Does anyone on here read César Aira’s books? He’s one of my favourite contemporary authors.
"Embalse" is probably the novel I like most (seems like there might be no English translation – I read it in German), but "Shantytown", "The Conversations", "Ghosts", "Las Noches de Flores" are all very good, I think.
I randomly picked out the Musical Brain from the New shelf at the library. It was pretty good t b h. I especially like the story about the girl making origami napkins at the cafe. Once I learned about his improv-style writing process, I couldn't help but notice it. Like there would be moments where it was obvious he was pulling plot points out of his ass. But at the same time it could come off charmingly wistful and true to life. That was probably the biggest asset and detriment to his writing. I'll probably check out something else by him.
I've read a few of his books -
while I can see someone "good" behind them, there's a certain air of short exercises behind his books.
There's no structure, but talent - without the structure the talent just noodles along. It's like going to a Paganini concert and listen to him play finger-exercises for 20 minutes, and then it's over.
