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A review by cruelspirit
The Divorce by César Aira
adventurous
challenging
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
This is my second dive into the work of César Aira. Nearly three years ago I read his novella An Episode in the Life of a Landscape Painter. While I wasn't fully blown away by it I was really impressed with Aira's ability to craft a novella and tell a beautiful and compelling story. I've been meaning to read more from Aira so this reading of The Divorce was long overdue.
The Divorce is quite different from An Episode in the Life of a Landscape Painter. While Episode in the Life was a more straightforward story, based in actual historical events, The Divorce is a more modern setting with a much more experimental narrative.
This book is a hundred page book that holds the contents of a three hundred page book. There's a lot that is going on within a short page count and that's something to marvel at but that isn't to say it succeeded in conveying a compelling story for me.
These hundred pages are split into sections that, while compelling on their own, are often unrecognizable to each other while reading them. There are a few moments that try to tie everything together but as I was reading this story I felt like I was getting pulled in too many directions. I enjoyed what I was reading but I wanted to explore more of the stories that Aira was telling rather than launch straight into the next one. Once I had reached the halfway point of this short book I realized what I was in for and it really started to detract from my interest in the overall story.
The story portrayed in The Divorce is one that centers around one single moment, held in time, as the perspectives of those who are there to witness it are explored in great length. The story is quickly established so that much of the page count can be devoted to these exhaustive backstories. While I enjoyed this concept I felt like without a really compelling establishment of the story I was left wondering why I was reading what came after. The ending tries to bring together everything you've read in the previous hundred pages but it wasn't enough for me to really say I enjoyed the story as a whole.
While the narrative might not have fully enraptured me, the real joy here is reading Aira's prose. Aira is a great writer. The same elements that I found enjoyable in Episode in the Life stood out here. If you are a fan of Aira I would recommend this book, especially as the more experimental narrative might offer fans a new perspective on the author. That being said, as someone who has now only read two of his works I wouldn't recommend this an introduction to his work as it really is too all over the place to get into the words he's writing with full appreciation.
Like I said, there is a lot I enjoyed here but I don't think this was the Aira book for me. There are a lot of great magical realism and even postmodern elements utilized here that I found compelling, at least in conception. I really enjoyed the boarding school fire scene as it has a very Borgesian flavor to it, while also being uniquely of Aira. It's unfortunate that this scene comes so early in the story, at least for my own investment.
It's been a while since I returned to the world of Latin American literature and maybe this just wasn't the reintroduction I needed. I hope to read more Latin American works in the near future and I'm far from done with reading the works of Aira.
The Divorce is quite different from An Episode in the Life of a Landscape Painter. While Episode in the Life was a more straightforward story, based in actual historical events, The Divorce is a more modern setting with a much more experimental narrative.
This book is a hundred page book that holds the contents of a three hundred page book. There's a lot that is going on within a short page count and that's something to marvel at but that isn't to say it succeeded in conveying a compelling story for me.
These hundred pages are split into sections that, while compelling on their own, are often unrecognizable to each other while reading them. There are a few moments that try to tie everything together but as I was reading this story I felt like I was getting pulled in too many directions. I enjoyed what I was reading but I wanted to explore more of the stories that Aira was telling rather than launch straight into the next one. Once I had reached the halfway point of this short book I realized what I was in for and it really started to detract from my interest in the overall story.
The story portrayed in The Divorce is one that centers around one single moment, held in time, as the perspectives of those who are there to witness it are explored in great length. The story is quickly established so that much of the page count can be devoted to these exhaustive backstories. While I enjoyed this concept I felt like without a really compelling establishment of the story I was left wondering why I was reading what came after. The ending tries to bring together everything you've read in the previous hundred pages but it wasn't enough for me to really say I enjoyed the story as a whole.
While the narrative might not have fully enraptured me, the real joy here is reading Aira's prose. Aira is a great writer. The same elements that I found enjoyable in Episode in the Life stood out here. If you are a fan of Aira I would recommend this book, especially as the more experimental narrative might offer fans a new perspective on the author. That being said, as someone who has now only read two of his works I wouldn't recommend this an introduction to his work as it really is too all over the place to get into the words he's writing with full appreciation.
Like I said, there is a lot I enjoyed here but I don't think this was the Aira book for me. There are a lot of great magical realism and even postmodern elements utilized here that I found compelling, at least in conception. I really enjoyed the boarding school fire scene as it has a very Borgesian flavor to it, while also being uniquely of Aira. It's unfortunate that this scene comes so early in the story, at least for my own investment.
It's been a while since I returned to the world of Latin American literature and maybe this just wasn't the reintroduction I needed. I hope to read more Latin American works in the near future and I'm far from done with reading the works of Aira.