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Has anyone read Labatut? What are your thoughts on him?
I was just watching an conversation he had with a film director here in Buenos Aires recently, where there was a line for hours to get in and it got me thinking I haven't seen him mentioned here. From what I gather MANIAC was pretty big last year and from that his previous book, When we cease to understand the world (which in spanish is actually called something like A terrible greenery) picked up some steam.
He wrote the first one in spanish and the second one in english, and I've read both in their original language and I'm really surprised at his command on both. This year I also read both books by Hernán Díaz, who's argentine but writes in english and has a superb pen. His book In the distance really echoes Cormac Mc Carthy (if maybe pushing a bit too much the influence).
But back to Labatut. When we cease is very very good, but I found the structure of "there was this guy and he revolutionized everything and seemed the greatest... until this other guy came!!!" which happens several times throughout the book, diminishing the impact. Luckily the book doesn't solely rely on that, and I found my favorite aspect to be the blend of fact and fiction, how he seamlessly goes from well documented things (public fights, speeches) to extremely private moments.
I found MANIAC to be much more focused and cohesive, and read the last section feverishly. I think the fact that it's a retelling of something so recent, you can see on Youtube, made it even more fascinating. Like a cognitive dissonance of sorts, where all the rest of his work takes place decades ago, except for those 40 pages (not counting La piedra de la locura, don't even know if it's been translated, but it's a very short book).
Ironically, the people with whom I've spoken about him told me they didn't really like the fact he was writing in english now, or had seen the documentary on the Go match and were underwhelmed. So I was wondering, has he been a success in your country, what do you think about the writing in both languages, what could we even expect from a next book by him?
#entertainment
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I was just watching an conversation he had with a film director here in Buenos Aires recently, where there was a line for hours to get in and it got me thinking I haven't seen him mentioned here. From what I gather MANIAC was pretty big last year and from that his previous book, When we cease to understand the world (which in spanish is actually called something like A terrible greenery) picked up some steam.
He wrote the first one in spanish and the second one in english, and I've read both in their original language and I'm really surprised at his command on both. This year I also read both books by Hernán Díaz, who's argentine but writes in english and has a superb pen. His book In the distance really echoes Cormac Mc Carthy (if maybe pushing a bit too much the influence).
But back to Labatut. When we cease is very very good, but I found the structure of "there was this guy and he revolutionized everything and seemed the greatest... until this other guy came!!!" which happens several times throughout the book, diminishing the impact. Luckily the book doesn't solely rely on that, and I found my favorite aspect to be the blend of fact and fiction, how he seamlessly goes from well documented things (public fights, speeches) to extremely private moments.
I found MANIAC to be much more focused and cohesive, and read the last section feverishly. I think the fact that it's a retelling of something so recent, you can see on Youtube, made it even more fascinating. Like a cognitive dissonance of sorts, where all the rest of his work takes place decades ago, except for those 40 pages (not counting La piedra de la locura, don't even know if it's been translated, but it's a very short book).
Ironically, the people with whom I've spoken about him told me they didn't really like the fact he was writing in english now, or had seen the documentary on the Go match and were underwhelmed. So I was wondering, has he been a success in your country, what do you think about the writing in both languages, what could we even expect from a next book by him?
#entertainment
source
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