Rachael’s Comments (group member since Jul 29, 2010)

Rachael’s comments from the And Other Stories Spanish-Language Reading Group group.

I feel honoured. I would like to thank my father for teaching me how to write in an authoritative tone even when I don't know what I'm talking about, my mother for instructing me in feminist critical analysis, and Stefan for creating the environment which encouraged such lively amiability between myself and Jt.

I said I was going to do a feminist critique of this but that would be using a hammer to crack a nut - you don't have to be Julia Kristeva to notice that this is one of those tedious and implausible older man sexual fantasies beloved of Hollywood in which man has sex with lots of prostitutes and they seem to be enjoying themselves, even to secretly love him. Yes, it's inside the protagonist's head, but because we don't get to go inside anyone else's head (that would involve actual creativity)we're stuck for the whole (mercilessly extremely short) novel being asked to get off, with Andrade, on his joyful descriptions of the stripy knickers of fifteen year old street girls. Being in this man's brain is so depressing that you're praying the thugs he worries are after him catch up with him and put us all out of our misery.
That said, Jt is not wrong that it's tightly plotted and very readable. There's some subtlety in the depiction of middle class Buenos Aires snobbery, just none once the author gets out of his (presumed) comfort zone and tries to depict criminal underworlds. The concept would make an atmospheric short story. The longer format is too exposing of its naivety.

Challenge accepted. I'm going to check this out on behalf of non-masculine readers with my feminist critic setting on high.

http://www.andotherstories.org/iosi-h...
Opendoor (the name of an open psychiatric institution, but that's not exactly what the novel's about, just one of its fairly disparate elements) is an enigmatic book. Don't read it if you like a tight plot, or any plot at all. It has a weird atmosphere all of its own and a moral relativism (I think) which is either refreshing or an avoidance, I can't decide. It sort of washes over you. Read it on a long journey.