Reviews

The Linden Tree by César Aira

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An excellent representative of Aira's autobiographical mode, as he spends the all 92 pages of this wonderful little thing wandering the hallways of his mind palace without any cloaks of genre fiction at all.

wildgurl's review

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4.0

The Linden Tree
By Cesar Aira
2003/2018

Originally published in Argentina, written in 2003 thus reflective and charming novella is a walk through the memories of a young man's childhood, it could be Aira life.....
It is a story of the love he felt for his father, a man who every day traveled to the linden tree to gather the linden flower to make a tea for his deformed and deranged mother....
Riveting. Recommended.

makikaze's review against another edition

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reflective fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.25

bllplank's review

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hopeful lighthearted reflective slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.25

macy_d's review

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mysterious reflective slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated

4.0

fluffy_nerd's review

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funny hopeful inspiring lighthearted reflective relaxing slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

beepbeepbooks's review against another edition

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3.0

Beautiful! Even at his most auto-biographical Aira continues to delight and elate the reader with his maze-like prose, a prose that never is comfortable stopping and always is able to get out of itself until the world eventually collapses. These tiny stories tell a lot about the town Aira grew up in and the era in which he lived (if we can take him for his word, which we aren't always certain) and his descriptions of the people and places around him create such an atmosphere of potential that he continually tries to assign a logic (perhaps not a rational logic, but some sort of logic) to everything, in varying success. Again I affirm he is one of the finest living writers, if not for his brevity then for his plenitude

readbyryan's review

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5.0

I was deeply entranced by this novella about a fictional young boy in the middle of the 20th century in Argentina. It’s a time where the Péron era has ended and the Peronistas have been ousted from power, even the name itself is not allowed. The narrator recounts his life growing up, allegedly fictional, but seems to parallel the author himself. The book is very moving and the translation is excellent. I can’t get past the cover though. I’ve seen few covers more stunning.