Wonderful short stories. ( )

One of my absolute favourite books. I bought the Norwegian translation because of the nice cover and had it sitting on my shelf for a few years before I read it, with no expectation whatsoever. What a surprise! These short stories range from the weird to the absurd, often playing on classic stories or literature, like the alternative version of the story about the Trojan Horse. Strange, memorable and brilliant! ( )

Interesting short stories. ( )

Guadalajara consists of a mixture of surreal, sometimes grotesque, and occasionally wickedly funny tales about the absurdities of everyday life and past and present customs. In the first story, "Family Life", a nine year old boy openly questions a longstanding family ritual on the eve of his ceremony, which leads to unexpected consequences. "Life Is So Short" concerns a chance meeting between a man and a woman who find themselves alone and attracted to each in a temporarily disabled elevator. In "Centripetal Force", a man is unable to leave his apartment on an ordinary day, and his subsequent attempts draw his girlfriend, neighbors and others into his plight.

Also included are several satirical tales about well known characters and stories. In "Gregor", a beetle is suddenly transformed into a boy; in "Outside the Gates of Troy" the Greeks within the Trojan horse are faced with an unexpected complication to their plan to enter the city; and "A Hunger and Thirst for Justice" concerns Robin Hood's attempts to rob the rich, who are increasingly bored by his exploits, and help the local peasants, who question his ethics and are unappreciative of his efforts.

I enjoyed this clever collection of stories, and I look forward to reading his novel Gasoline, which has also been recently published by Open Letter Press. ( )

La canción "Guadalajara" es el éxito invisible del cual nacen catorce relatos grotescos y afinados, apasionantes y febriles, que diseccionan el anima humana con un sutil bisturí narrativo. ( )