to a situation of death and loss of a loved one and it grants comfort with the observations and sensations that insinuate a kind of presence of the person gone.
I cried because a lot of words resonated, but I was also happy with the truthfulness and intelligence of the book.
I will reread it in a little while to see whether my perception of it changes.