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3.59 AVERAGE
3.59 AVERAGE
Wonderful ... The last third of this slim novella is especially fun, adventurous, and magical. This is the third book of Aira's I've read, and he's quickly becoming a favorite of mine. His books read like abstract pop songs -- short, sugary, but also strange, philosophical, dreamlike, poetic -- with a wonderful infusion of both high and low brow literary devices. You have to be in the mood for this type of mixture of ingredients, but if you are, there's really nothing like it. Of the three of his I've read, An Episode in the Life of a Landscape Painter is by far my favorite, but this one places second :) Up next for me with Aira: either Veramo or Ghosts.
adventurous
funny
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
This is the second book of Aira's that I've read, and I am, again, amazed at how he can pack so many things into so few pages and have the result feel as light and effortless as it does. The Literary Conference is a very odd book. A bit of sci-fi, a bit of a love story, a bit of metafiction, a bit of a reflective essay. There is no reason for the various pieces to fit together as well as they do, but it all manages to work, and to work spectacularly.
Super short, weird and detached, kind of like reading someone's really detailed description of a dream. But in a good way. I'd like to read more of his stuff.
This book makes me think again about airports and silk.
I get the feeling these are back-handed compliments Aira and Fuentes are giving each other...
The part about him cloning a tie instead of Carlos Fuentes was kind of funny, I guess, but the other ninety pages were a bit much. I don't know.
This book made me feel kind of crazy and manic, but not in a totally bad way. I'd never read Aira before, but I'd heard about his method of just going forward in a story without changing what he'd written already. That lends it the feeling of being in the hands of a zany driver going up a mountaintop. Is he going to get you back down? Will you survive at all? This small book alone had a cloning machine, a secret treasure trap, an appearance by Carlos Fuentes, a beautiful hotel pool, the titular literary conference, some uncomfortable romance, and, last but not least, giant blue mountain slugs. It's like if Roberto Bolano were on LSD and amphetamines at once. Remarkably, the book does achieve a narrative loop, however roughly, closing the circle it begins. Aira fits in some smart philosophical asides about language and representation. The writing is incredibly smart and dense while still conveying a B-movie type plot. I'm not sure I can handle more Aira but this was definitely not boring.