Perhaps the most insightful and layered book I've ever read but one that challenged me in a way that I haven't really seen before. The concept of time and space seemed bewildering and it did truly feel like reading a history of our universe and its components. However, at times I felt at a loss of emotion due to the broad perspective that we experience. As that protagonist in the book experiences a range of bafflement and wonder, this book has made me question a manner of thoughts never truly visted in a book. Although it won't make my top list it is a worthwhile read for any curious person about the context of our little lives in the vast cosmos of being.
At first I thought this was another great example of Latin America literature but as each story blended into the next one it all emerged for me. I soon saw the desolate nature of the stories and characters, the isolation, the unforgiven nature of the environments and the subtly in which a story can flow from one page to the next. By the end I now had come to the realisation that although these stories seemed simple, Bolaño was the only master who could write them.
A meditation on the every day factor of being alive, surviving and the chance you think you give yourself. Ford's writing is so tight that the streets of a Mexican city feel breathable and consuming. Read it to get yourself in the real world, where the real shit is happening all around you.
Ttypical Mariana. Brilliant, bloody and rich in all it's glorious delight. That last story makes up for some of the lesser ones that's for sure. She truly is one of the great modern writers of South American literature and beyond.
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