A review by snowmaiden
Borges and the Eternal Orangutans by Luís Fernando Veríssimo, Margaret Jull Costa

4.0

A pleasant little mystery story that involves Jorge Luis Borges, Edgar Allan Poe, H.P. Lovecraft, John Dee, and many other figures of occult literature. This is the second book I’ve read by Verissimo, and I admire his sense of the absurd and the delight he takes in poking fun at pretentious intellectuals, as well as the conciseness with which he writes. Some writers would have turned this plot into a 500-page slog, but he brings it in at under 150 pages and doesn’t allow it to wear out its welcome.