The Museum of Useless Efforts (European Women Writers Series)

Rating:
Summary: A "Museum" worthy of Borges
Review: "The Museum of Useless Efforts" is a marvelous collection of short stories by Cristina Peri Rossi, a writer from Uruguay who has lived in exile in Spain. The stories have been translated into English by Tobias Hecht. There are 30 short pieces in this collection; a good number of them are in the 3 to 6 page length range.

Many of Peri Rossi's stories are surreal or absurd. Some have subtle comic touches. Although her work invites comparison to other such Latin American writers as Jorge Luis Borges and Julio Cortazar, Peri Rossi is a remarkable talent in her own right. Her stories, as translated by Hecht, have both a stark, crystalline purity and a painful beauty.

"Museum" includes stories about violence, death, alienation, dislocation, and frustrated desire. The stories often feature unnamed characters in unnamed locales. Some of the most intriguing pieces in the "Museum" include "Tarzan's Roar," a deconstruction of a Hollywood icon; "The Lizard Christmas," which ironically comments on Christian tradition; and "the Effect of Light on Fish," which moves gracefully from an innocuous beginning to a disturbing climax. Overall, a frequently stunning collection by a very talented writer.

Rating:
Summary: A "Museum" worthy of Borges
Review: "The Museum of Useless Efforts" is a marvelous collection of short stories by Cristina Peri Rossi, a writer from Uruguay who has lived in exile in Spain. The stories have been translated into English by Tobias Hecht. There are 30 short pieces in this collection; a good number of them are in the 3 to 6 page length range.

Many of Peri Rossi's stories are surreal or absurd. Some have subtle comic touches. Although her work invites comparison to other such Latin American writers as Jorge Luis Borges and Julio Cortazar, Peri Rossi is a remarkable talent in her own right. Her stories, as translated by Hecht, have both a stark, crystalline purity and a painful beauty.

"Museum" includes stories about violence, death, alienation, dislocation, and frustrated desire. The stories often feature unnamed characters in unnamed locales. Some of the most intriguing pieces in the "Museum" include "Tarzan's Roar," a deconstruction of a Hollywood icon; "The Lizard Christmas," which ironically comments on Christian tradition; and "the Effect of Light on Fish," which moves gracefully from an innocuous beginning to a disturbing climax. Overall, a frequently stunning collection by a very talented writer.

Rating:
Summary: humorous surrealism with a touch of social criticism
Review: Cristina Peri Rossi has the knack of taking the absurd and building a surrealistic absurdity on it using clean, rational, direct langauge. A man suddenly unable to decide whether to go forward or backward, a cruise without a destination, a librarian working on documenting useless efforts, a person unable to cope with the decisions necessary to get out of bed. ... Simple, familiar actions turned topsy-turvy in a world uncomfortably our own. Recommended.

Rating:
Summary: humorous surrealism with a touch of social criticism
Review: Cristina Peri Rossi has the knack of taking the absurd and building a surrealistic absurdity on it using clean, rational, direct langauge. A man suddenly unable to decide whether to go forward or backward, a cruise without a destination, a librarian working on documenting useless efforts, a person unable to cope with the decisions necessary to get out of bed. ... Simple, familiar actions turned topsy-turvy in a world uncomfortably our own. Recommended.