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[...] Imitators of the Boom were (and are) legion, but Bolano and others of his generation tended to see them as selling an exotic stereotype -- dictators, whores, patriarchs, and ghosts -- for export only. The situation in Latin America had changed. The dictators, for the most part, were gone. Cap…

[...] But as soon as I held the notebook, I lost my sense of peace. In it, the image of Guido emerges everywhere between the lines: his words, written, acquire unthought-of echoes, bewildering appeals. I should have said yes the first day he invited me to leave since, in reality, I desire nothing e…

[...] I was working and she was studying, as she often does now, until late at night, because she’s decided to take a lot of exams. “Lucky you!” Riccardo said to her yesterday: “I have other things to do now, I can’t prepare my thesis. And in September, when I start at the bank, I’ll have even less…

I still remember the day I told my mother I was going to start working. She stared at me for a long time, in silence, before lowering her eyes, and, because of that look of hers, my work has always weighed on me like a sin. Mirella disapproves of this feeling, I know perfectly well. Maybe she even …

[...] Sitting down again, he said we’ll soon get used to Marina, she’s a good girl and he likes her. It’s true. He likes her because she’s pretty. He, like Riccardo, smiles when he sees her around, because she possesses that animal meekness that men take for sweetness. Not even what happened betwee…