Mi primera experiencia con Onetti.

Hay algo en su prosa que me incomoda un poco, que me desorienta a pesar de su aparente simplicidad; que ha hecho que me vuelva más de una vez sobre mis pasos, relea y piense: "¿qué demonios está pasando?".

¿El sinsentido de lo cotidiano, tal vez?

Los personajes en general no me han generado ningún tipo de empatía en absoluto, siempre trágicamente sórdidos. Entiendo que hay una gran porción de lectores de literatura latinoamericana que busca justamente eso, pero no es lo mío.

No obstante lo anterior, pude disfrutar de un par de cuentos de esta colección: «Bienvenido, Bob», y «Esberg, en la costa». Si bien siguen la línea de los otros títulos, me han resultado mucho mejor construidos, con historias y hasta plot twists memorables. ( )

Tras leer algo más de un tercio lo dejo. Se me está haciendo un tanto pesadito.

This is a collection of more than 50 short stories. For some of the them "short story" is a misnomer since they are only a few short phrases long- micro stories perhaps.
These stories are heavy reading. Partly because of the subject matter and topics- none of them are happy stories but, rather, deal with macabre or morbid subjects. The people in his stories face difficult, desperate lives with no easy resolution. Although many of the characters seem to end up somewhat satisfied with what couldbe considered by a typical human being unsatisfactory, depressing conclusions.
The other reason I say the stories are heavy reading is because of his writing style. He goes into excrucianting detail on the surroundings, actions and acts of characters, etc. that paint a very vivid picture. But at the same time he leaves a lot of voids that the reader has to imagine and supplant- many intentional gaps that the reader imagination has to fill.
All in all, however, they are the type of stories that leave me wanting to read them again. In fact, unlike many other books, after completing it, I did not try to find an empty space in my bookshelves to place it but kept it in the floor with all the other books that I am reading or consulting. ( )