Bonsái y La vida privada de los árboles

Por Alejandro Zambra

Condenado a la seriedad y a la impostura, Julio, el silencioso protagonista de Bonsái – la novela que supuso el brillante debut narrativo de Alejandro Zambra– acaba convenciéndose de que es mejor encerrarse en su cuarto a observar el crecimiento de un bonsái que vagar por los incómodos caminos de la literatura. En La vida privada de los árboles, segunda novela del autor, Verónica se demora inexplicablemente y el libro sigue hasta que ella regrese o hasta que Julián esté seguro de que ya no volverá. ¿Por qué leer y escribir libros en un mundo a punto de quebrarse? Esta pregunta ronda las dos obras de Alejandro Zambra que reunimos en este volumen, puerta de entrada a uno de los escritores más interesantes de las últimas generaciones.

• Idioma: Español
• Editorial: Editorial Anagrama
• Fecha de lanzamiento: 20 ene 2016
• ISBN: 9788433936783

Alejandro Zambra

Alejandro Zambra (Santiago de Chile, 1975) ha publicado, en Anagrama, las novelas Bonsái (2006), La vida privada de los árboles (2007), Formas de volver a casa (2011) y Poeta chileno (2020), el libro de cuentos Mis documentos (2014), las colecciones de ensayos No leer (2018) y Tema libre (2019), y un par de libros bastante más difíciles de clasificar, como el particularísimo Facsímil, que Anagrama recuperó en 2021, y Literatura infantil (2023), una serie de relatos, de ficción y no ficción, sobre infancia y paternidad. Sus novelas han sido traducidas a veinte lenguas, y sus relatos han aparecido en revistas como The New Yorker, The New York Times Magazine, The Paris Review, Granta, Harper’s y McSweeney’s. Ha sido becario de la Biblioteca Pública de Nueva York y ha recibido, entre otras distinciones, el English Pen Award, el O. Henry Prize y el Premio Príncipe Claus. Actualmente vive en la Ciudad de México.

Comentarios para Bonsái y La vida privada de los árboles

[paulberauer · Calificación: 4 de 5 estrellas]

"Bonsai" follows two university students Julio and Emilia, two lovers who it is revealed will eventually separate and whose end is hinted at the very beginning of the story. Not only is the plot fantastic, but the style is what really brings everything together. The story is told in third person, and is often seem indifferent, as if the story was unimportant, the story unimportant, the characters fate, trivial. The conversations of the characters are interspersed with quotes from their favorite authors and the texts in subdivided into various brief sections, keeping things divided and moving the reader along. Overall, a great book and worth every penny.

[wildrequiem · Calificación: 4 de 5 estrellas]

"In Bonsai almost nothing happens, the plot could be told in two paragraphs, a story that perhaps is not good."How does one even describe this book... it's meta. It's self-reflexive. It's more modern art than lit. It reads like literary experimentation. Somehow, it's about nothing, yet at the same time, it's about everything. It's experimental film quality stuff.I need to come back to this later.

[benjaminsiegel-1 · Calificación: 2 de 5 estrellas]

This is a joke, right? Short story Sokol Experiment?

[kordo_1 · Calificación: 4 de 5 estrellas]

"Bonsai" follows two university students Julio and Emilia, two lovers who it is revealed will eventually separate and whose end is hinted at the very beginning of the story. Not only is the plot fantastic, but the style is what really brings everything together. The story is told in third person, and is often seem indifferent, as if the story was unimportant, the story unimportant, the characters fate, trivial. The conversations of the characters are interspersed with quotes from their favorite authors and the texts in subdivided into various brief sections, keeping things divided and moving the reader along. Overall, a great book and worth every penny.

[kidzdoc_1 · Calificación: 5 de 5 estrellas]

This novella, by the Chilean writer Alejandro Zambra, is his first novel after he published two books of poems, Useless Bay and Change. Bonsai won the Chilean Critics' Award for the Best Novel of the Year in 2006, and it is one of the 10 shortlisted books for the Best Translated Book of 2008 by Three Percent.The main characters are two Chilean university students, Emilia and Julio, who become lovers after a drunken study session. They are inseparable, almost indistinguishable in their likes and dislikes, and their lovemaking sessions are preceded by excerpts from their favorite works of literature. Eventually they begin to drift apart, and Emilia soon disappears from Chile.Anita, Emilia's old roommate and best friend since childhood, eventually tracks her down years later in Madrid, and makes a startling and disturbing discovery, which is hinted at in the opening paragraph of the book.Emilia and Julio are lovingly painted, and even though you know what will eventually happen to Julia, it is still shocking and achingly sad, and the ending is heartbreaking.