Where There's Love, There's Hate

by Adolfo Bioy Casares, Silvina Ocampo, Suzanne Jill Levine (Translation)

A witty yet gripping pastiche of murder mysteries set in an Argentine seaside resort, peppered with literary allusions

In seaside Bosque de Mar, guests at the Hotel Central are struck by double the mysterious death of one of their party, and an investigation headed by the physician, writer and insufferable busybody, Dr. Humberto Huberman. When quiet, young translator Mary is found dead on the first night of Huberman's stay, he quickly appoints himself leader of an inquiry that will see blame apportioned in turn to each and every guest--including Mary's own sister--and culminating in a wild, wind-blown reconnaissance mission to the nearby shipwreck, the Joseph K.

Never before translated into English, Where There's Love, There's Hate is both genuinely suspenseful mystery fiction and an ingenious pastiche of the genre, the only novel co-written by two towering figures of Latin American literature. Famously friends and collaborators of Jorge Luis Borges, husband and wife Bioy Casares and Ocampo combine their gifts to produce a novel that's captivating, unashamedly erudite and gloriously witty.

Genres: Mystery, Fiction, Classics, Crime, Literature, Novels, Mystery Thriller

144 pages, Paperback

First published August 8, 1946

About the author

Adolfo Vicente Perfecto Bioy Casares (1914-1999) was born in Buenos Aires, the child of wealthy parents. He began to write in the early Thirties, and his stories appeared in the influential magazine Sur, through which he met his wife, the painter and writer Silvina Ocampo, as well Jorge Luis Borges, who was to become his mentor, friend, and collaborator. In 1940, after writing several novice works, Bioy published the novella The Invention of Morel, the first of his books to satisfy him, and the first in which he hit his characteristic note of uncanny and unexpectedly harrowing humor. Later publications include stories and novels, among them A Plan for Escape, A Dream of Heroes, and Asleep in the Sun. Bioy also collaborated with Borges on an Anthology of Fantastic Literature and a series of satirical sketches written under the pseudonym of H. Bustos Domecq.

Reviews

[°°°·.°·..·°¯°·._.· ʜᴇʟᴇɴ Ροζουλί Εωσφόρος ·._.·°¯°·.·° .·°°° ★·.·´¯`·.·★ Ⓥⓔⓡⓝⓤⓢ Ⓟⓞⓡⓣⓘⓣⓞⓡ Ⓐⓡⓒⓐⓝⓤⓢ Ταμετούρο Αμ · Rating 5 out of 5]

Η αλήθεια είναι πως δεν μπορώ
να είμαι αντικειμενική σχετικά
με την κριτική αξιολόγηση
ενός βιβλίου όταν και όπου αναγράφεται το όνομα του Αντόλφο Μπιόυ Κασάρες.

Τον αγάπησα με βαθύ θαυμασμό απο το αριστούργημα
«Η εφεύρεση του Μορέλ»
και διαβάζοντας τα υπόλοιπα έργα του δηλώνω αθεράπευτα ερωτευμένη μαζί του.

Όμως, υπόσχομαι πως θα προσπαθήσω όσο γίνεται, να κρύψω τον έρωτα μου,διότι το συγκεκριμένο έργο είναι δημιούργημα δικό του και της συζύγου του Σιλβίνα Οκάμπο.

Όπου υπάρχει η αγάπη, το μίσος είναι το μόνο που καταφέρνει να αποφύγει να γίνει τραγωδία και φάρσα.

Πρόκειται για μία αστείρευτη φανταστική αποστολή μυστηρίου και αστυνομικού επίπλαστου ύφους.

Σε ένα παραθαλάσσιο απομονωμένο ξενοδοχείο, στις ακτές της Αργεντινής, περιτριγυρισμένο απο θάλασσα, αμμοθίνες, ως συστήματα οικοτόπων
για εκατομμύρια καβούρια, ελάχιστη βλάστηση ανθεκτική στις θύελλες ανέμων και άμμου
και μεταβατικές ζώνες λάσπης
ανάμεσα σε θάλασσα και ξηρά.
Η διάβρωση βασιλεύει σε όλο το τοπίο και οι αλμυροί βάλτοι που τη στολίζουν φιλοξενούν την μάζα τους και κρυμμένα πολλά μυστικά.

Σε αυτό το ειδυλλιακό παραθεριστικό θέρετρο
μετά απο μια φοβερή καταιγίδα άμμου εγκλωβίζονται, τελείως απομονωμένοι οι φιλοξενούμενοι του ξενοδοχείου.
Όταν εμπλέκονται σε μια εγκληματική πλοκή,
όπου οι υποθέσεις και οι υποψίες
μεταβάλλονται,καθώς νέες ενδείξεις αποκαλύπτονται μαζί με τα πτώματα
και ερμηνεύονται ποικιλοτρόπως,
ειναι αδύνατον να ξεφύγουν απο τις συνέπειες και τις προσπάθειες επίλυσης των μυστηριωδών φόνων-θανάτων.

Σε όλο το μυθιστόρημα αναγνωρίζεται η κομψότητα, η ευαισθησία και η καυστική ειρωνεία της ευφυΐας που χαρακτηρίζει τους δυο αριστοκράτες συγγραφείς της Αργεντινής.

Το μυστήριο θαρρείς διαχέεται απο την Αγκάθα Κρίστι και δημιουργούνται ποιητικές εικόνες θανάτου και καχυποψίας, που θα γοητεύσουν και τον πιο αυστηρό κριτή αστυνομικών ιστοριών.

Μέσα στο γενικό παραλλήρημα των ενόχων και των αθώων που μπερδεύονται μαζί με αγάπη και μίσος, αποτυπώνεται για πάντα στο μυαλό και την καρδιά
η θλιβερή εικόνα ενός μικρού αγοριού που φιλάει τα χείλη μιας νεκρής κοπέλας ως ύστατο χαιρετισμό.

Αυτό το βιβλίο,μπορώ να πω, με πάσα ειλικρίνεια,
πως έχει το διακριτό σήμα της σπουδαίας λογοτεχνίας.

ΥΣ. Δεν τα κατάφερα( μάλλον).
💥💥💥💥💥🤎🤎

Καλή ανάγνωση.
Πολλούς ασπασμούς.

[Peter Landau · Rating 5 out of 5]

The first thing I noticed about WHERE THERE’S LOVE, THERE’S HATE, a sort of detective novel satire that’s really a mediation on reading, is that such a slim niche book would never get published today. Of course, I’m wrong.The Argentinean novel, originally published in 1946, is making its first foray into English thanks to the wonderful independent publisher Melville House. Still, I find the work an anomaly. That it’s co-written by married couple Adolfo Bioy Casares and Silvina Ocampo is unusual. There’re the literary allusions. A few I picked out, like the name of a dingy being the Joseph K, and the many more I’m sure to have missed. This is a work that lives in the mind of the reader, which I guess is where all creative works do live, but few are so blatantly reverent of the giant shoulders they stand on. Everything is filtered through literature in this fictional world. The narrator, before launching into his detective narration, expresses his distaste for the genre. The murder victim is a translator of detective novels. Clues are discovered in manuscript pages. Investigators quote great literature. It’s an environment created by readers, for readers, and that’s where I feel the greatest loss. The real victim, the body in the heart of this mystery, is the novel itself, which today is buried in a potter’s field and only a few of us remember to bring flowers. My interpretation is far afield from the author’s goals, I’m sure, but I’ll let it stand like an epitaph.

[George K. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Το μικρό αυτό βιβλιαράκι το αγόρασα έναντι δυόμισι ευρώ από το παζάρι βιβλίου του 2012, αλλά τώρα εδέησα να το διαβάσω. Είναι η πρώτη φορά που διαβάζω κάτι της Σιλβίνα Οκάμπο, αλλά η δεύτερη του Αδόλφο Μπιόι Κασάρες, μιας και τον Μάρτιο του 2016 είχα διαβάσει το "Η εφεύρεση του Μορέλ", ένα βιβλίο που δυστυχώς δεν με είχε ενθουσιάσει (αλλά σίγουρα θα ξαναδιαβάσω, γιατί μάλλον το αδίκησα...). Λοιπόν, εδώ έχουμε να κάνουμε με κάτι ανάμεσα στο κλασικό "Ποιος το έκανε;" αστυνομικό μυθιστόρημα και την παρωδία του, με μια κάποια αγωνία αλλά και με δόσεις παραδοξότητας και σαρκαστικού χιούμορ. Αν το διαβάσει κανείς σαν κλασικό whodunit μυθιστόρημα, μάλλον θα απογοητευτεί, γιατί το μυστήριο δεν είναι δα και κάτι το τρομερό, ούτε σκοπός των συγγραφέων ήταν να γράψουν μια αμιγώς αγωνιώδη ιστορία μυστηρίου. Αν, όμως, το διαβάσει κανείς σαν κάποιου είδους παρωδία, σαν κάποιου είδους λογοτεχνικό παιχνίδι, τότε νομίζω ότι θα περάσει καλά, γιατί η γραφή είναι πολύ καλή και οξυδερκής, το όλο σκηνικό του ξενοδοχείου φοβερό και η ατμόσφαιρα εξαιρετική. Γενικά ήξερα τι περίπου να περιμένω και τελικά πέρασα καλά. (7.5/10)

[Federico Sosa Machó · Rating 3 out of 5]

Un policial clásico y entretenido, con las consabidas pistas falsas y múltiples sospechosos. Todo transcurre en un hotel alejado, y casi que entre cuatro paredes. Y este aspecto me resulta hoy en día, en tiempos de policiales negros para todos los gustos, un poco arcaico. Cero alusión a contextos históricos o sociales, cero problema fuera del caso sobre el que gira la acción. Todo resulta un poco artificioso. Así y todo mantiene el interés y no defraudará a quienes gustan del género.

[Sandra Deaconu · Rating 1 out of 5]

Scriitura este aridă și numărul personajelor mi s-a părut cam mare, având în vedere dimensiunea romanului, însă ironia autorului a ajutat puțin. Pare a fi mai degrabă schița unui roman.

,,Ce ușurare să mă văd eliberat de hainele riguroase pe care ni le impune convenționalismul vieții urbane!''

,,Ce suntem, dacă nu oseminte sărutate de zei?''

,,Victor Hugo v-ar răspunde: <>."

[Yani · Rating 3 out of 5]

Me encanta el título porque da para pensar (mucho más en estos tiempos) y la novela tiene todos los tintes necesarios para que sea policial. Si es parodia o no, ya es otra cosa, pero al menos está el esfuerzo de asentar el ambiente, sacar a relucir un no- detective y crear intriga mediante hipótesis erróneas.

Humberto Huberman es el protagonista y el narrador. Homeópata de profesión, Huberman es un hombre muy pagado de sí mismo y algo difícil de digerir al principio. Va en busca de la soledad que necesita un escritor (porque también escribe) a Bosque del Mar. Se aloja en el hotel de unos parientes y conoce a algunos de los huéspedes, sobre todo a Emilia y Mary Gutiérrez, que son el centro de la atención. Y en algún momento sucede: alguien aparece muerto en su cuarto.

A partir del descubrimiento del cadáver se desatan las secuencias de siempre: se aísla a la gente, llaman a la policía, alguien se autoimpone como revelador de misterios (Huberman, en este caso). Es una novela muy dinámica y cuesta soltarla, por eso la acabé tan rápido. Está bien escrita (la escribió Bioy Casares, ya que Ocampo aportaba ideas, de acuerdo al prólogo) y tiene la cantidad justa de detalles. El narrador destila un humor muy sutil y su descripción del lugar se aleja por momentos de su zona de confort, ese “mirar por encima de los demás” que lo caracteriza. El ambiente, el hotel aislado, la tormenta, el cangrejal, todo suma a la atmósfera que incomoda a la gente.

Por otro lado (y me refiero a lo que menos me gustó), hay pistas o datos que se presentan bruscamente a los personajes y al lector. No sé si la extensión de la novela estuvo pactada antes de escribirla, pero sentí que hubo una especie de apuro por resolver las cosas. Los personajes femeninos no me agradaron y tampoco simpaticé con el modo en que son tratados por el resto. Adiviné el final en la mitad y me pareció que quedaron cabos sueltos que habían funcionado como distractores.

No es lo mejor que se puede conseguir de estos dos grandes autores, pero cumple con el objetivo básico de la novela policial. Creo que Los que aman, odian fue una buena colaboración y salió un libro muy entretenido y de fácil lectura. Me despejó y lo disfruté. Así de simple.

[Nate D · Rating 4 out of 5]

Travel reading -- a slightly absurd, slightly sarcastic novel of detection set in a remote resort, perfect for my current environs (particularly a quick foray onto the remote island of Delma, in the Gulf of Arabia). Co-authors (and Argentine literary power couple who never otherwise collaborated directly on a novel) Casares and Ocampo were friends of Borges and their own brand of fantacist and surrealist (respectively) in their own right so they imbue this story of a mysterious death on vacation with eerie beachscapes, odd narrative ellipses, and postmodern sleights of hand with allude back to the process and structure of literature itself. It makes for something quite fun and twisty, if modest in scope and purpose. It's a crime that I've read so much more Casares than Ocampo to date, actually, I need to track dow more of her novels.

[❀boa · Rating 2 out of 5]

the book had lots of potential considering that it was a mistery book, the plot twist at the end was a very nice touch but it felt quite rushed.
i was hoping that i will get to know the characters better so i could guess who committed the murder, but sadly that didn't happen, in my opinion the characters are written in such a shallow manner you don't get to deeply know them. some parts were a bit confusing but other than that it wasn't a bad read. i had moments when i couldn't put the book down but sadly those moments were short lived.
if you just want to read something to add to your reading challenge go right ahead, i'll probably give it another try sometime but not anytime soon haha.

[flaminia · Rating 4 out of 5]

ma quanto si saranno divertiti silvina e adolfo a scriverlo? almeno quanto me a leggerlo. roba da tornare di corsa alla recoleta con le braccia traboccanti di fiori e scoppiare a ridere davanti alle loro tombe, dalla gratitudine.

[Moniquilla Guajara · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lectura bastante amena.
Personajes muy bien retratados.
Lectura ideal para desintoxicar.

[Ana · Rating 4 out of 5]

Muy entretenida la lectura y me trajo muchos recuerdos de la época en que leía mil libros de Agatha Christie por semana. Pero por eso, justamente, no me pude sacar de la cabeza a Diez Negritos en todo el trayecto de lectura.
No había leído nada de estos autores, así que seguiré probando sus textos.

[Gianni · Rating 4 out of 5]

Forse non è tra i migliori romanzi polizieschi, ma ha tutti gli ingredienti classici del genere e molto di più, e la attenta e approfondita postfazione della traduttrice, più ancora che la prefazione di Bioy Casares, fanno amare ancora di più questo libro.

[Rocio · Rating 4 out of 5]

Me hace morir de risa la escritura solemne pero divertida. Me gustó mucho!

[Jim · Rating 5 out of 5]

The husband/wife team of Adolfo Bioy-Casares and Silvina Ocampo are responsible for a hilarious detective novel, Where There's Love, There's Hate. (You may recall that Bioy-Casares collaborated with Jorge Luis Borges on several classics of Argentinian literature under the combined name of H. Bustos Domecq.)

The narrator is the pompous Dr Humberto Huberman, who seems to require 10 drops of arsenic orally at least once a day. He is at the resort of Bosque del Mar at the Hotel Central, which is run by relatives and at which several other guests are staying. The problems begin when Mary, a cute young translator, is found poisoned by ingesting strychnine. The police are called in, and virtually everyone is suspected. A Doctor Cornejo is likewise found dead by poisoning.

During the time the investigation takes place there is an intensive days-long sandstorm that blows dunes around the ground floor windows. Leaving the hotel is somewhat perilous, because of a crab bog and quicksand near stands of esparto grass in the area.

The investigation is so incompetent that the novel is, to my mind, a parody of the genre, especially as all the investigators, of which there are many, are so clueless. Eventually, the poisonings are solved, leaving no one looking the better for the solution. So much for the irrepressible logic of Sherlock Holmes.

[Pascale · Rating 1 out of 5]

There's nothing special about this routine variation on the theme of a murder committed in an enclosed location, with a limited number of suspects. I was never really engaged with the puzzle, and only enjoyed the evocation of the wind-blown shore and the idiosyncrasies of the narrator. These were very minor pleasures and I feel rather aggravated by the grandiose claims made by Suzanne Jill Levine in her introduction to this edition. This story doesn't even deserve a footnote in Argentinian literary history.

[Alex · Rating 2 out of 5]

I really had high expectations for this one but it is a dry crime story. I waited and waited in vain for some spark of south american mystery / strange parallel realities / some chills. But it was nothing. Completely nothing. The only advantage is, it can be read really fast. Moreover there are too many characters for such a short novel, so a bit confusing at times

[Claudiu · Rating 4 out of 5]

roman politist cu tente de realism magic.
sau realism magic cu intriga politista.

[Andy Weston · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not Casares's best, but an entertaining pastiche of the detective novel, written with his wife, Silvina Ocampo, who strangely doesn't seem to get any credit as a co-author of it.

The narrator is a writer himself, with writers-block, while working on a a screenplay adaptation of Petronius’s Satyricon. In an attempt to regain his enthusiasm for writing, he takes a break at the Argentine resort of Bosque del Mar, but after only a few days there, a murder distracts him. He feels duty bound to supervise investigations into it.

Published in 1946, it loitered without translation until 2013.

There is a point to all the distraction though, an underlying theme that you might expect from such talented authors, that, inevitably, reality contains mysteries more unfathomable than any detective plot.

[agus °•°•°•☆ · Rating 4 out of 5]

siento que algunas cosas se desarrollaron rápido, pero igual me gustó y me tuvo re atrapada. no soy de leer policiales, y aún así me encantó.

también me entusiasmaba el hecho de leer algo de Silvina (y Bioy ah) en sí, entonces eso ya me tenía súper interesada desde el principio.

[Bev · Rating 4 out of 5]

Where There's Love, There's Hate by Adolfo Bioy Casares and Silvina Ocampo, literary luminaries from Argentina (and, incidentally, husband and wife), was first published in 1946. It was translated into English for the first time in 2013. Casares and Ocampo managed to produce an interesting mystery in the "British country house" style that is a clever murder mystery, a witty parody of those same Golden Age novels, and a highly literary piece of fiction all rolled into one. Suzanne Jill Levine and Jessica Ernst Powell have done an excellent job of translation with just a few minor passages having a slightly off-kilter feel.

Dr. Humberto Huberman, physician, writer, and inveterate busybody, has gone to the Hotel Central at seaside Bosque de Mar for a literary vacation. He is in search of a quiet place to work on his adaptation of Petronius. But instead of peace and quiet, he finds himself in the middle of murder. A pretty, young translator named Mary is found dead on the very first night of his stay--apparently poisoned. There had been ripples of jealousy between Mary and her sister Emilia over Emilia's fiance. There is also the matter of Mary's missing jewels. Although the police are immediately on the scene, Huberman takes it upon himself to investigate and give the officials pointers when he thinks it needed.

The police are quite sure that Emilia is the guilty party--even when notations in her sister's hand are found that make it seem that Mary has committed suicide. Then the owner's young son goes missing as well as Emilia's fiance (who winds up being a top-level Inspector). Is anyone who they seem to be? And what really happened to Mary and her jewels?


This short piece is a fine little self-aware novel. It makes no bones about being aware that it is a mystery story about mystery stories. We have the police inspector who apparently takes the amateur into his confidence and who, apparently, is taking in all of Huberman's suggestions....but then goes on to ignore them. We have Huberman who finally comes round to the official view of the mystery...only to find they are all proved wrong. It is a very interesting look at the makings of a mystery story. Not terribly complex and good reading detectives will know who the culprit is. But I don't think this detracts from the fun. Four stars.

First posted on my blog My Reader's Block. Please request permission before reposting. Thanks.

[KeithTalent · Rating 4 out of 5]

Una novela anticuada y encantadora, para leer en un día ocioso y sentirse un savoir vivre como el narrador (o como el mismísimo Adolfito). La trama puede asemejarse a un whodoneit, y nada más equivocado. Si bien hay un médico culto e inteligente que llega a un hotel ubicado en una playa apartada, y lo que sigue gira en torno al crimen de un huésped, la resolución del misterio importa menos que los detalles. Como si Bioy hubiese escrito un primer borrador de La invención de Morel dictado por Silvina.

[Harold]

Quick and easy. Casares writes effortlessly, laying a subtle veneer of sarcasm and humor over this send up of mysteries and detective stories. Using the isolated house in the country, or in this case, the beach, ala "Ten Little Indians", Casares and his wife Sylvia Ocampo collaborated on this one. The effect is not unlike the slightly off kilter touch Alfred Hitchcock mysteries often contained, although this predates it by several years.

[Linda · Rating 4 out of 5]

Re-read, this time, with the students

[Anita · Rating 3 out of 5]

No está nada mal, sin embargo tiene algunos desenlaces extraños, como si se hubieran aburrido al final y quisieron terminar el libro.

[Daniela libroscomoalas · Rating 4 out of 5]

No puedo entender que esta gente no haya escrito más libros. Una joya de la literatura argentina. Muy al estilo Agatha Christie.

[MimbleWimble___ Elli Maria Moutsopoulou · Rating 3 out of 5]

Να μιλήσω πρώτα για το εξώφυλλο; Για τη φινέτσα και την καλαισθησία αυτής της έκδοσης; Δείτε πόσο όμορφο είναι.

Πρόκειται για ένα απίστευτα ατμοσφαιρικό, κλασικό, noir μυθιστόρημα! Το οποίο από την αρχή μέχρι το τέλος θυμίζει τη γραφή της Agatha Christie 🤍

Οι δυο συγγραφείς μας, ένα αριστοκρατικό ζευγάρι, κινούνταν σε χώρους γεμάτους ποίηση, βιβλία, λογοτεχνικές βραδιές και συζητήσεις με τον αγαπημένο τους Μπόρχες. Όλες αυτές οι επιρροές γίνονται φανερές καθ' όλη την διάρκεια της ανάγνωσης του βιβλίου.

Θεωρώ πως ο στόχος των συγγραφέων ήταν να υποδείξουν ορισμένα χαρακτηριστικά της κοινωνίας τότε, ίσως ακόμη και να υπογραμμίσουν τη θέση της γυναίκας, με τον τρόπο που ήταν αυτό εφικτό το 1946. Η γυναίκα ως θύμα αλλά και ως ο πάντα εύκολος στόχος για να χαρακτηριστεί η αιτία μυρίων κακών, εκείνη που οπλίζει και προκαλεί τα δεινά σε κάθε περίπτωση.

Με κέρδισαν οι περιγραφές, οι εικόνες, οι φιλοσοφικές σκέψεις του πρωταγωνιστή και όχι τόσο η ίδια η υπόθεση και η εξέλιξή της.

Το μυθιστόρημα μεταφέρθηκε στον κινηματογράφο από τον σκηνοθέτη Αλεχάντρο Μάσι. Η αργεντίνικη ταινία, In love and in hate, παίχτηκε και στην Ελλάδα με τίτλο Έγκλημα στην αμμοθύελλα.

[jpm · Rating 4 out of 5]

Mi è piaciuto molto questo romanzo poliziesco scritto a quattro mani dalla Ocampo e Bioy Casares uniti in questo sodalizio letterario, oltre che nel rapporto coniugale.
Un poliziesco realizzato secondo i dettami del genere elaborati da Borges con influenze anglosassoni e con l'impareggiabile ironia di Bioy Casares che avevo avuto modo di apprezzare in precedenza sia in Dormire al sole che in Sei problemi per don Isidro Parodi.
Pochi personaggi, delitto in ambiente chiuso, polizia semi-incompetente, indagine deduttiva e finale a sorpresa sono gli ingredienti che esaltano questa 'ricetta' gialla dei due grandi scrittori argentini.

[Majo Morales · Rating 4 out of 5]

me ha gustado muchísimo. es corto, sucede en la playa y hay asesinatos y misterio.

[Rafael de Campos · Rating 3 out of 5]

Adolfo Bioy Casares e Silvina Ocampo, assim como boa parte dos escritores argentinos dessa geração, eram grandes apreciadores de literatura fantástica, sobretudo anglófona, mas as obras que escreveram e os tornaram conhecidos eram permeadas por uma originalidade que tornou a literatura fantástica argentina como algo próximo de um selo de qualidade, um item de exportação que abriria caminho para Cortázar e outros escritores latino-americanos.

Com o gênero do romance policial, isso não foi diferente, e nesse pequeno livro escrito à quatro mãos pelo casal pode-se ter uma boa mostra disso. Em superfície, nada de mais: uma narrativa um tanto opaca, com nuances demasiadamente superficiais, em um relato em primeira pessoa de um personagem típico de um livro do Casares – homem de classe media alta, letrado, idiossincrático, irônico –, o médico Humberto Hubermann, que se vê enredado em um crime num hotel do litoral argentino. Ainda assim, Los que Aman possui alguns pontos que o colocam além de um simples romance policial fraco. Há elementos que permanecem no limiar entre o real e o fantástico, trazendo um pouco do que se vê em outros livros do casal, como as tempestades de areia, o mistério em torno de Miguel, os sumiços dos personagens, além do tão mencionado cangrejal, que em conjunto com as tempestades de areia, mantém o hotel afastado do mundo, e, de certa forma, da realidade.

Há também certas características que diferenciam Los que Aman de um típico romance policial estadunidense, e muitos deles dizem respeito a questões literárias, tanto no fazer quanto no consumir. Humberto, além de médico, também é um escritor, prestes a adaptar uma obra de Petrônio, e o crime repentino dificulta suas tentativas de dar início ao trabalho literário. Além disso, o livro é um relato que ele próprio se propõe a escrever para as amigas de sua mãe (algo que poderia indicar outra nuance, a questão da memória e como o temperamento de Humberto, por meio de suas omissões em conjunto com as falhas e transformações de sua própria memória poderiam moldar deliberadamente os rumos dos acontecimentos reais). Um dos agentes de polícia é fã de Victor Hugo, e em certo momento Humberto tenta convencê-lo a ler Thomas Mann, em uma discussão sobre literatura clássica. Mary é tradutora de romances policiais baratos e seus escritos estão entre as principais pistas para o crime: anotações, cartas de despedida, confissões, também de outros personagens, tudo passa pela escrita.

Outro ponto de destaque é a maneira como o livro aborda de maneira irônica alguns tropos clássicos dos romances policiais, como o longo discurso de um investigador revelando o crime de maneira didática, algo comum em muitos livros do gênero, mas que aqui não recebe a esperada adesão dos demais personagens, nem muda de maneira significativa o desenrolar do enredo – além, é claro, do investigador em questão estar profundamente errado em sua formulação. O fato de a prova final e definitiva ser uma confissão por carta, trazida por outra pessoa, ironiza ainda mais o papel de decifrador implacável dos investigadores convencionais.

[Justine Kaufmann · Rating 4 out of 5]

Where There’s Love, There’s Hate by Silvina Ocampo Adolfo Bioy Casares—the wife and husband duo from Argentina who were close friends and collaborators with Jorge Luis Borges.

As a lover of Ocampo and Co., this was just a fun and delightful experience! It’s a classic detective story with acts of murder and theft, but at the same time you can tell that Ocampo and Casares are having fun playing with the genre. I admit that this alone does not likely make it the most compelling mystery for the traditional fan of the genre, even with the quite humorous moments.

Instead, what made this fun are the literary elements and Ocampo’s/Casares’ fingerprints throughout the text. Several literary references make appearances during this short work, including a foundered ship named the Joseph K., a commissioner who constantly quotes and references Victor Hugo’s works, and several comments by the narrator trying to keep the detective story and reality straight. At the beginning there’s even an appearance by Ocampo and Casares in the form of two friends on the train who were “dabblers in literature and fortunate with livestock” and other moments when they’re making fun of the genre their works:

“When will we at last renounce the detective novel, the fantasy novel and the entire prolific, varied, and ambitious literary genre that is fed by unreality.”

There is also enjoyment in knowing the relationship and history between these two authors, which makes you wonder who was behind what and to what extent they’re mimicking each other. If I had the extensive, scholarly knowledge, I might have been able to tease out more of the individual DNA within the lines, but even with my amateur’s obsession with Ocampo, I could see certain moments of her poetic touch and the portrayal of the child in the book, as well as both Ocampo and Casares’ fascination with surreal dreamlike worlds.


Unfortunately, this book is out of print and quite difficult to come by, but after hunting and waiting, I finally managed to get my hands on a copy of this, making it my 6th (and likely final unless more gets translated) work by Ocampo and my second from Casares. A great way to finish up Ocampo’s available oeuvre.