A review by joeduncan
An Episode in the Life of a Landscape Painter by César Aira

5.0

This book is great. It's a tiny novella, but with a scope tuned for a novel three times its size. Aira's writing style is so incisive and direct that it still works on a smaller scale. That would be an accomplishment of its own, but the real treat is a slow-burn transition from picturesque landscapes to surreal body-horror, which is paced so elegantly that it all feels cohesive. I read it because of the intro by Bolano, but I'll definitely come back to this guy.