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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Mysterious narratives from an Argentine literary master,
By
This review is from: A Change of Light and Other Stories (Hardcover)
Cortazar may have been a literary genius, and even if he wasn't, he was unquestionably a major literary star, known internationally, and very popular in artistic circles. This uncohesive collection I would place somewhere in the middle of his work in terms of quality, and it seems to fall around the middle of his writing career too. This collection had several good stories, some unsuccessful experiments, and even a couple of mainstream thriller shorts, which definitely surprised this reader.
Reading this helped me get a handle on what his technique was. His narratives seem to ramble a bit, and can be a challenge to read. The point of view can shift in the middle of a long paragraph. He uses some stream of consciousness, and he strings together images, words, and inner thoughts without ever notifying the reader of his intentions. The vagueness helps to create an air of mystery and uncertainty, and in most of the stories, beneath a fairly placid surface there is a clear suggestion of lurking menace. But he is very much a literary experimenter and not a creator of gothic or conventionally scary stories. His style is elliptical as well - things can shift unexpectedly, and there is often a number of questions hovering unanswered. Matters of the heart are what seem to concern him the most, and some of the best stories here are sophisticated relationship pieces, often concerning a pickup, and they are not exactly packed with light and laughter. For example, in "The Ferry, or Another Trip to Venice", a third person narrator brings forth the tale of a suave lady going to Venice accompanied by a close friend (who makes comments on the narrative as it develops) and gets involved with both a man of her class and a gondolier who picks her up. Cortazar is very good at unfolding what are fairly conventional short stories in a way that makes things mysterious and magical, even while there is clearly much pain present. All in all, an interesting book that heightened my understanding of this author. If it was not his best, it certainly was not his worst either.
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