I tend to gravitate a lot towards lesser-read works that can be considered classics or modern classics. I found that the New York Review of Books (NYRB) publishes a lot of underrated high-quality books that aren’t as popular with English readers so I’ve started to add a lot of books to my TBR by browsing the NYRB site.
I can’t explain what it is exactly I love about this book, but I absolutely love it. It’s a postmodern gem and this is one of the few books where I cannot really think of a single criticism (although I suspect it has to do with it being a novella and hence there isn’t as much to criticize). Everything about it is perfect – the pacing, the narrator, the writing style, the setting, the plot, absolutely everything.
This is a short novella and I don’t recommend you to look up details of the book until after you’ve finished it because there are only about 100 pages and the best part of reading the book is the experience of guessing and the satisfaction of getting to the reveal of the plot twist. All you need to know is that the book was written by Adolfo Bioy Casares, a famous Argentinian writer who was best friends with the legendary short-story writer Jorge Luis Borges and that it is about a man who is hiding at a small island to escape justice for his crimes when tourists start arriving at the island. Those little bits of information should be enough to give you an idea of what the book will be like.
Purchase the book from NYRB’s website here