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THE MODEL
After Robert Aickman's death in 1981 the manuscript of The Model, a wintry rococo fable set in Czarist Russia, was located among his papers. Aickman had told a friend he considered this novella to be "one of the best things I have ever written, if not the very best." It was duly published for the first time in 1987.The Model tells of Elena, a grave girl inclined to losing herself in dreams of becoming a student ballerina or coryphée. Her dolour darkens further when she learns she is to be sold into marital slavery by her father so as to settle the family's debts. Refusing an unendurable future she sets out to the city of Smorevsk to pursue her dream. First, however, she must traverse a landscape crowded by highly curious characters and creatures.
Paperback
First published April 1, 1987
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About the author
Robert Aickman
152 books533 followersAuthor of: close to 50 "strange stories" in the weird-tale and ghost-story traditions, two novels (The Late Breakfasters and The Model), two volumes of memoir (The Attempted Rescue and The River Runs Uphill), and two books on the canals of England (Know Your Waterways and The Story of Our Inland Waterways).
Co-founder and longtime president of the Inland Waterways Association, an organization that in the middle of the 20th century restored a great part of England's deteriorating system of canals, now a major draw for recreation nationally and for tourism internationally.
Grandson of author Richard Marsh.
Co-founder and longtime president of the Inland Waterways Association, an organization that in the middle of the 20th century restored a great part of England's deteriorating system of canals, now a major draw for recreation nationally and for tourism internationally.
Grandson of author Richard Marsh.
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Displaying 1 - 27 of 27 reviews
April 23, 2017
a little girl lives in her dreams, in her icy mansion, her wintry village; as her future approaches, she builds a model of her life to come. the author wrote his horror short stories, his tales of unease and things creeping on the outskirts, his ambiguous tales of dread-filled adults and the closed circles they inhabit; he wrote a novella, about a child, about dreams of the future and an uncertain life, unpublished in his lifetime. the girl meets an odd friend who accompanies her on curious adventures; at last, to the big city she comes: her model of her future life has become her life, or at least a dream of it; she steps into this dream, this model. the author used his quietly menacing style in this tale of Elena and this vision of a past Russia, but that style has shifted a bit, softened and simplified, a fable's style: the story is pleasantly unreal, vague, faintly magical. the girl meets an odd friend who she once knew in another life and is warned of an uncertain menace, a corruption of sorts; and so she flees both danger and her dreams. the author armed his novella with cutting points but enclosed them in a gauzy, enveloping circle, sharp things made deceptively softer but still capable of surprising stings; he wrote of hazy adventure and coming of age, obliquely, friendly threats and threatening friends. a young woman returns to her village, her old home, where icy magic and crystalline dreams have thawed into watery, muddy reality.
but the model has remained - still beautiful, but simply a model; she turns from it and sees a new life approaching, a coach, and enters. her real adventure has begun.
but the model has remained - still beautiful, but simply a model; she turns from it and sees a new life approaching, a coach, and enters. her real adventure has begun.
May 6, 2020
Readers accustomed to Aickman’s strange stories will likely find the style of this charming novella to be unusual, though hopefully not in an unpleasant way. For me the dreamlike, fairy-tale atmosphere and plotline that Aickman masterfully conjures up was wholly welcome. Here, a young Russian girl named Elena, when faced with two unappealing life-altering propositions—each dictated by one of her parents—strikes out on her own instead, embarking on a mythopoetic journey with just enough burgeoning self-confidence and wit to facilitate her navigation of a series of unanticipated, often absurd situations. Along the way Elena is aided by various singular characters, each of whom has a specific—though not necessarily obvious—role to play in her progress. Elena’s trip has the feel of an allegory unfolding of its own accord, with multiple references to her being ‘under a spell’ during the course of events. As with Aickman’s other fiction, not all that happens here is clearly explained—much of it in fact lies in that vague liminal space of possibility Aickman so excels at generating. This quality of the narrative just makes the story even better.
June 9, 2020
From the publisher, Faber & Faber : After Robert Aickman's death in 1981 the manuscript of The Model, a wintry rococo fable set in Czarist Russia, was located among his papers. Aickman had told a friend he considered this novella to be 'one of the best things I have ever written, if not the very best.'
Comments from other writers:
'A must for Aickman fans ... A model of eloquent elegant enchantment.' Robert Bloch (author of Psycho)
'He is a weatherman of the subconscious.' - Fritz Leiber
'A Strange and delicate winter fable, chilling and dreamlike.' - Michael Swanwick
This art doll is a creation of Alisa Filipova. See more of her work at The Dollery.
The Model was published in 1987, six years after Robert Aickman's death. I find it interesting that he considered it to be possibly the best thing he'd ever written and could not get that out of my mind as I read it. Without a doubt, it is charming and very funny. I have read most of Aickman's other work, and believe that his sense of humour is often subverted to other effects, such as striking the right note of creeping dread. If you are unfamiliar with Aickman's writing, I can only say that he is utterly unique in my experience. He wrote horror stories, but of a sublime and literary style. Many of his stories have left me pondering what it is he does that gets under my skin so much. I am not alone in this, as that is his usual effect on his readers.
The blurb on the back of Aickman's story collections is by Neil Gaiman, who says, 'Reading Robert Aickman is like watching a magician work, and very often I'm not even sure what the trick was. All I know is that he did it beautifully.' Peter Straub explained him this way, 'What attracted Aickman to ghosts was not the notion of dripping revenants but the feeling – composed in part of mystery, fear, stifled eroticism, hopelessness, nostalgia and the almost violent freedom granted by a suspension of rational rules – which they evoked in him.' Victoria Nelson really nails it, though, in her introduction to The Model: 'He loves oblique, corner-of-the-eye effects, throwaway asides that don't bear directly on the narrative, and the fact that the uncanny lurks in the margins instead of being front and center makes it doubly unsettling.'
Imagine my surprise in reading The Model, then, which I began with my now-usual expectations of bewitchment and bemusement, in equal parts. The author's style, tone, and effect are set apart for this tale, which evokes no one so much as Angela Carter. Once I got going, I could clearly discern Aickman's beautiful descriptions and subtle insights, but had you given me the book without telling me who wrote it, I might not have got it right, and probably would have guessed Carter.
I was so caught off-guard by the way he immersed me in Elena's world, with a delicate and exquisite tenderness (balanced with dark, subversive humour) that I kept thinking, 'Really? This is Aickman?!' I did enjoy it, very much, but I think it is the sweetness of his care for the child Elena that startled me. In retrospect, though, I am reminded that Aickman is always kinder to his female protagonists than his males. Though described often as an irascible curmudgeon, it seems to me he had a kind heart for girls and women who captured his fancy. The upshot of this is that, while The Model reads as a dark fairy tale or fable, Aickman sees it through to the end. Our heroine is not destroyed but merely grows up (which is sad in its own way).
The description of this book, by the publisher, as a 'rococo fable set in Czarist Russia' tells you all you need to know, really. Since I am a sucker for the rococo, fairy tales, fables, and stories about Czarist Russia, it all came together for me. Elena is a delightful girl who pushes against the confining expectations of the life her parents wish to thrust upon her, in order to grow into her own person and realise her own dreams. This is quite a stand for a girl of that time and culture! The journey she takes and the bizarre and wondrous experiences she has are much like a dream sequence, and one could read the story simply as a young girl's daydreams.
If you enjoy Angela Carter, and most especially The Magic Toyshop, I think you will like this one, although I will need to reread it, now that my expectations have been adjusted away from horror, in order to decide whether it's the best thing he ever wrote. As it stands now, my favourite story of his is Into the Wood which can be found in the collection The Wine-Dark Sea, but many of his stories amaze and haunt me. (The Hospice wins, easily, the award for creepiest story I have ever read. It can be read in the collection Cold Hand in Mine: Strange Stories.)
A toy theatre not unlike Elena's. (I could not find the creator.)
Here are a couple of links to articles, and one to a BBC Radio talk, about Robert Aickman, which you may enjoy. He was a fascinating man.
Robert Aickman's Cult Horror Books Are Being Resurrected For The Centenary Of His Birth, The Independent, 7 August 2014
Strange Interludes, The Weekly Standard, 25 May 2015
The Unsettled Dust: The Strange Stories of Robert Aickman, BBC Radio, 11 August 2017
Comments from other writers:
'A must for Aickman fans ... A model of eloquent elegant enchantment.' Robert Bloch (author of Psycho)
'He is a weatherman of the subconscious.' - Fritz Leiber
'A Strange and delicate winter fable, chilling and dreamlike.' - Michael Swanwick
This art doll is a creation of Alisa Filipova. See more of her work at The Dollery.
The Model was published in 1987, six years after Robert Aickman's death. I find it interesting that he considered it to be possibly the best thing he'd ever written and could not get that out of my mind as I read it. Without a doubt, it is charming and very funny. I have read most of Aickman's other work, and believe that his sense of humour is often subverted to other effects, such as striking the right note of creeping dread. If you are unfamiliar with Aickman's writing, I can only say that he is utterly unique in my experience. He wrote horror stories, but of a sublime and literary style. Many of his stories have left me pondering what it is he does that gets under my skin so much. I am not alone in this, as that is his usual effect on his readers.
The blurb on the back of Aickman's story collections is by Neil Gaiman, who says, 'Reading Robert Aickman is like watching a magician work, and very often I'm not even sure what the trick was. All I know is that he did it beautifully.' Peter Straub explained him this way, 'What attracted Aickman to ghosts was not the notion of dripping revenants but the feeling – composed in part of mystery, fear, stifled eroticism, hopelessness, nostalgia and the almost violent freedom granted by a suspension of rational rules – which they evoked in him.' Victoria Nelson really nails it, though, in her introduction to The Model: 'He loves oblique, corner-of-the-eye effects, throwaway asides that don't bear directly on the narrative, and the fact that the uncanny lurks in the margins instead of being front and center makes it doubly unsettling.'
Imagine my surprise in reading The Model, then, which I began with my now-usual expectations of bewitchment and bemusement, in equal parts. The author's style, tone, and effect are set apart for this tale, which evokes no one so much as Angela Carter. Once I got going, I could clearly discern Aickman's beautiful descriptions and subtle insights, but had you given me the book without telling me who wrote it, I might not have got it right, and probably would have guessed Carter.
I was so caught off-guard by the way he immersed me in Elena's world, with a delicate and exquisite tenderness (balanced with dark, subversive humour) that I kept thinking, 'Really? This is Aickman?!' I did enjoy it, very much, but I think it is the sweetness of his care for the child Elena that startled me. In retrospect, though, I am reminded that Aickman is always kinder to his female protagonists than his males. Though described often as an irascible curmudgeon, it seems to me he had a kind heart for girls and women who captured his fancy. The upshot of this is that, while The Model reads as a dark fairy tale or fable, Aickman sees it through to the end. Our heroine is not destroyed but merely grows up (which is sad in its own way).
The description of this book, by the publisher, as a 'rococo fable set in Czarist Russia' tells you all you need to know, really. Since I am a sucker for the rococo, fairy tales, fables, and stories about Czarist Russia, it all came together for me. Elena is a delightful girl who pushes against the confining expectations of the life her parents wish to thrust upon her, in order to grow into her own person and realise her own dreams. This is quite a stand for a girl of that time and culture! The journey she takes and the bizarre and wondrous experiences she has are much like a dream sequence, and one could read the story simply as a young girl's daydreams.
If you enjoy Angela Carter, and most especially The Magic Toyshop, I think you will like this one, although I will need to reread it, now that my expectations have been adjusted away from horror, in order to decide whether it's the best thing he ever wrote. As it stands now, my favourite story of his is Into the Wood which can be found in the collection The Wine-Dark Sea, but many of his stories amaze and haunt me. (The Hospice wins, easily, the award for creepiest story I have ever read. It can be read in the collection Cold Hand in Mine: Strange Stories.)
A toy theatre not unlike Elena's. (I could not find the creator.)
Here are a couple of links to articles, and one to a BBC Radio talk, about Robert Aickman, which you may enjoy. He was a fascinating man.
Robert Aickman's Cult Horror Books Are Being Resurrected For The Centenary Of His Birth, The Independent, 7 August 2014
Strange Interludes, The Weekly Standard, 25 May 2015
The Unsettled Dust: The Strange Stories of Robert Aickman, BBC Radio, 11 August 2017
August 14, 2014
I want you to stare at the following sentence for a moment, and think about it.
That is the sort of humor and irony at the heart of The Model, a short book largely about an innocent trying to handle both the tricky darkness of adult despair and weird trappings of a Kafka-esque take on mythical Russia. Elena, much like the protagonist of "The White People", views the evil of the world through a mixture of honesty and childish whimsy. As she copes with her collapsing family estate—noting the empty rooms or the sawing up of furniture to try and stay warm but attaching no real significance to it—by building a model opera house, her dad tries to sell her to a rich family for their horrid young son—to be a "playmate", with implication. Grasping more of the implication than is normal for her, Elana flees to a not-too-distant city to become a ballerina. And her trip is where the strange comes into play, though it is Aickman-Strange and hard to describe in anything like a pithy way.
It is not the book I would recommend you read first with Aickman, partially because it does not feel quite as honed as some of his better works and partially because his short stories tend to pack a more definite punch. While it has moments of great wit—such as when Elena notes that she has read one book and since words and sentiments are surely limited then she must have read them all—and some intriguing wordplay—as Elena is disappointed early to not eat ananas but then is later given bananas to feast upon and thinks nothing of it, potentially a yonic/phallic distinction—it also feels like Aickman was revisiting some ideas, most notably the dollhouse from "The Inner Room". It also has moments—as when a certain character is described as "worse than death" with no specifics given and then the text brings up the fact that no specifics are given—where Aickman's famous sense of leaving out details to enhance the strangeness feels a little too openly admitted.
Still, with lines like the one above and exchanges like
I cannot say too much bad about this odd, clever, perhaps-unhoned book. It is a heartfull expression of interesting ideas, and I appreciate it for that.
Indeed, there proved to be nothing very remarkable about the meal that followed, apart from the gorgeousness of the surroundings, the rarity of the fare, and the elegance of the vintages.
That is the sort of humor and irony at the heart of The Model, a short book largely about an innocent trying to handle both the tricky darkness of adult despair and weird trappings of a Kafka-esque take on mythical Russia. Elena, much like the protagonist of "The White People", views the evil of the world through a mixture of honesty and childish whimsy. As she copes with her collapsing family estate—noting the empty rooms or the sawing up of furniture to try and stay warm but attaching no real significance to it—by building a model opera house, her dad tries to sell her to a rich family for their horrid young son—to be a "playmate", with implication. Grasping more of the implication than is normal for her, Elana flees to a not-too-distant city to become a ballerina. And her trip is where the strange comes into play, though it is Aickman-Strange and hard to describe in anything like a pithy way.
It is not the book I would recommend you read first with Aickman, partially because it does not feel quite as honed as some of his better works and partially because his short stories tend to pack a more definite punch. While it has moments of great wit—such as when Elena notes that she has read one book and since words and sentiments are surely limited then she must have read them all—and some intriguing wordplay—as Elena is disappointed early to not eat ananas but then is later given bananas to feast upon and thinks nothing of it, potentially a yonic/phallic distinction—it also feels like Aickman was revisiting some ideas, most notably the dollhouse from "The Inner Room". It also has moments—as when a certain character is described as "worse than death" with no specifics given and then the text brings up the fact that no specifics are given—where Aickman's famous sense of leaving out details to enhance the strangeness feels a little too openly admitted.
Still, with lines like the one above and exchanges like
"They are ventriloquist's dolls" said Anna Ismailova.
"They are wiser than the ventriloquists," said the woman.
I cannot say too much bad about this odd, clever, perhaps-unhoned book. It is a heartfull expression of interesting ideas, and I appreciate it for that.
October 18, 2016
I'm happy THE MODEL was included in the Tartarus edition of NIGHT VOICES, a dreamy, fairy tale-esque coming of age story as only Aickman could write it. While quite unlike his other stories that I have read, there was still enough elegant strangeness to make this distinguishable as his work. His particular brand of darkness was present, but more subtle, and often whimsical. And I must say I was surprised by the ending, which evidenced a diluted happiness for Elena, the protagonist. It almost felt like he was writing about a beloved niece, and wanted to see the best possible outcome for her, while still acknowledging that this world is so often a terrible place.
March 21, 2025
Libro difícil de catalogar, aunque prevalece lo fantástico, y sobre todo lo weird. Es una fantasía bastante elevada, y a veces un poco confusa (bastante, de hecho). Todo parece salido de un gran sueño, de esos en los que se mezclan algunos recuerdos reales de tu vida cotidiana, con la cosa más random y bizarra que se te pueda ocurrir. Me gustó, aunque quedé a la espera de algo más.
Tema aparte: esta edición en particular tiene varios errores, siento que le faltó una revisión/corrección. Hay palabras que se repiten de forma consecutiva, errores en la puntuación, entre otros detalles. Sé que quizá no afecta a la obra en sí, pero me pareció curioso encontrarme con estos deslices que parecen producidos por falta de revisión, más que otra cosa. Es una lástima, porque el libro es bello.
Tema aparte: esta edición en particular tiene varios errores, siento que le faltó una revisión/corrección. Hay palabras que se repiten de forma consecutiva, errores en la puntuación, entre otros detalles. Sé que quizá no afecta a la obra en sí, pero me pareció curioso encontrarme con estos deslices que parecen producidos por falta de revisión, más que otra cosa. Es una lástima, porque el libro es bello.
March 19, 2021
Короткий и вполне потешный, но глупенький текст, отнюдь не "роман из русской жизни", как гениальная "Тщета" Джерхарди, а скорее сюрреалистическая галлюцинация на русские темы. Автор благословенно почти (!) не путает фамилии с отчествами, но персонажи у него играют на балалайках и поют святые песни, носят имена вроде Измены, ходят в меховых шапках под дождем и занимаются прочей осмысленой деятельностью. Также на всех перекрестках стоят полупрозрачные самовары, а нигилисты взрывают железные дороги.
Клюква, само собой, но разудалая - и совершенно не похоже на дальнейшие его шедевральные истории (кои, надеюсь, в русском переводе не убьют). Ну и лучшая фраза романа: “What hope is there for Russia but in sacrifice?” inquired Lexi ecstatically.
Клюква, само собой, но разудалая - и совершенно не похоже на дальнейшие его шедевральные истории (кои, надеюсь, в русском переводе не убьют). Ну и лучшая фраза романа: “What hope is there for Russia but in sacrifice?” inquired Lexi ecstatically.
December 17, 2019
Aickman has many "long-ish" stories, like The Strangers and The Stains (one of my favorites) which are both around 20,000 words. But "The Model" comes in at novella length (31,000~) and is also a bit different from Aickman's typical fare. The atmosphere of strange menace is mostly non-existent here (albeit not entirely), but it does have a dream-like, unreality.
I wouldn't count this among my favorites, but it still has several of those magical Aickman-esque moments where I stopped and asked myself, "What is really going on here?" That makes it worth a read for Aickman aficionados. However, is this something I would recommend to a newcomer of Aickman, or as a good example of his typical style? No.
I can see why Aickman considered this a great work -- it's a wistful coming-of-age tale, as the last of our youthful dreams fade away. Instead of leaving one with a vaguely haunted feeling as Aickman typically does, this leaves one with nostalgia and sadness.
I wouldn't count this among my favorites, but it still has several of those magical Aickman-esque moments where I stopped and asked myself, "What is really going on here?" That makes it worth a read for Aickman aficionados. However, is this something I would recommend to a newcomer of Aickman, or as a good example of his typical style? No.
I can see why Aickman considered this a great work -- it's a wistful coming-of-age tale, as the last of our youthful dreams fade away. Instead of leaving one with a vaguely haunted feeling as Aickman typically does, this leaves one with nostalgia and sadness.
June 28, 2013
Interesting and well written (as is everything by Aickman) but a bit directionless. Very different in tone to his normal, excellent 'strange stories'. A flawed but interesting experiment, perhaps.
February 13, 2009
This peculiar book is odd even by Robert Aickman's standards. One reason is that it isn't really much like his other writing. Many of the themes and ideas are but the writing is incredibly simple and lacks the detail that makes many of his short stories so effective. The novel is certainly as dreamlike as much of his writing but it isn't convincing the way that great dreams are. Overall I don't think it is his best work and I wondered if maybe it was unfinished when he died
It is still very interesting, it seems very much like a pleasant fairytale when suddenly the whole thing switches gears and turns sour.
It is still very interesting, it seems very much like a pleasant fairytale when suddenly the whole thing switches gears and turns sour.
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September 7, 2017I loved this little book, I devoured it, I wanted to roll around in it like a happy dog in grass. I wish it were longer. To my knowledge, Aickman hasn't written anything else quite like this. Readers of his short stories will be puzzled and hopefully delighted to know that there's no horror here, and while it is kind of weird, it's not capital-W Weird Fiction at all. It's part fairy tale, part comedy of manners, part coming of age, part wistful teenage fantasy. It also has quite possibly the best cover illustration I've ever seen. Recommended for wistful people who dream of fanciful feather mantles and dashing crossdressers.
January 6, 2024
This rather ostentatious novella, set in Czarist Russia in the 1700s, was only discovered amongst Aickman's papers after his death in 1981.
It tells of Elena, a serious young girl who daydreams of a future as a ballerina. Her melancholy deepens when she learns she is to be sold into marital slavery by her father so as to settle the family’s debts. Refusing an unendurable future she runs away, headed towards the city of Smorevsk to pursue her dream. But things aren't quite as simple as that, as this is Aickman of course. Before getting very far at all, she must cross a landscape populated by peculiar characters and bizarre creatures.
Though I believe Aickman himself thought this amongst his best work, I disagree. Its perfectly enthralling, but some way from him in top form.
It tells of Elena, a serious young girl who daydreams of a future as a ballerina. Her melancholy deepens when she learns she is to be sold into marital slavery by her father so as to settle the family’s debts. Refusing an unendurable future she runs away, headed towards the city of Smorevsk to pursue her dream. But things aren't quite as simple as that, as this is Aickman of course. Before getting very far at all, she must cross a landscape populated by peculiar characters and bizarre creatures.
Though I believe Aickman himself thought this amongst his best work, I disagree. Its perfectly enthralling, but some way from him in top form.
February 4, 2025
Le hubiera puesto 5 estrellas pero la edición, entiendo, tiene muchos errores (typos) que de momentos hacen difícil la lectura.
La historia es genial
La historia es genial
June 25, 2011
Not generally as good as his short stories, The Model remains an achievement of style. It's very much like a fairy-tale, and benefits from that approach. If you're expecting Aickman's same old tricks, you're sure to be disappointed.
October 6, 2018
I really did not enjoy this. Aickman was obviously much more at home in the short story genre; both of the novels that he wrote (that I’ve read) have been pointlessly episodic, very slow-moving, and extremely dull.
October 26, 2012
This was a charming stroll, but where did it go? Was I just meant to enjoy the scenery?
Read
August 21, 2018Wonderful magic.
October 2, 2022
The Model is described as a 'wintry rococo fable set in Tsarist Russia', which is all true, but it's also a lot more boring than it sounds. The setting is pretty well done, but it barely figures in the story, and the fable/fantasy elements are pretty bland and barebones. I didn't get much in the way of a wintry atmosphere either -- Aickman's cold writing style, which can be very effective in his horror stories, seems to be working against him here. I'm surprised he considered it his best work, because to me it seemed comparatively bland and unfocused. The only real reason to read this book that I can see is for the portrait of a girl on the verge of adulthood, which is exceptionally well done -- but it just wasn't why I picked up The Model personally.
May 26, 2025
[Arbor House] (April 1987). SB. Uncorrected Proofs. 138 Pages. Purchased from Riverrun Books & Manuscripts.
Arbor House’s loosely inserted “Review Letter” is a shabby offering. It incorrectly states that Aickman died in 1983, published nothing but short stories in his lifetime and was the grandson of Geoffrey Marsh.
I gather that the author considered this to be one of his very best works. I’d say the opposite. Vague and drab. For completists only.
Arbor House’s loosely inserted “Review Letter” is a shabby offering. It incorrectly states that Aickman died in 1983, published nothing but short stories in his lifetime and was the grandson of Geoffrey Marsh.
I gather that the author considered this to be one of his very best works. I’d say the opposite. Vague and drab. For completists only.
Read
November 24, 2024Very cozy young adult novel by one of my favorite authors of dread and abstract horror. Very different from what I'd normally expect reading his work- there's a little of the ambiguous dread, but the only true anxiety I felt reading this was a potential "it was all just a dream" ending.
July 4, 2019
A charming tale of dreams and how they influence the directions that we take in life.
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September 30, 2022Trigger & Content Warnings:
Racism
Sexism
Sexual assault
Murder
Racism
Sexism
Sexual assault
Murder
March 3, 2025
2,75/5 ✨️⭐️
October 6, 2025
me hubiese encantado que me gustara. no veo en él la cosa maravillosa que dicen de él.
en serio. ni idea. y eso que aickman siempre me gustó.
en serio. ni idea. y eso que aickman siempre me gustó.
April 6, 2025
O la novela no es tan obra maestra como el propio Aickman decía, o la pésima traducción no me permitió acceder a su supuesta maestría.
El comienzo atrapa, pero a las 50 páginas uno no sabe qué está pasando o qué pasará. Los personajes igual son muy extraños. Creo que es la historia más hermética que he leído de Aickman. No he entendido nada.
La edición es hermosa, eso lo salva. Pero no comprendo cómo un traductor tan reputado como Marcelo Cohen hizo un trabajo tan terrible aquí. ¿Sí lo habrá hecho él o fue error del editor? Esa es otra incógnita que me perturba de este libro.
El comienzo atrapa, pero a las 50 páginas uno no sabe qué está pasando o qué pasará. Los personajes igual son muy extraños. Creo que es la historia más hermética que he leído de Aickman. No he entendido nada.
La edición es hermosa, eso lo salva. Pero no comprendo cómo un traductor tan reputado como Marcelo Cohen hizo un trabajo tan terrible aquí. ¿Sí lo habrá hecho él o fue error del editor? Esa es otra incógnita que me perturba de este libro.
September 1, 2023
Lectura extraña, onírica, por momentos surrealista.
Hay partes de la narración en la que no sabes muy bien dónde te encuentras ni en qué momento, los personajes aparecen y desaparecen a menudo con características deformadas o cambiadas, y el objetivo final de la narración no está del todo claro. Dicho esto, hay momentos de gran carga simbólica, de belleza, y también de crítica social, encarnada en las aspiraciones sociales y laborales de la protagonista.
Una lectura que se sale de lo normal, desde luego.
Hay partes de la narración en la que no sabes muy bien dónde te encuentras ni en qué momento, los personajes aparecen y desaparecen a menudo con características deformadas o cambiadas, y el objetivo final de la narración no está del todo claro. Dicho esto, hay momentos de gran carga simbólica, de belleza, y también de crítica social, encarnada en las aspiraciones sociales y laborales de la protagonista.
Una lectura que se sale de lo normal, desde luego.
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