Siri Hustvedt, the widow of writer Paul Auster, experiences her mourning by remembering her life with the writer. She recounts his illness and includes biographical and autobiographical details, without forgetting his political activism, recently against President Trump, referred to in the book as “number 45”.
In her grief, she feels the need to reunite with her husband; she rejects the idea that he may have disappeared, searches for him, and tries to find him in her daily life. She draws on her knowledge of psychology and her readings to explain this need to remain connected to the loved one. Auster told her he would return as a ghost, hence the title: a ghost that never appears but seems to be present.
The book is pleasant to read, although at times it is difficult to share her ideas and opinions, as it is very well written and maintains a professional balance between reflection and facts.
Hustvedt, of Norwegian origin, with a pagan-Lutheran conception of religion, and Auster, buried according to Jewish rites and later given a Christian funeral, show no belief in life after death. Yet she continues, long after her husband’s passing, to utter “the trisyllabic cry for the lost partner: wh-ere-are-you…”