Scan barcode
smuds2's review
lighthearted
reflective
medium-paced
3.0
It's a fine book - probably better for picking up and putting down IMO. There's a lot of repetition, and I'm not sure the written words carries the convo as well as hearing it spoken would.
I think the best way to describe the interviews is like "take every kid that tried to be a lit kid in highschool and what they said, but make it make sense". Like, everytime Ferrari brought up a line of poetry and Borges was like "mmm no that's not good", I'm like "You're right Borges, I do not know why, but that was not good" - and then eventually after reading his speech and his thoughts - you kind of start to pick up on his instinct just a little bit. So towards the end of the book when Ferrari is mentioning names of a novel, I'm like "woof no way Borges will not like that name!" and then Borges is like "mmm no that's not good". It feels validating if nothing else lol.
I am not Argentinian, so maybe it's not for me to say - but I am generationally less removed than Borges from Europe, I believe, and to consider myself an inheritor of European aesthetic just seems so incorrect.
He also has some bad takes on indigenous peeps. Whenever he says stuff like that I'm a little bit like "oh grandpa. wish you didn't".
Borges seems like an infinitely interesting character, lucid at 85, and knowledgeable. He seems like he walks the walk and talks the talk.
Would I recommend this book? Probably not, with the caveat that if you're trying to "get" into poetry, this could be very helpful. The way the two of them talk back and forth cements the idea that sometimes you just "feel" a poetic piece, and if you don't that's okay, and if you do, that's okay too - more than any highschool teacher could.
I think the best way to describe the interviews is like "take every kid that tried to be a lit kid in highschool and what they said, but make it make sense". Like, everytime Ferrari brought up a line of poetry and Borges was like "mmm no that's not good", I'm like "You're right Borges, I do not know why, but that was not good" - and then eventually after reading his speech and his thoughts - you kind of start to pick up on his instinct just a little bit. So towards the end of the book when Ferrari is mentioning names of a novel, I'm like "woof no way Borges will not like that name!" and then Borges is like "mmm no that's not good". It feels validating if nothing else lol.
I am not Argentinian, so maybe it's not for me to say - but I am generationally less removed than Borges from Europe, I believe, and to consider myself an inheritor of European aesthetic just seems so incorrect.
He also has some bad takes on indigenous peeps. Whenever he says stuff like that I'm a little bit like "oh grandpa. wish you didn't".
Borges seems like an infinitely interesting character, lucid at 85, and knowledgeable. He seems like he walks the walk and talks the talk.
Would I recommend this book? Probably not, with the caveat that if you're trying to "get" into poetry, this could be very helpful. The way the two of them talk back and forth cements the idea that sometimes you just "feel" a poetic piece, and if you don't that's okay, and if you do, that's okay too - more than any highschool teacher could.
More...