Carlos Labbé

Received as Goodreads Giveaway.
"A literary descendent of Roberto Bolaño..."
I didn't really like the Robert Bolano I read; I felt it was pretentious and deliberately obscure. I just finished "Infinite Jest" by David foster Wallace, and that could be similarly accused, but with the key difference, I was drawn in by the characters.
This book is an intricate puzzle, a glittering jewel of compact post-modern techniques that is admirable but ultimately empty because I wasn't attached to any show more character.
There is no time to develope the characters in 90 pages, but anyway the main theme is the mutability of identity,so maybe character wasn't the point and in the end I was glad it was as short as it was.
Not bad but not really for me. show less

I received Navidad & Matanza as part of a Goodreads giveaway.

In 1999, the two teenage children of video game magnate Jose Francisco Vivaro go missing while on vacation. A journalist and a team of his fellow subjects explore the mysterious possibilities and possible whereabouts of the two young people as they await their own fate, trapped in some sort of dystopian research study.

I wanted to like this novella--the premise sounded fascinating. However, I think it was trying to do too much in show more too little space (less than 100 pages). I was confused much of the time. If Labbé had more time to develop and deepen the plot, I think it could have been a very interesting dystopian mystery, but what's here is just a little too short and undeveloped for me. show less

Well, the best I can figure is that this is a piece of experimental fiction which should go back to the drawing board. Clearly, it was an effort to explore the writing process and the fusion/confusion of writer, character, and reader. Somehow, it went beyond edgy to over the cliff, sucking the pleasure out of reading. Oh well.

Well....I am all in favor of experimental formats, stream of consciousness narration, and other non-traditional formats, however, this novel failed to engage me at all. It is the first Open Letter Publication that I just did not like. Oh well!