I did not formally take part in Novellas in November, but I did read three novellas in November. This was one of them at 128 pages.
Dr. Humberto Huberman is visiting the seaside at Bosque del Mar, Argentina. He is staying at a hotel owned by relatives. It is a small hotel and not many guests; they get to know each other. On the first evening after his arrival, one of the guests dies, by poison. Dr. Huberman appoints himself the investigator, but of course the real policemen arrive soon enough.
The introduction describes this book as a "tongue-in-cheek mystery somewhere between detective spoof and romantic satire." It is a light-hearted story that does not take things too seriously. Dr. Huberman tells the story in first person narration so the reader only gets the story from his perspective. As noted, he considers himself to be the investigator (or at least a valued assistant to the police), but really no one seems to be very good at finding the culprit. The characters were all fun and sometimes not what they seemed. What I really loved was all the asides about books and writing and even book translations (one of the female characters translated and edited detective novels). The ending surprised me.
The authors, Adolfo Bioy Casares and Silvina Ocampo, were Argentine writers, married to each other, who originally published this book in 1946. The book was translated into English in 2013 by Suzanne Jill Levine and Jessica Ernst Powell. Levine also wrote the Introduction.
This book could fit the Beach square in the Wanderlust Bingo Challenge I am undertaking.
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Publisher: Melville House, 2013 (orig. publ. 1946)
Length: 128 pages
Format: Trade paperback
Setting: Argentina
Genre: Mystery
Source: On my TBR since 2014.
14 comments:
And, as I think I've mentioned here before, both writers here were friends and sometimes collaborators with Jorge Luis Borges, which is how I became aware of them when I was a kid. I should seek this out.
Todd, I do remember discussing that somewhere with you. A shame I cannot search blog comments to find it. And maybe the introduction talks about that too. I am terrible with reading Introductions and am sure I miss a lot of good stuff because of it.
This sounds like fun. I like, too, the idea that the writers were a husband and wife team. I noticed that it had been on your TBR for something over nine years...so well done. It's always a nice feeling to check off the list one that's been on it for so long.
Sam, I knew I had had the book a long time, but did not realize it was that long. That is what happens when one has so many unread books.
It was fun and left me thinking about it for quite a while. Pretty good for such a short book. And lots of great quotes.
Sounds like a fun read. Not always easy to pull off as I search in vain for a light story to share with my writing group this week.
It was fun, Patti. It can be confusing, since it is a satire. But I found it good for both the humor and the mystery.
This one really appeals to me, Tracy. Sometimes a book that doesn't take itself too seriously is exactly what the doctor ordered, especially if it's clever, too. And these are authors whose work I don't know; it would be good to 'meet' them.
I hope find a copy of this, Margot. I think you would like it and I would like to know what you thought of it.
Having just read Bosco's Death Going Down, I very much like the look of this one too. I never realised how much of a crime writing scene there was in Argentina in the 1940s and 1950s...
I was surprised too, Mrs Peabody, seeing your comments on Death Going Down after just having read Where There's Love, There's Hate. I have not read much from South American writers, old or new.
Sounds like a very fun novella! I'm not sure I've read many books set in Argentina, or written by Argentinian authors.
It is fun, Lark, and the fact that it is over 75 years since it was written made it even more interesting for me. I haven't read many books set in Argentina either, and even then it was usually just a part of the book, not the focus.
this sounds delightul, I'll have to see if I can find it!
Delightful is a very good description for this book, Moira.
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