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bobbo49's review against another edition
4.0
One of the more difficult books to describe, or even to comment upon. Many of the short stories (some just a few pages) are like hallucinations, and hard to grasp; "magic realism" doesn't do justice to them. On the other hand, "The Pursuer", the longest story in the book, is absolutely brilliant - completely believable, and incredibly evocative of what the "genius" of a great jazz musician really means. Not for everyone, but I'm glad I read it.
laplaine's review against another edition
3.0
My favorite three stories were: Continuity of Parks, The Pursuer, and Secret Weapons. I'm a novice at reading Latin American writers, having dabbled a bit with Borges. My expectations might have been a bit too high here, had the remaining book been full of the interest I found in the mentioned three stories I would have rated the book higher.
missnicolerose's review against another edition
3.0
With a story and a half left, I'm giving up on this one.
While a few stories were particularly intriguing (House Taken Over, Bestiary, Continuity of Parks, Letter to a Young Lady in Paris), I just couldn't embrace Cortazar's writing style. Probably half of the stories were worth the read, while the rest I could have done without. Maybe I just don't "get" Cortazar, and I think I'm okay with that.
My favorite story, "Continuity of Parks", was the shortest but I felt most intriguing. I admire the writer who can create something so memorable in so few words. Many of his other stories, I honestly forgot shortly after reading, so this one stood out to me.
"House Taken Over" was full of anxiety and anticipation. Wonderfully told and ambiguous in nature.
"Letter to a Young Lady in Paris" was funny and surreal -- a man who pukes up bunnies until the house he is watching becomes overrun with them.
"Bestiary" was likely my second favorite. The innocence of children playing on an estate juxtaposed with a tiger lurking around the home.
While a few stories were particularly intriguing (House Taken Over, Bestiary, Continuity of Parks, Letter to a Young Lady in Paris), I just couldn't embrace Cortazar's writing style. Probably half of the stories were worth the read, while the rest I could have done without. Maybe I just don't "get" Cortazar, and I think I'm okay with that.
My favorite story, "Continuity of Parks", was the shortest but I felt most intriguing. I admire the writer who can create something so memorable in so few words. Many of his other stories, I honestly forgot shortly after reading, so this one stood out to me.
"House Taken Over" was full of anxiety and anticipation. Wonderfully told and ambiguous in nature.
"Letter to a Young Lady in Paris" was funny and surreal -- a man who pukes up bunnies until the house he is watching becomes overrun with them.
"Bestiary" was likely my second favorite. The innocence of children playing on an estate juxtaposed with a tiger lurking around the home.
cconnell28's review against another edition
4.0
Amazing collection of short stories, eerie and compelling - a total master.
hotcheetogirl's review against another edition
4.0
I love Cortazar and this translation is great but I realized so much is lost in translation, the original language is just so much better.
camoverride's review against another edition
3.0
Some of the stories in this collection are un-readable, some are readable but boring, and few are very interesting. Here are the memorable ones:
- Axolotl - metempsychosis with axolotls
- House Taken Over - mysterious entities taking over a home
- The Idol of the Cyclades - ancient, infectious evil
- The Continuity of Parks - fiction becomes fact
- The Night Face Up - metempsychosis through dreaming
- Axolotl - metempsychosis with axolotls
- House Taken Over - mysterious entities taking over a home
- The Idol of the Cyclades - ancient, infectious evil
- The Continuity of Parks - fiction becomes fact
- The Night Face Up - metempsychosis through dreaming
myyearofreadingandrelaxation's review against another edition
challenging
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
sarahreadsaverylot's review against another edition
5.0
To quote another review, "Cortazar displays throughout his stories the ability to elevate them above the condition of those gimmicky tales which depend for effect solely on a twist ending. His genius here lies in the knack for constructing striking, artistically 'right' subordinate circumstances out of which his fantastic and metaphysical whimsies appear normally to spring." (--Saturday Review)
These tales deserve a place alongside the canonical short story greats.
Imagine, if you will, that James Joyce had written [b:The Garden of Forking Paths|9678830|The Garden of Forking Paths |Jorge Luis Borges|https://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1353676269s/9678830.jpg|14566729], or that Jorge Luis Borges had written [b:The Dead|23289|The Dead|James Joyce|https://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1320491997s/23289.jpg|750536]. Metaphysics, illusion, suspense, imagination...he crafts an excruciating balance between the utterly mundane and the unbearably surreal, all seasoned with that Nabokovian ex-pat flavour of human detail and scenic artistry.
Personal favourites are Letter to a Young Lady in Paris, House Taken Over, the title piece, and At Your Service, though the entire collection is a balanced and thoroughly well conceived work.
These tales deserve a place alongside the canonical short story greats.
Imagine, if you will, that James Joyce had written [b:The Garden of Forking Paths|9678830|The Garden of Forking Paths |Jorge Luis Borges|https://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1353676269s/9678830.jpg|14566729], or that Jorge Luis Borges had written [b:The Dead|23289|The Dead|James Joyce|https://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1320491997s/23289.jpg|750536]. Metaphysics, illusion, suspense, imagination...he crafts an excruciating balance between the utterly mundane and the unbearably surreal, all seasoned with that Nabokovian ex-pat flavour of human detail and scenic artistry.
Personal favourites are Letter to a Young Lady in Paris, House Taken Over, the title piece, and At Your Service, though the entire collection is a balanced and thoroughly well conceived work.
jimmylorunning's review against another edition
4.0
There was a time when I thought a great deal about the story "Axolotl". When I envied those rhythms, their faint movements, those sentences in particular, intimate, slightly illogical, thought-like vectors achieving a rolling quality that is not like a sentence at all. Yes, above all I envied Cortazar's sentences, which are unique in their grammatical messiness, their organic connections, the imperceptible consequences of unfolding. Those days I read "Axolotl" obsessively, drunk on the sound of "Ambystoma", "Port Royal", and "an indifferent immobility", sometimes three or four times a day, captured by that minute looking, that description in which the words are just a cake of dust upon what is actually a chthonic--slow--turning over and over. Often I would drift off while reading, and they would enter my dreams, the axolotls and the sentences both, together.
"Axolotl" is probably the best story in this collection. The sentences are what I fell in love with first, but Cortazar is preoccupied with other notions. With the idea of becoming the Other, switching identities, with time, with perception. Most of these concepts, dare I say it, are weights that hinder his gifts, yes sometimes even gimmicks. Once you read one story, you begin to see the pattern and start looking for it, which is incredibly distracting, especially when you're trying to focus your eyes on those mysterious sentences at the bottom of the tank. But the particulars, that is where these stories sit implacable, where the concept cannot infringe. I insist that these stories do not need to be weighed down by such concepts, that they should live alone at the level of the sentence, that they need to be freed from the constraints of expectation.
"Axolotl" is probably the best story in this collection. The sentences are what I fell in love with first, but Cortazar is preoccupied with other notions. With the idea of becoming the Other, switching identities, with time, with perception. Most of these concepts, dare I say it, are weights that hinder his gifts, yes sometimes even gimmicks. Once you read one story, you begin to see the pattern and start looking for it, which is incredibly distracting, especially when you're trying to focus your eyes on those mysterious sentences at the bottom of the tank. But the particulars, that is where these stories sit implacable, where the concept cannot infringe. I insist that these stories do not need to be weighed down by such concepts, that they should live alone at the level of the sentence, that they need to be freed from the constraints of expectation.
helenasiuzmu's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
mysterious
slow-paced
4.0