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A review by highestiqinfresno
A Personal Anthology by Jorge Luis Borges
3.0
A mixed bag for me. The best is tremendous. "Death and the Compass", "The South", and "The Aleph" are among the best short stories I have read in many years. Like Lovecraft, Borges is a master of moods. Whether a sun-baked plain, creaking old house, or somber library, his writing is transporting - a wonderful quality during quarantine.
I didn't particularly enjoy the poetry. I'm not sure if it was lost in translated, but none of the poems struck me or made me feel anything.
As a first time Borges reader, I would have liked a more robust foreword that laid out his core themes and ideas. It took me about 100 pages to really understand what he was doing and I had to do some internet sleuthing to better grasp a few of the stories. These stories require attention and more annotation would have helped me appreciate why his work is so singular and beloved.
I didn't particularly enjoy the poetry. I'm not sure if it was lost in translated, but none of the poems struck me or made me feel anything.
As a first time Borges reader, I would have liked a more robust foreword that laid out his core themes and ideas. It took me about 100 pages to really understand what he was doing and I had to do some internet sleuthing to better grasp a few of the stories. These stories require attention and more annotation would have helped me appreciate why his work is so singular and beloved.