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breadandmushrooms's review against another edition
dark
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? N/A
- Strong character development? N/A
- Loveable characters? N/A
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A
2.75
sriq's review against another edition
A brief book full of brief stories, the longest being just five pages. But Ocampo writes her world close into that space, with characters who wear feathered hats like fainting spells, move their arms in the shape of screams, have hearts that are embroidered like the veins of leaves. The titular story especially stands out: a young child trying to remember her own birth, each realization wrapping around her like ever-cloudier gauze. Recommended if you enjoy the short stories of Kafka and Calvino.
pearloz's review against another edition
3.0
I think I have a problem with microfiction, or the type of story found here which is somewhere between micro and the short story...maybe short, short stories? Most were 3-5 pages, not long enough to get past the early confusion I get at the start of a new story or book. There were two in particular I really liked "Landscape With Trapezes" and "The Acrobats." The rest were briefly entertaining but, because of their brevity, almost instantaneously forgettable. I hope City Lights publishes more of her novels, I liked [b:The Promise|43985366|The Promise|Silvina Ocampo|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1568307693l/43985366._SX50_.jpg|15804879] well enough, I think. But if they do another collection like this, I might skip it.
zellm's review against another edition
4.0
I thought these stories were clever, creepy, and atmospheric. I really enjoyed how much Ocampo manages to say in such short stories, and how much is implied. Beautiful, lyrical prose. Towards the end, some of the stories feel a little formulaic and similar, but overall an enjoyable read.
smuds2's review against another edition
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
tense
medium-paced
4.0
UNFINISHED
REVIEW RATING SYSTEM - [ 1 = FELT DECEIVED, 2 = NOT WHAT I EXPECTED IN A BAD WAY BUT WASN'T A WASTE OF TIME, 3 = WHAT I EXPECTED FELT LIKE MY TIME WAS USED AS EXPECTED, 4 = PLEASANTLY SURPRISED, 5 = THINKING ABOUT IT MONTHS LATER ]
RULES : (1) can not give anything a 5 outright, must either be a re-read or a update to score, (2) can not give incremental ratings, except for 4.75 which is functionally a "revisit in case it is actually a 5", (3) I should always end with a "this leads me to think" of 2-3 ideas this book roused in me.
Even in translation the writing in this is incredible. It's dark, mysterious, playful in some ways. A lot of the stories feel unresolved, intentionally. It is not a satisfying read imo in that sense.
Something something best words in the best order.
I don't know who this book is 'for', per-se. I don't know who I'd recommend it to.
But it's good. If you are looking at the reviews of this book, you should read it.
REVIEW RATING SYSTEM - [ 1 = FELT DECEIVED, 2 = NOT WHAT I EXPECTED IN A BAD WAY BUT WASN'T A WASTE OF TIME, 3 = WHAT I EXPECTED FELT LIKE MY TIME WAS USED AS EXPECTED, 4 = PLEASANTLY SURPRISED, 5 = THINKING ABOUT IT MONTHS LATER ]
RULES : (1) can not give anything a 5 outright, must either be a re-read or a update to score, (2) can not give incremental ratings, except for 4.75 which is functionally a "revisit in case it is actually a 5", (3) I should always end with a "this leads me to think" of 2-3 ideas this book roused in me.
Something something best words in the best order.
I don't know who this book is 'for', per-se. I don't know who I'd recommend it to.
But it's good. If you are looking at the reviews of this book, you should read it.
emsemsems's review against another edition
5.0
I didn’t expect to be so blown away by this book, but I did – and I got tossed hard. It’s like an abandoned lovechild of Clarice Lispector and Lydia Davis – picked up and fostered by Ottessa Moshfegh. The first few stories only tugged me gently, but the later stories absolutely dragged me – and my mind was wrecked in the best ways possible. Absolutely magical, darkly witty, and oh so irresistibly charming.
My carefully considered/selected favourites from the collection:
The Head Pressed Against the Window
“Mademoiselle Dargère was extremely pretty, and the children loved her, but a constant worry had settled between her eyebrows in the shape of vertical wrinkles that somewhat spoiled her beauty. Her nights were plagued by insomnia, and during those wakeful hours she would hear a chorus of dreams, wraithlike, arising from the sleeping children in their white nightgowns in the dormitories, each with twenty beds, where she would deposit a daily kiss on every brow.”
Diorama
“For a long time he thought of this solitude like an old girlfriend, the memory of which was summoned only by a phonograph record or a particular perfume. A girlfriend with the scent of freshly cut grass, surrounded by the sky and sounds of the country. He believed he was cured, there at the ranch, thanks to the buzzing of the bees and the insects that in harmony with the ringdoves would weave soothing blue patterns on the highest crowns of the trees. But as soon as he returned to the city, thoughts of suicide settled into his body once again. It was then that he chose to study medicine, and it was his patients who saved his life.”
Forgotten Journey
“Before they were born, children were stocked in a big department store, mothers ordered them, and sometimes went to buy them directly. She would have liked to see them unwrap the package and open the box that held the baby, but they never called her over in time in the houses with newborns. It was hot and they could barely breathe inside the box, and that’s why they arrived so red and cried all the time, curling their toes.”
Bare Feet
“Cristian secretly missed their distant, different, confident love affair. It was so easy to have faith in what didn’t matter that much. Those romantic idylls in cafes, on grocery store corners, on beaches: they robbed him of nothing, not his sunny morning walks, nor his hours of leisure, nor the loneliness that made him fumble around for a human connection, nor the visits to his cousins’ house, nor the divine generosity of time, nor his misery of constant solitude. He remembered Ethel Buyington and the unpredictable… Ethel finished her studies more ignorant than when she began and went on to travel the coasts of Africa with a French family. ”
Given some time and enough enthusiasm, one can easily argue that this book is a bloody masterpiece. I am too tired at the moment to do so, but regardless – I can confidently recommend this book to most readers. I am not even sure if I can call it magical realism because to me it’s more like something that flirts with hyperrealism and/but sassily adorned with odd knots and twists.
My carefully considered/selected favourites from the collection:
The Head Pressed Against the Window
“Mademoiselle Dargère was extremely pretty, and the children loved her, but a constant worry had settled between her eyebrows in the shape of vertical wrinkles that somewhat spoiled her beauty. Her nights were plagued by insomnia, and during those wakeful hours she would hear a chorus of dreams, wraithlike, arising from the sleeping children in their white nightgowns in the dormitories, each with twenty beds, where she would deposit a daily kiss on every brow.”
Diorama
“For a long time he thought of this solitude like an old girlfriend, the memory of which was summoned only by a phonograph record or a particular perfume. A girlfriend with the scent of freshly cut grass, surrounded by the sky and sounds of the country. He believed he was cured, there at the ranch, thanks to the buzzing of the bees and the insects that in harmony with the ringdoves would weave soothing blue patterns on the highest crowns of the trees. But as soon as he returned to the city, thoughts of suicide settled into his body once again. It was then that he chose to study medicine, and it was his patients who saved his life.”
Forgotten Journey
“Before they were born, children were stocked in a big department store, mothers ordered them, and sometimes went to buy them directly. She would have liked to see them unwrap the package and open the box that held the baby, but they never called her over in time in the houses with newborns. It was hot and they could barely breathe inside the box, and that’s why they arrived so red and cried all the time, curling their toes.”
Bare Feet
“Cristian secretly missed their distant, different, confident love affair. It was so easy to have faith in what didn’t matter that much. Those romantic idylls in cafes, on grocery store corners, on beaches: they robbed him of nothing, not his sunny morning walks, nor his hours of leisure, nor the loneliness that made him fumble around for a human connection, nor the visits to his cousins’ house, nor the divine generosity of time, nor his misery of constant solitude. He remembered Ethel Buyington and the unpredictable… Ethel finished her studies more ignorant than when she began and went on to travel the coasts of Africa with a French family. ”
Given some time and enough enthusiasm, one can easily argue that this book is a bloody masterpiece. I am too tired at the moment to do so, but regardless – I can confidently recommend this book to most readers. I am not even sure if I can call it magical realism because to me it’s more like something that flirts with hyperrealism and/but sassily adorned with odd knots and twists.
cozylifewithabby's review against another edition
I will give a few review later, but read this for Argentina for my reading around the world challenge. This is a brilliant slice of life, atmospheric short story collection
stbakk's review against another edition
Ik moet accepteren dat korte verhalenbundels niet voor mij zijn.