I mean, I liked it, but it is a weird book, I don’t think everyone will like it, but part of it’s appeal is how nonchalant it is about its weirdness. Not sure if the translations capture it, for example I don’t think the beginning of the book has the same impact in English: “Many years later, in front of the firing squad”, in Spanish that phrase is very weird, it’s the continuation of another phrase, it’s similar to opening a book and the first page starting with something like “of those, the one of his father taking him to see ice was the most cherished”, it makes you pause and look at the previous empty page thinking you’ve missed the actual first page.
But if anyone is thinking on reading it, do so with a pencil and start a family tree, the book covers 100 years of a family where everyone has the same names over and over.
I mean, I liked it, but it is a weird book, I don’t think everyone will like it, but part of it’s appeal is how nonchalant it is about its weirdness. Not sure if the translations capture it, for example I don’t think the beginning of the book has the same impact in English: “Many years later, in front of the firing squad”, in Spanish that phrase is very weird, it’s the continuation of another phrase, it’s similar to opening a book and the first page starting with something like “of those, the one of his father taking him to see ice was the most cherished”, it makes you pause and look at the previous empty page thinking you’ve missed the actual first page.
But if anyone is thinking on reading it, do so with a pencil and start a family tree, the book covers 100 years of a family where everyone has the same names over and over.