Author:Roberto Bolaño,Chris Andrews
This is the first collection by the universally acclaimed Chilean author to be published in English and it is an outstanding introduction to Bolaño's writing. Bolaño's narrators are grappling with their own private quests while living in the margins, on the edges, in constant flight from nightmarish threats. His stories are often witty, frequently melancholy and always original.
The most influential and admired novelist of his generation in the Spanish-speaking world
—— Susan SontagThis may be the most haunting and mesmerising collection I have ever read
—— Daily TelegraphA book full of insight for writers and aficionados of South American literature and culture
—— Scotland on SundayIt is a shame that Bolaño has no more evenings on earth, his unique voice asserting the importance and exuberance of literature will be sorely missed
—— GuardianBolaño's language, alert and always graceful, his way of constructing narratives that are simultaneously disconcerting, brilliant and infinitely immediate, is a form of resisting evil, adversity and mediocrity
—— Le MondeA rich insight in to Dublin
—— Lonely Planet TravellerKeret's surreal conceits are couched in a wry, downbeat language...The effect is something like a sorrowful hybrid of Kafka and Donald Barthelme: deadpan on the surface, with a bassnote of discomfort and emotional alienation that makes even the briefest tales snag in the mind...Each piece is at once universal and particular...world-class gems. The translation is brilliant, too
—— Tim Martin , Daily TelegraphEtgar Keret is the voice of young Israel
—— IndependentOne of the greatest short story writers alive
—— Ben RiceOne of the most important writers alive... enchantingly witty
—— Clive JamesEtgar Keret's extraordinary imagination sets the reader free from slogans and headlines
—— Linda Grant