Review Summaries

• Praised by Borges as a perfect novel and celebrated by Octavio Paz, this novella receives strong admiration from English-language readers. Many commend its rigorously logical premise and the way it fuses mystery with metaphysical inquiry. Some readers feel the brevity of the work limits deeper exploration of its premise, but most are captivated by the haunting atmosphere it creates.

• Celebrated for condensing romance and philosophical inquiry within a science-fiction framework. The provocative reversal—where a perfect copy surpasses the original—and the portrayal of radical solitude leave a lasting impression, making this one of the defining works of imaginative Latin American fiction.

Reviews

• BLEW MY MIND

  This is a very short novel which presents a mysterious situation that, the first time I read it, I tried so hard to work out – how is this happening? – without success. When the author revealed the solution, or twist, it was so brilliant that I may have squealed aloud. This is a book I return to every few years, but also regularly purchase as a gift. And there is yet to be one disappointed recipient.

• read it

  I don't usually post Amazon reviews, but more people should know about this book. Imagine a crafty, short sci-fi story with a narrator who is hardly the pinnacle of charisma, wit, or reliability, but who manages in a short tale to change the way you think about what it means to be in contact with another human, about photography, about death and the love of life. The translation reads superbly as well.

• After years of hunting for this all time classic finally ...

  After years of hunting for this all time classic finally a superb edition from NYRB Books. Prologue by the master, Jorge Luis Borges.

• Piranesi’s progenitor

  A man chronicles his strange journey while marooned on an island with strange machinery in his diary. As he obsessively dissects the island with his considerable perception to understanding what is happening, he, in turn, ends up disassembling and learning more about himself. This book is masterful in its thematic throughline. I have always been fascinated with perspective and perception. Without feedback from other people, we become disturbingly reliant on motivated thinking. It is so crucial to a persons' identity that we interact with other people; without it we never really know ourselves at all. How much of what we see is actually just a projection of ourselves? Without any means of distinction, reality takes on an unknowable Otherness. With the stream of consciousness that fits very well with a diary written in blissful, straightforward prose, the mind of the man cultivates almost uncanny anticipation of the readers’ thoughts. Even as he does something absurd, or has not taken something crucial into account, or is overly cruel in his observations—you have only to turn the page and discover he himself knows this and wrestles with the same problem. It’s also more frenetic than a modern thriller, almost genre-bending as our man desperately tries to make sense of the goings-on. And as such, the reader establishes synchronicity with the story as it unfolds. Something of a feat given how old the text is. It still feels fresh and original and regards a human experience that will forever be, (ironically, if you’ve read it), timeless. It made me think about more than that. But any more would be considerable spoilers and this is a book with a reading experience where the less you know, the better, in my opinion.

• Impossible to categorize --or to put down

  What makes you decide to read a book? It does not matter that the book was inspired by Louise Brooks but that could be intriguing enough for a start. It is encouraging when someone like Borges- the fantasist - recommends it. Comparisons to Philip K.Dick or Chesterton are handy, perhaps, as a hint. You may wonder how all of these very different references fit in this slim book. But finally, when you do read it, all those references have to fall away (but perhaps not too far away) and the book must stand on its own. Bioy Casares has created a surprising little marvel. Our hero is escaping the police for an unnamed capital crime, and finds himself on an island (a map is provided) decorated with three pristine buildings on the hill, but otherwise a barely hospitable place of vicious high tides, mosquitoes, swamps, reeds and misery. As you work through this environment, Borges does come to mind, as it seems fantastic, with the imagery that seems a signature of South America genius. You'll find yourself trying to determine whether what he describes is real or his own imaginings. After exploring every cranny of the buildings --and the descriptions remind me of art deco drawings, clean, clear, balanced but at the same time ornate-- he finds one day that the island is suddenly inhabited. Not wanting to be discovered, he skulks around the visitors, drawn especially to the pensive and lovely Faustine and the book slips from Borges to a period mystery, a la Chesterton. His understanding of the situation increases and it becomes more like a science fiction invention (the reference to Philip K Dick)... but still there is more, and when you realize there IS more, it becomes Casares' own novel, and stands on its own. It becomes a meditation on the nature of reality and our inability to separate the appearance from the nature of what is observed, the thin border between our own projections and fact, and even our willingness to consciously live in delusion. Does our hero become insane or is the answer to the mystery the whole answer, and his solution rational? This is a very short book, with twice the atmosphere. It is intriguing even while it feels like it is of its own time (1925 or so). When you finish it (in a day perhaps) you may want to read it again to take the time to notice how Casares has molded so many elements into a coherent story, building dread, curiosity and solutions incredibly cleverly. This is definitely worth your time if you like a book that is bigger than itself.

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