Charleston & Other Stories

by b/w Decorations (title Page / headpieces) (Illustrator), Andre Conrad

In the world of José Donoso, all is not what it seems. Behind the bland rituals of everyday life lurk impulses that can disturb and even destroy. In these crisp, impeccably written stories, the great Chilean writer follows with precision and compassion the emergence of such an otherwise nondescript office worker becomes crazed by a bizarre obsession that at first seems innocent enough; an American boy living in a remote Mexican village is destroyed by forces beyond his control; a man is overpowered by his passion for sleeping. Many of these stories are explorations of perception. Children play large parts in them, either as participants or as perceivers; with their peculiar sensitivity they are aware of what their elders recognize only dimly, if at all. In "Ana María," a charming but somehow terrifying child undermines the lives of an elderly couple; in "A Walk," the disintegration of a formal bourgeois household is observed through the eyes of a boy. But for all the subtleties of these tales, Donoso is first and foremost a story teller. They begin, as do all stories, but unlike some stories, they also end firmly with the reader carried along from first word to last.

176 pages, Hardcover

First published June 28, 1977

Reviews

[Shawn · Rating 5 out of 5]

The subtle sophistication of this master storyteller allows we the readers follow his purposeful ramblings with intent as the sometimes darkly humourous situations blossom with beautiful insight into the lives of his characters.

[Gina · Rating 4 out of 5]

I discovered this author through one of the consultants at EQUATOR BOOKS in Venice, CA. It is a wonderful, whimsical, delightful, collection of characters and short stories. I highly recommmend it.

[Old Man JP · Rating 4 out of 5]

A collection of some rather strange and unusual stories. Some of the better stories are:
Ana Maria - An old man makes friends with a very mysterious little girl named Ana Maria.
The Guero - A young man gets in a discussion with an older woman who tells him a story about her son that takes place after she and her husband moved to Tlacotlalpan so her husband could write a book.
A Lady - A man is on a streetcar when an older woman sits next to him. After glancing at her he didn't pay any more attention to her. The next day he sees her walking on the street and then begins seeing her more and more often everywhere he goes and becomes obsessed by it. Then one day everything went very quiet, and he sensed that she had died.
The Closed Door - A man grows up obsessed with sleeping. As he grew older it became more and more of an obsession until it finally took over his entire life.

[Dan · Rating 3 out of 5]

I don't know why this entry on Goodreads has such frigged up authorship when the author's name is the second largest block of text in the cover photo but oh well!!

Donoso is very deft at turning the mundane into something deeply sinister, but I think it's easy to find the pattern here; everything is exceptionally well written and you wouldn't think it could become rote but the first few stories here (Ana Maria in particular) are the strongest and you're kind of just waiting for everything to go off the rails in the ones that follow, waiting for the strange obsession to manifest.

The vibe here is kind of reminiscent of someone telling you a third-hand story; I heard from my friend about a guy they used to know who had two kids that... etc. You feel like some of the details were surely overdramatic, but maybe it really did go down like that.

[mar · Rating 2 out of 5]

Por alguna razón todos los relatos del autor tratan de una persona que va en una constante decadencia que lo lleva a su muerte o desaparición.

[Lindsay Vance · Rating 5 out of 5]

I first sought this collection out for a few of my favorite short stories: Santelices and Ana Maria; the rest of the collection of stories did not disappoint. This can be a difficult book to find in translation, and although this translation can be a bit dated at moments, Conrad is able to capture the obscurity and queerness of the characters and their worlds.

I'm interested in the ways that Donoso writes about class, obsession, and that which/those who doesn't quite fit into social norms, all while maintaining that thin line between dark humor and something more terrible. For me, El Guëro, stood out as a new favorite. In a framed narrative, the story chronicles a young boy's tragic obsession with power and affluence in a remote Mexican village, as told by his aging mother. Definitely a collection to revisit/reread/study.

[Girl between books · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ana María *w*