In the Country of Last Things is a novel written by
Paul Auster and first published in
1987. It is the journal of a young woman named Anna Blume who ventures into a city (unnamed, but possibly
New York) that has collapsed into chaos and disorder. In this bleak environment, no industry takes place and most of the population collects garbage or scavenges for objects to resell. City governments are unstable and seem to be concerned only with collecting human waste and corpses for fuel. There are various suicide cults like the Runners and Leapers. Anna Blume has entered the city to search for her brother William, a journalist, and it is suggested that the Blumes come from a world to the east which has not collapsed. The 'last things' in the title of the book refers not only to the disappearance of manufactured objects and technology but also the fading of memories of them and the words used to describe them.
PLOT SUMMARY
Anna Blume arrives in a city in the country of last things to look for her brother William. Nobody has heard about him for months. It is not very probable that he is still alive. And who goes voluntarily to a city which doesn't really exist? All she has is William's last address, the name and a photo of his successor, Samuel Farr. She only realizes the dimension of chaos and destruction when she arrives in the city. The street, the building she looks for don't exist anymore. The conditions are unimaginable - the city falls into ruin; in order to survive you have to plunder, to steal, to be inventive; food is meagre, apartments are luxury. There are many new jobs in the city: corpses collectors, assassins, who are employed by the victim himself, garbage collectors, etc.
But Anna is lucky. One day she saves the live of an older woman, Isabel. Isabel takes Anna home. She also shows her tricks to survive. Anna is able to life there and they become friends. However Isabel is very ill. After her death housebreakers immediately come to take over her apartment.
After that Anna lives on the streets again - until she happens to enter the national library, being on the run. There she meets Samuel Farr, who is working on a book about the city. Anna and Sam share Sam's room and soon become lovers. One day Anna is lured into a human slaughterhouse, while she is looking for new shoes. But she manages to escape. In the meantime the library has burnt down.
The people of Woburn House find Anna and take her with them. Woburn House gives a roof to homeless persons for a few days. Anna stays there, recovers from her accident and begins work there. She doesn't know what happened to Sam, her relationship with Victoria, the owner of Woburn House, gives her new strength.
A few weeks later Sam turns up at Woburn House. Anna, who has given up searching for him, is very happy. Sam works at Woburn House, too. Finally the people of Woburn House run out of money and have to close shelter. Anna and her friends decide to leave the city although this is a dangerous enterprise. Anna also wants to continue the search for her brother.
