The Wall Street Journal has a good interview with Brooklyn’s finest author Paul Auster. His latest novel, Sunset Park, describes four people surviving at the beginning of the recent American financial crisis. Aside from saying he will never do another book tour, he talks about the subject of his novel.

WSJ: How do you think Americans are dealing with the financial crisis?

PA: Compare it to what’s going on in France. They’re rioting in the streets every day. Over what? Raising the retirement age from 60 to 62. The French go into the streets when they’re angry. But Americans, when they suffer, when they lose their jobs, when they lose their houses, they feel guilty. So it’s everyone’s private failure and there’s a feeling of shame rather than anger.

In a post on WSJ’s Speakeasy blog, Auster is quoted saying he does not read his reviews. They do him wrong. “I’ve learned not to look,” he says.