Items related to The Skating Rink
“He is by far the most exciting writer to come from South of the Rio Grande in a long time.” ―Ilan Stavans, Los Angeles Times
Set in the seaside town of Z, on the Costa Brava, north of Barcelona, The Skating Rink oscillates between two poles: a camp ground and a ruined mansion, the Palacio Benvingut. The story, told by three male narrators, revolves around a beautiful figure skating champion, Nuria Martí. When she is suddenly dropped from the Olympic team, a pompous but besotted civil servant secretly builds a skating rink in the ruined Palacio Benvingut, using public funds. But Nuria has affairs, provokes jealousy, and the skating rink becomes a crime scene. A mysterious pair of women, an ex-opera singer and a taciturn girl often armed with a knife, turn up as well.A complex book, The Skating Rink’s short chapters are skillfully broken off with questions to maintain the narrative tension: Who was murdered? Who was the murderer? Will the murderer be caught? All of these questions are answered, and yet The Skating Rink is not fundamentally a crime novel, or not exclusively; it’s also about political corruption, sex, the experience of immigration, and frustrated passion. And it’s an atmospheric chronicle of one summer season in a seaside town, with its vacationers, its drifters, its businessmen, bureaucrats and social workers.
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About the Author:
Review:
Author of 2666 and many other acclaimed works, Roberto Bolano (1953-2003) was born in Santiago, Chile, and later lived in Mexico, Paris, and Spain. He has been acclaimed “by far the most exciting writer to come from south of the Rio Grande in a long time” (Ilan Stavans, The Los Angeles Times),” and as “the real thing and the rarest” (Susan Sontag). Among his many prizes are the extremely prestigious Herralde de Novela Award and the Premio Rómulo Gallegos. He was widely considered to be the greatest Latin American writer of his generation. He wrote nine novels, two story collections, and five books of poetry, before dying in July 2003 at the age of 50.
The poet Chris Andrews teaches at the University of Western Sydney, Australia, where he is a member of the Writing and Society Research Centre. He has translated books by Roberto Bolano and César Aira for New Directions. He has won the Anthony Hecht Poetry Prize for his poetry and the Valle-Inclan Prize for his translations.
“Lucid fury . . . is a pretty good description of Bolano’s aesthetic. He is a novelist of voraciousness without sentiment, hardness to a fever pitch.”
- Todd Shy, San Francisco Chronicle
“Darkly funny, but also tender and complex in the tenor of classic Bolano novels.”
- Savannah ("Savvy") Jones, SirReadaLot.org
“A highly engaging novel of lyricism, menace and beauty.”
- James Yeh, The Faster Times
“One of the strangest mysteries...with its dark-summer heat that all but comes off the page.”
- Marilis Hornidge, The Lincoln County News
“This short, exquisite novel is another unlikely masterpiece, as sui generis as all his books so far...Bolano in The Skating Rink manages to honor genre conventions while simultaneously exploding them, creating a work of intense and unrealized longing.”
- Wyatt Mason, The New York Times Book Review
“Passion, mystery, seedy bars, and Bolano's Olympian irony are here, as always.”
- The Village Voice
“When I read Bolano, I think: everything is possible again....How he makes one laugh! The laughter of someone who just escaped being buried live, and suddenly remembers how badly she wants to live.”
- Nicole Krauss, author of The History of Love
“The Skating Rink...like much of what [Bolano] wrote, leaves many new novels looking pretty bland.”
- Anthony Cummins, The Observer
“...this Catalan drama sizzles with unrequited love and murderous ambition.”
- Emma Hagestadt, The Independent
“A stunning work of fiction. It is infused with a gritty poeticism and a unique worldview.”
- Don Sjoerdsma, Northwest Phoenix [Indiana University]
- Todd Shy, San Francisco Chronicle
“Darkly funny, but also tender and complex in the tenor of classic Bolano novels.”
- Savannah ("Savvy") Jones, SirReadaLot.org
“A highly engaging novel of lyricism, menace and beauty.”
- James Yeh, The Faster Times
“One of the strangest mysteries...with its dark-summer heat that all but comes off the page.”
- Marilis Hornidge, The Lincoln County News
“This short, exquisite novel is another unlikely masterpiece, as sui generis as all his books so far...Bolano in The Skating Rink manages to honor genre conventions while simultaneously exploding them, creating a work of intense and unrealized longing.”
- Wyatt Mason, The New York Times Book Review
“Passion, mystery, seedy bars, and Bolano's Olympian irony are here, as always.”
- The Village Voice
“When I read Bolano, I think: everything is possible again....How he makes one laugh! The laughter of someone who just escaped being buried live, and suddenly remembers how badly she wants to live.”
- Nicole Krauss, author of The History of Love
“The Skating Rink...like much of what [Bolano] wrote, leaves many new novels looking pretty bland.”
- Anthony Cummins, The Observer
“...this Catalan drama sizzles with unrequited love and murderous ambition.”
- Emma Hagestadt, The Independent
“A stunning work of fiction. It is infused with a gritty poeticism and a unique worldview.”
- Don Sjoerdsma, Northwest Phoenix [Indiana University]
"About this title" may belong to another edition of this title.
- PublisherNew Directions
- Publication date2009
- ISBN 10 0811217132
- ISBN 13 9780811217132
- BindingHardcover
- Edition number1
- Number of pages208
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