Review: Artforum, by César Aira

 

Artforum, by César Aira. Translated from the Spanish by Katherine Silver. New Directions, 2020.

Artforum is a very typical César Aira- sweet, short and a little bit crazy. The novel is composed of several interconnected stories about the author's narrator's obsession with Artforum, a real magazine about contemporary art. Chapters include the time the narrator finds a stash of Artforum issues at a used bookstore, the difficulty with getting a foreign magazine in Argentina, the time he considers getting a subscription, and the time he panics at home in between receiving this or that issue.

I'm not sure what else to say. It's very accessible as César Aira novels go, no zombies or extended philosophical treatises on the state of the world or the supernatural; rather, it's hyperrealistic and grounded in every day life- charming, absurd and wonderful.

Highly recommended in other words.

FTC Disclosure: I did not receive this book for review.

Review: Birthday, by César Aira

Birthday, by César Aira. Published 2019 by New Directions. Translated from the Spanish by Chris Andrews.

As many of you may know, César Aira is one of my favorite authors; why, then, do I have nearly a half dozen of his books sitting unread on my shelves. I don't know. But I now I have one less.

Birthday starts with the narrator's ruminations on his 50th birthday and goes from there into typically Aira-esque diversions into literature, writing and life. He circles back around to aging by the end. In between he talks about a chance encounter with a young writer, his feelings on philosophy and Pringles, his hometown in Argentina, and other things. 

The narrator is, as usual, a nameless resident of Pringles, married with a child this time, and a successful writer in midlife struggling with all these things. I hesitate to write too much, because the book itself is so short that I could really take away the joy of reading Aira by telling you more. 

So if you haven't read him, please do; Birthday is a pretty good starting point, pretty typical and pretty approachable. I recommend picking up two copies and giving one to a friend, so you have someone to talk to after you're done. Maybe you could read this and talk to me about it? 

FTC Disclosure: I did not receive this book for review.

Review: THE LITERARY CONFERENCE, by César Aira

The Literary Conference, by César Aira. Published 2010 by New Directions. Translated from the Spanish by Katherine Silver.

Argentine author César Aira's 2010 gem of science fiction hilarity is about a wealthy scientist who wants to take over the world by cloning the late Mexican novelist Carlos Fuentes. More than this I cannot tell you, because the book is very short and consists mainly of the ruminations of this scientist about his pet project, and the consequences thereof.

What I will say is that if you enjoy your science fiction with a hefty dose of surreal comedy, this is the book for you. Or if you enjoy your surreal comedy with a coating of science fiction. Or if you just like books that make you scratch your head and laugh. Or if you can read.

I am a huge fan of Aira's and his books are my favorite literary treats. Short and perfect and unforgettable, please read The Literary Conference.

Rating: BUY

FTC Disclosure: I did not receive this book for review.

Review: DINNER, by César Aira

Dinner, by César Aira. Published 2015 by New Directions. Translated from the Spanish by Katherine Silver. Literary Fiction.

So, as regular readers of this blog may know, César Aira is one of my favorite contemporary writers, but he's definitely not for everyone. One way or another, reading him will change your life; if you love his books, he will change your life for the better. Either way, buckle up.

Dinner is going to go down as one of my favorites of his, and certainly one of my favorite reads of 2017. It's short, as per usual- short and sweet. It's about zombies.

Specifically, it's about a zombie invasion of Pringles, Argentina, where all (?) of Aira's novels takes place. The narrator, who is not explicitly named, has dinner with his mother and then after dinner turns on the television to see the zombie invasion take place. Then he has a conversation with a friend about it. That's it.

Dinner is certainly one of Aira's more plot-centric books; after an opening digression on the importance of names to creating a community, he launches into a virtual blow-by-blow of the zombie invasion, from the moment the dead of Pringles rise from their graves to the moment they go back. It's very suspenseful; Aira does a masterful job building tension and leaving you wondering how it will be resolved.

Ultimately the solution is silly, sweet and makes perfect sense. But then there is a wrinkle at the very end which may keep you up at night after all.

Rating: BUY

FTC Disclosure: I did not receive this book for review.

Review: DISTANT STAR, by Roberto Bolaño

Distant Star, by Roberto Bolaño. Published 2004 by New Directions. Literary Fiction. Crime fiction. Translated from the Spanish by Chris Andrews.

Blood all around. That's my primary memory and impression of Distant Star, which I read back in the early spring for a crime fiction reading group I belonged to. Roberto Bolaño's novel, really little more than a novella, is about a man who infiltrates a circle of artists and poets and makes his first big splash by murdering a pair of charismatic sisters. The narrator then follows the career of this man for years until finally there is a confrontation.

Set in the 1970s after the rise of Pinochet in Chile, Bolaño creates a truly chilling picture of life in a dictatorship and how art can be used to track and trap political dissidents.

Alberto-Ruiz Tangle is the young man, a Chilean air force officer also known as Carlos Wieder. The book is an expansion on Bolaño's Nazi Literature in the Americas but it's not just that. The narrator tries to keep track of Tangle/Wieder and document his crimes through zines, books, articles- anything he can get his hands on and at the same time the narrator and by extension the reader learns more and more about atrocities committed during Pinochet's regime.

Then the narrative moves to Europe and we also learn about the ex-patriate community there and the struggles of political refugees to carve out a new life and find community. And what happens when that community is infiltrated by one of the very people folks sought to escape.

When I saw this book on the reading list I wasn't too excited, because I tried to read Bolaño's 2666 when it came out (it was quite the hipster "it" book for a while) and found it unreadably language-driven with not nearly enough plot to keep me interested. This shorter book was a better fit for my plot-driven tastes. It kind of haunts me to this day.

Rating: BUY

FTC Disclosure: I did not receive this book for review.

Review: THE GUEST CAT, by Takashi Hiraide

The Guest Cat, by Takashi Hiraide. Published 2014 by New Directions. Literary Fiction. Translated from the Japanese.

The Guest Cat is a poetic, short read about a couple living in a rented Tokyo house who become attached to a neighbor's cat. The husband narrates; he and his wife have rented a small house on a large estate in a quiet, bucolic corner of Tokyo and get along well with their elderly landlords who live in a large house on the property. Into their lives comes padding a cat who becomes a friend, an enjoyed and appreciated free spirit who chooses to spend some of its time with them.

The couple have no children and enjoy a quiet life of working from home on intellectual-type livelihoods; the cat is a welcome distraction and enriches the little nest of a home they've built together. Their relationship with their landlords and the serenity of the natural world around them complete the picture, but nothing can stay the same forever. When the elderly husband dies, they must move, but this process becomes dragged out amid the details of selling the estate and finding a new place to live. And the cat doesn't always come around. Death, a part of life, touches the couple in more ways than one, and understanding, when it comes, is bittersweet.

The Guest Cat is a sweet book that I read comfortably on a snowy afternoon earlier this month. It isn't syrupy by any stretch but has a serenity to it that was perfect for a quiet day in my own little nest. Cat lovers are the obvious audience for the book but I would recommend it to anyone looking for a little down tine with a book that often reads like a poem to nature, solitude and the life of the mind.

Rating: BUY

FTC Disclosure: I did not receive this book for review.

REVIEW: Tyrant Memory, by Horacio Castellanos Moya

Tyrant Memory, by Horacio Castellanos Moya. Published 2011 by New Directions.

Tyrant Memory is a very worthwhile novel about political repression and revolution by Salvadoran writer Horacio Castellanos Moya, about a brief period of time in 1944 between the ascension of Maximiliano Hernández Martínez- also known as "the Warlock"- who took power after a coup, and his downfall at the hands of a general strike. The story unfolds in the month between the coup and the strike, as Salvadoran society went into upheaval. Castellanos Moya alternates the narrative between Haydée Aragon, a wealthy woman whose husband has wound up as a political prisoner, and her son Clemen, on the run from the new regime with Jimmy, a military man thrown together with him by chance. The two men have nothing but contempt for each other, but their adventures take the form of absurdist comedy and provide a stark contrast to Haydée's growing anxiety.

Haydée's chapters are written in diary form, so we get a very immediate sense of her emotions. At the beginning she's not too worried; she's sure her husband will be home any minute and she takes every opportunity to see him, to keep him apprised of the minutiae of her life. Slowly the situation disintegrates and she finds herself in the middle of a rebellion, her hairdresser and catering appointments interspersed with secret meetings and public protests. At the same time, things go from crazy to funny and back again with Clemen and Jimmy as their adventures take them from a priest's attic to a perilous train trip and a long ordeal in a raft. Finally, things settle out and an epilogue set years later put events into a new light entirely.

Tyrant Memory is not a book that's going to leap off the shelves at most readers but if you like black comedy and political machinations, it's pretty good stuff. I like the way Castellanos Moya gets into Haydée's head, how he makes her relatively and somewhat frivolous concerns feel pressing and real, how he makes her more than a stereotype of a society wife. The chapters with Clemen and Jimmy bristle with comedy and life; I looked forward to their continuing (mis) adventures and flipped the pages eagerly to learn their fate. I'd definitely recommend the book for readers looking for something off the beaten path.

Edit: I don't think you need any background in Salvadoran history to read the book. It's quite accessible and the blurb gives you all the information you need- how one family is affected by a vicious government coup. Political repression is nothing new in the annals of history.

Rating: BACKLIST

FTC Disclosure: I did not receive this book for review.

REVIEW: How I Became A Nun, by César Aira

How I Became A Nun, by César Aira. Published 2007 by New Directions. Literary Fiction. Translated from the Spanish.

To paraphrase Butters Stotch, how I can review that which is unreviewable?

This book is seriously messed up and crazy, but crazy in a good way. But also, in a crazy way.

The story is about a child named César Aira who experiences a profound tragedy the day that César's father takes César for an ice cream. The scene is a parody of the opening of the opening scene Gabriel Garcia Marquez's One Hundred Years of Solitude, when the protagonist, about to be shot, remembers when "his father took him to discover ice." So it has that allusive quality, slightly otherworldly and abstracted, like it comes from another planet.  It departs from here into some truly bizarre fictional territory.

For one thing, it's pretty clear César has some gender-confusion issues. What's not clear is why, or what we're to make of it. It's not, I'm pretty sure, simply a matter of the character being transgendered. César also has some difficulty fitting in at school though César takes pains to always use terms like "normal" and "ordinary' with respect to others' perceptions of César. One gets the impression that this may not actually be the case, but who knows.

The ending is truly bizarre and no doubt metaphorical. At least, I really hope so. César Aira the writer is often compared to Borges and Marquez. These comparisons are no doubt justified, but he reminds me more of that other Latin American fantasist, Reinaldo Arenas, whose novels are filled with much of the same surrealistic black comedy. Mind you I'm not referring to elves and wizards type fantasy but otherworldly fantasy, fantasy in which the speaker is unable or unwilling to distinguish the real world from that of his or her imagination, if such a distinction can even be drawn.

Aira's books have a real charm to them. You get drawn in despite the insanity, but this book is not for the meek. I love his books but you need a real sense of adventure- and the willingness to give most traditional elements of the novel a wide berth- to take him on.

Rating: BUY

FTC Disclosure: I did not receive this book for review.

REVIEW: Varamo, by César Aira

Varamo, by César Aira. Published 2012 by New Directions. Literary Fiction. Translated from the Spanish by Chris Andrews.

I have no idea why it's taken me so long to get around to telling you about this delightful gem.

Varamo, by Argentine writer César Aira, is honestly one of the funnest and most charming books I've read this or any year. Slender and unconventional, Aira tells the story of a government clerk in Panama and his dark, hilarious night of the soul. The clerk, Varamo, is, when the book opens, already a famous poet and the book recounts the story of the night just before he composed the poem that made his name.

It all starts when he's paid in counterfeit money and goes on a long ramble about the shady economics of his country. From here, anarchists, embalmed fish, gamblers, smugglers and more play a part in the poem's creation and the poem itself. The night is reconstructed from the poem itself, as well as the why and the how the poem came to be. Along the way we're treated to a crazy fun romp through the mind of an accidental poet via the observations of a later admirer. Questions abound about the reliability of literature, the writing process and the publishing world, and it's all wrapped up in this sparkling, irresistible comedy of errors.

You can tell I liked, it right? Oh my goodness, now I want to read everything by this guy!

Rating: BUY




FTC Disclosure: I received this book for review from New Directions.

REVIEW: Good Offices, by Evelio Rosero

Good Offices, by Evelio Rosero. Published 2011 by New Directions. Literary Fiction. Translated from the Spanish by Anne McLean with Anna Milsom.

Good Offices is a small book for a quiet night. At 120 pages a mere slip of a novella, it tells the story of a small parish church in Bogotà, Colombia, one night when Father Almida, the regular priest, and his sacristan are gone and the flamboyantly drunk, flamboyantly wonderful singer Father Matamoros, takes over.

The church runs a soup kitchen for the poor, and the workers- the hunchbank Tancredo, the sacristan's goddaughter Sabina and three older woman known collectively, and simply, as the Lilias- are so abused and overworked that they've lost hope and the ability to feel compassion towards their charges. Tancredo and Sabina are lovers but their passion has a kind of desperation about it, a kind of hopelessness. All five have secrets from each other and from the world, and something about the chaotic Father Matamoros catalyzes them and forces them to confront what they're hiding from themselves and each other.

This is a book to be read slowly, over a glass of wine or a cup of tea- a book to linger with, but one that you can easily digest in a single quiet evening. I loved watching these characters unfold and getting to know their disappointments, their joys and their sorrows. Tancredo is a fascinating, surprising man, the antithesis of the churchyard hunchback stereotype; Sabina has a vivacity about her and the Lilias turn out to be not so interchangeable after all. There is violence beneath their daily duties, and something about Matamoros unhinges this mismatched congregation, maybe for the better. Good Offices is a unique, memorable little novel about doing good for others and what it does to onesself.

Rating: BUY

FTC Disclosure: I did not receive this book for review.

Russo-Biblio-Extravaganza: REVIEW: The Accompanist, by Nina Berberova

The Accompanist, by Nina Berberova. Published 2003 by New Directions. Literary Fiction. Translated from the Russian by Marian Schwartz.

You know, I'm really getting to like New Directions, the publisher of Nina Berberova's novella The Accompanist. This is the fourth book of theirs I've read, and the fourth intriguing, off-the-beaten-track high quality literary offering I've read of theirs, too. This is the story of Sonetchka, a talented young woman who works as a piano accompanist for a beautiful and charismatic star, Maria, and travels with her and her husband to Paris. Raised by a disgraced single mother and having little to recommend her but herself, she gives up love and a life of her own for the only life she thinks she deserves, one of subservience to the glamorous couple.

But this subservience comes at a cost, and over the years, as Sonetchka gives up more and more, her resentment grows. Quietly, unnoticed and unappreciated, she takes the measure of what she's lost, and what she might do to extract revenge. When Sonetchka suspects Maria of an infidelity to her long-suffering husband Pavel, Sonetchka begins to get ideas about the form this revenge might take. But things quickly escalate out of control, leaving Sonetchka in a place she never imagined she would be.

Read as part of Russo-Biblio-Extravaganza

The Accompanist is a short, haunting novel about sacrifice and ambition, about how circumstances beyond our control shape our lives and rule our hearts. Every character is tragic in his or her own way; even the vaunted Maria seems empty inside. Berberova is a compassionate but cold-eyed realist and her observations are complicated and nuanced. Sonetchka is pitiable and contemptible at different times; Maria is, too. Most of the action takes place outside of Russia and Berberova communicates the limitations and the sense of missed possibilities that haunt her throughout her days. It's a subtle, moving and horrifying portrait of a frustrated young life, recommended for readers with a serious interest in Russian literature and literary short fiction.

Rating: BACKLIST

FTC Disclosure: I did not receive this book for review.

REVIEW: The Ladies from St. Petersburg, by Nina Berberova

The Ladies from St. Petersburg, by Nina Berberova. Published 2000, New Directions. Literary Fiction. Short stories. Translated from the Russian.

A mere 144 pages, The Ladies from St. Petersburg is a collection of three short stories, the title story being the longest, almost a novella. Taken together, the three stories track the progress of the Russian Revolution from the days before it was even called that to the life of an emigre living in New York City after having fled its aftermath.

But writer Nina Berberova packs a lot into this slender volume despite the low page count. All three stories are beautiful, evocative and emotional; the first tells the sad story of young Margarita, whose mother dies while the two are on vacation at a boarding house in the country. All at once her world collapses, because her country and way of life fall apart at the same time that her family does. The second story, "Zoya," is the harrowing tale of an aristocratic woman taking shelter from the violence of the revolution in a boarding house where she faces the mocking hostility of everyone around her. "Zoya" is truly chilling and far more frightening to me than anything I've read in any so-called horror story; it's the horror of cruelty and indifference. The final story, "The Big City," is set in New York and tracks the attempts of an immigrant man to find friendship and community when it seems he's lost everything. "The Big City" brings the collection full circle when he strikes an unlikely friendship.

Read as part of Russo-Biblio-Extravaganza

Berberova has written a series of realistic short stories in which the chaos of the revolution is played out in small ways in the lives of ordinary people. She shows us how a young woman tries to find a casket for her dead mother, and how another tries to find a little peace and quiet in her rented bedroom- and how social upheaval gives licence to shocking cruelty. Finally she shows how one man finds peace in the appearance of the miraculous and surreal. The Ladies from St. Petersburg is a short, lovely book that would be a marvelous choice for readers of literary fiction and short stories. I have three more books of hers waiting to be read and I can't wait to step back in her strange, difficult and ultimately magical world.

Rating: BUY

FTC Disclosure: I did not receive this book for review.

REVIEW: The Halfway House, by Guillermo Rosales

The Halfway House, by Guillermo Rosales. Published 2009 by New Directions. Literary Fiction. Translation.

The Halfway House is a staggering short novel by Cuban writer Guillermo Rosales, and one of his only surviving, published works. A gifted writer who committed suicide in Miami in 1993, Rosales' book was first published to high praise in Europe and appears in English for the first time in this edition, translated by Anna Kushner.

Clocking in at just over 100 pages, the story is about a middle-aged man, a writer named William Figueras, living in a boarding house for the mentally ill and disabled. The house is nominally in Miami, though it seems to be located in a less-trafficked corner of Hell, where all manner of mistreatment and humiliation occur on a daily basis. Residents aren't fed enough, they live in squalor, and fights and sexual abuse are commonplace. The owner steals their money, and the staff are sadistic and unchallengeable. Dumped there by relatives unable or unwilling to care for them, there is no recourse, and no escape. William knows how wrong and how intolerable the conditions are, and plans an escape with Frances, a fellow inmate and woman with whom he shares a budding romance.

It's a heartbreaking, challenging, disturbing work, and unfortunately probably not that far off from reality- and I can't say it has a happy ending. It's also a beautiful piece of literature, with vivid, sad characters and more suspense than you might think could be packed between its covers. It would be a wonderful choice for the reader of literary fiction looking for something a little edgy and a little different, or for readers interested in issues of the mentally ill. It may not make you smile but it may change the way you look at the world- and what more can a book do than that?

Rating: BUY

FTC Disclosure: I did not receive this book for review from the publisher.

REVIEW: The Real Life of Sebastian Knight, by Vladimir Nabokov

The Real Life of Sebastian Knight, by Vladimir Nabokov. Published 2008 by New Directions Books. Literary Fiction.

Anticipating Tuesday's publication of Vladimir Nabokov's final work, The Original of Laura, I decided to pick up one of his novels a few weeks ago, and chose The Real Life of Sebastian Knight because I hadn't read it before and because it happened to be available in the bookstore when I was out shopping one night. A little walk on the cerebral side, it's a great choice for readers of modern fiction looking for something a little unusual.

The book purports to be an attempt at a biography of a deceased writer named Sebastian Knight, written by his half-brother, known only as "V." But is it? Is V. who he says he is? What are his real feelings towards Sebastian? And how can we know what someone's "real" life is, or was?

If you pick up this particular edition, don't skip critic Michael Dirda's excellent introduction. He lays out a number of important issues presented in the book, a puzzle within a puzzle. "Remember," V. tells us early on, "that what you are told is really threefold: shaped by the teller, reshaped by the listener, concealed from both by the dead man of the tale." In other words, take everything with a grain of salt, question everything and don't trust anybody to tell you the truth.

I had a great time reading The Real Life of Sebastian Knight; I can't remember the last time I read something so enigmatic, something that shrank from my grasp so even as I got closer and closer to the core of the narrative. I loved the puzzles, the misdirections and the ambiguity, and just the sheer beauty of Nabokov's prose. I always enjoy unreliable-narrator stories and nobody does that better than Nabokov. And I loved reading this book just before the publication of The Original of Laura, basically a rough draft that was salvaged by Nabokov's son- in The Real Life, the narrator makes comments and raises issues that made me think of the phenomenon of Laura coming to light. So if you would like a book that's going to make you work a little, remember that there's more to Nabokov than Lolita and think about The Real Life of Sebastian Knight.

Rating: BUY


FTC Disclosure: I did not receive this book for review from the publisher.