More Than Big Brother
Moleskine Literario posts a review of El fondo del cielo
It does sound interesting:
Entre la imposibilidad de verse a uno mismo fuera del Universo, y la necesidad imperiosa de ver un planeta distinto al nuestro, se forma esta novela que según el autor “quizá no sea la novela de amor más grande pero sí –seguro- la más larga” pues alcanza desde el estallido del Big Bang hasta el final de la Era de Las Cosas Extrañas, dentro de 7.590 millones de años.
And then there’s this:
De manera voluntaria, Fresán ha querido hacer una novela de, con y sobre la ciencia ficción, donde diferentes dimensiones temporales y espaciales existen paralelo. Evadir esa complejidad sería darle la espalda al logro mayor del libro, como es el conseguir que todas esas dimensiones tengan sentido y se engarcen con precisión en el argumento. Sin embargo, me permito desmontar la novela en dos bloques distintos solo para poder reseñarla y admirarla. Como si fueran dos versiones de la misma novela, o dos novelas enlazadas que luego, al terminar de leerlas, formarán una sola obra espléndida sobre personajes que no pertenecen a ningún mundo escrita, al mismo tiempo, por Kurt Vonnegut, por un lado, y John Cheever por otro.
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Fresan’s Kensington Gardens is one of the best books I’ve read in the past few years. Really hoping to read this one at some point in the future.
Fresán is a great writer. I must say that El fondo del cielo is good, but with a very bad start (there’s too sentimental stuff roundin’ around and his always great beginnings are lost here). As a narrator it doesn’t succeed, but it has an undeniable force.
If I were a Fresán translator I’d chose Mantra and La velocidad de las cosas over this last one. North America is going to BLOW UP literally when this books appear….La velocidad de las cosas and Mantra are simply masterpieces of a contemporary of Bolaño, that means comparable to the best Vila-Matas, to the best Bolaño…..