Bonsai (The Contemporary Art of the Novella) [Paperback]

Alejandro Zambra (Author)

Book Description

Release date: October 7, 2008 | Series: The Contemporary Art of the Novella

Once outside its flowerpot, the tree ceases to be a bonsai.

"Winner of Chile’s Literary Critics’ Award for Best Novel"

Hailed as a great Latin American literary event, this stylistically innovative, elliptically told tale of a young man and his love who mysteriously disappears is, as the narrator tells us, “a simple story that becomes complicated.”

Through both the distance and closeness of these young lovers, Alejandro Zambra brilliantly explores the relationship between art, love, and life. Bonsai is accessible yet profound—as one critic in Chile’s Capital newspaper put it, “Brief as a sigh and forceful as a blow.”

The Contemporary Art of the Novella series is designed to highlight work by major authors from around the world. In most instances, as with Imre Kertész, it showcases work never before published; in others, books are reprised that should never have gone out of print. It is intended that the series feature many well-known authors and some exciting new discoveries. And as with the original series, The Art of the Novella, each book is a beautifully packaged and inexpensive volume meant to celebrate the form and its practitioners.

Editorial Reviews

Review

Praise for Alejandro Zambra's Bonsai

"The ‘last truly great book’ I read has to be Alejandro Zambra’s Bonsai. A subtle, eerie, ultimately wrenching account of failed young love in Chile among the kind of smartypant set who pillow-talk about the importance of Proust. You get the cold flesh of the story in that chilling first line: “In the end she dies and he remains alone, although in truth he was alone some years before her death.” But only by reading to the end do you touch the story’s haunted soul. A total knockout.
—Junot Díaz, author of The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao

"The herald of a new wave of Chilean fiction."
—Marcela Valdes, The Nation

“One of the greatest literary events of recent years.”
—Alfonso Cortínez, Las Últimas Noticias

“An unclassifiable object of unusual beauty ... one of the best Chilean novels of recent times.”
—David Lacalle, Capital

"Bonsai is an appealing miniature, a novella that, despite its brevity, feels airy and full … an enjoyable, pleasantly surprising, and clever read."
—The Complete Review

"Bonsai won the Chilean Critics Award for best novel of the year in 2006…and it's easy to understand why."
—Jonathan Messinger, Time Out Chicago

"What is remarkable about Zambra’s novella is the space between ending and beginning—the progressive prose that relates a true story with emotional and artistic implications extending far beyond its 83 pages."
—Bookslut

"Zambra flexes some serious artistic muscle...."
—Rain Taxi

"For such a small book to have such well-rendered characters is impressive and this, in the end, is what is essential to the novella. A good novella must impress you with its tiny size and the power of its language."
—The Phoenix (PA)

"Undeniably fascinating...the kind of story that lingers in the mind for weeks after being read."
—The Quarterly Conversation

About the Author

Alejandro Zambra is acclaimed as the greatest writer of Chile’s younger generation. He is a poet and critic and currently teaches literature at the Diego Portales University in Santiago. Bonsai is his first novel. It was awarded Chile’s Literary Critics’ Award for Best Novel.

Product Details

• Paperback: 84 pages
• Publisher: Melville House (October 7, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 193363362X
• ISBN-13: 978-1933633626
• Product Dimensions: 6.8 x 4.8 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,096,782 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars A tour de force of poetic storytelling October 10, 2011

By Patto TOP 500 REVIEWER

Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase

Alejandro Zambra is a Chilean poet whose first excursion into fiction (Bonsai) created a literary sensation. His poetic talent infuses every page of this little novel. The writing in English is so exquisite that the original Spanish must be really exquisite. Every sentence gives pleasure. The prose is subtle, suggestive, playful, steeped in irony.

At the same time, Zamba is a good storyteller. And he's not shy about tangling with the great questions of life.

The story concerns two young people, Julio and Emilia, who have an intense physical relationship curiously influenced by the books they read. The psychology of their interactions is brilliantly portrayed. Lurking in the background is the fear that love may be an illusion.

And both Julio and Emilia have other dimensions and experiences outside their love for each other. These tidbits and vignettes interwoven with the main story are quite fascinating.

How does the bonsai fit in? It does appear, and I have theories about what it means, but you will too. Zambra's somewhat open-ended style invites a philosophical mood.

I wasn't always in my comfort zone as I read this book. But I think that's good. I'd definitely recommend Bonsai to readers who like edgy fiction and have a literary bent.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars A haunting love story January 29, 2009

By Darryl R. Morris

Format:Paperback

This novella, by the Chilean writer Alejandro Zambra, is his first novel after he published two books of poems, Useless Bay and Change. Bonsai won the Chilean Critics' Award for the Best Novel of the Year in 2006, and it is one of the 10 shortlisted books for the Best Translated Book of 2008 by Three Percent.

The main characters are two Chilean university students, Emilia and Julio, who become lovers after a drunken study session. They are inseparable, almost indistinguishable in their likes and dislikes, and their lovemaking sessions are preceded by excerpts from their favorite works of literature. Eventually they begin to drift apart, and Emilia soon disappears from Chile.

Anita, Emilia's old roommate and best friend since childhood, eventually tracks her down years later in Madrid, and makes a startling and disturbing discovery, which is hinted at in the opening paragraph of the book.

Emilia and Julio are lovingly painted, and even though you know what will eventually happen to Julia, it is still shocking and achingly sad, and the ending is heartbreaking.

1.0 out of 5 stars Publishing wars? February 17, 2013

By Simon G. Barrett

Format:Paperback

Looks like this book has been retranslated *already* because it's 'now a major motion picture'. My review of The Private Lives of Trees (2010) may help you decide if this dwarf is major enough for you

2 of 4 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Novellas are back! June 6, 2011

By paxman

Format:Paperback

THANK YOU for bringing back the modern-day novella, in a relevant format! I LOVE THIS BOOK! though slim, it is chock full of goodness. Each word is essential. Exquisitely done. A fine Work Of Art.

0 of 1 people found the following review helpful

2.0 out of 5 stars I don't see February 6, 2013

By Robert A. Pesek

Format:Kindle Edition|Amazon Verified Purchase

I found it tedious and had to fight to finish it. Sorely disappointed. I wish someone would explain the merit of this book to me.

0 of 1 people found the following review helpful

3.0 out of 5 stars A book about a book, ultimately unconvincing June 3, 2012

By Juan-Pablo Caceres

Format:Paperback

When Cervantes wrote Don Quijote, one of his aims was to attack a certain kind of literature of his day. He plotted the story with a character that reads too much, becomes crazy, and subsequently imagines he is part of one of these books himself. Don Quijote is in a sense a book about books. Jumping several centuries ahead, modern Latin American writers are obsessed with the thematic of writers within their novels, with variable outcomes. The big success story is Bolaño: 2666 is a masterpiece of literature within literature. The novel includes literary critics, readers, and other related character in the cosmology of books.

Zambra follows this tradition. The story of Bonsai is, basically, how it was written. A book about how the book you have in your hands came to life. It also contains several references to other authors, real and fictional--the couple reading classics to each other after lovemaking, the famous writer that needs to transcribe his handwritten novel. But even though this may sound complicated, the story is fairly simple, and that's both Zambra's strength and weakness.

In his simplicity, the book tells you the whole plot in its first paragraph. And then develops a very short novel (nouvelle) in the rest of the 80+ pages with extremely big fonts. This simplicity gives this book about a book some coherence, but at the same time the story is so straightforward that one is hard pressed to find layers of meaning. In several places I had the feeling of reading cute sentences just for the sake of it. It is also that the plot of a young couple that never finds love again may not be worth a longer development.

Bonsai is a decent attempt, but the author needs to go a long way before jumping from young promise to successful writer.