Diary of the Fall – Michel Laub
According to these numbers, the narrator knows more about his grandfather (38+22=60) than either about his father (31+28=59) or about himself (31+26=57).
A Distant Father – Antonio Skármeta
Brevity is not a shortcoming here and in no way keeps the narrative from being a fulfilling read.
Reads almost like slapstick Sebald, Bernhard on laughing gas.
Bolaño: A Biography in Conversations – Mónica Maristain
A kind of memorial service where stories — and differing accounts of the man — can be heard amid the rapturous din of conjecture.
I Called Him Necktie – Milena Michiko Flašar
We realize: no one is what they seem. We realize: everyone has private tragedies; everyone is a tiny book.
It is a spy novel, a romance, a society novel, a psychological novel, it is littered with aphoristic reflections, moments of literary criticism, cultural and political analyses.
The result of Baricco’s game of omission could be seen either as an overweight but undefined metaphor, or an eerie suggestion of the ineffable power of words.
Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki – Haruki Murakami
The real beauty of the books, Colorless Tsukuru and all the rest, comes from the intimate relationship Murakami has with his readers.
I read Bolaño first as a general reader, then as a translator, and finally as a critic.
In a sea of linguistic uncertainty, the locus of meaning, that original word, is more often than not established solely through force.