Let me issue a caveat on the translation of my countryman Onetti's finest book, which I originally read in Spanish. Rendering the invented word "Juntacadáveres" as "Body Snatcher" doesn't really make sense, since it seems to hint at a grave robber or something like that. "Corpse collector" would be a much better translation, the nickname referring to a man who runs a brothel full of old, ugly, depressing prostitutes. I cannot comment on the rest of the translator's work, since I haven't read it, but if the very title is badly translated, how good can the book itself be?

This said, I highly recommend this book, whose grim, surreal atmosphere will appeal to readers in search of unconventional, well-crafted writing.

I read this book just after completing Kerouac's "on the road" - but when I finished Body Snatcher I said to myself "To hell with beat culture - this is real literature". I was just stunned by the class of Onetti's writing. He is in the class of Marquez and creates a fantastic canvas like Marquez. The topic of the book is very simple and the whole story is set up in a town where life is drag and prosaic but Onetti brings a strange tone of suspense which will keep you hooked to the book. When in any author tries to look into a topic from several view points and builds up the story in these view points -the story tends to become divergent in nature. Onetti never looses the tight control of the plot. I also admire the translation - I do not how far it is true to its Spanish version but it is definitely good piece of translation. Long time back I read a book called "Body Watching" by Desmond Morris, where he describes human behavior through pictures - Onetti can be described as the literary counter part of Morris. Every essential movement of every character is described without boring the reader. Of coarse you will not find the twist and beauty of the language that you find in authors like Steinbeck, Paul Auster but may be the Spanish version has those qualities - you never know. If you get a chance buy this book. I just pray to God that some body does the same justice with translation to Akutagawa and his writings.

Felisberto Hernendez' Piano Stories is a rare book indeed. His stories were the precursors of what is now called "magic realsim" (the style of writers such as Garcia-Marquez and Jeanette Winterson), but his tales are truly unique. They are concered with the haunting mysteries of life, and have a dreamy, otherworldly quality which draws you inextricably into them. A cast of eccentric characters and off-the-wall occurrences will keep you on your toes. I kept putting off reading the last story in the book, because I didn't want the fun to be over.

Un autor particular, extraordinario, que te hace sentir todo el sabor (y la complcadez) de lo que te cuenta

Es este el más claro y actualizado libro para la identificación de aves en el cono sur de América. Reune más de 1000 especies, cada una con dibujos a color y descripciones completas; especificando zona de distribución, facilidad de avistaje, caracteres sobresalientes para la identificación, medidas, comportamiento, etc. Tiene además una clara descripción de las familias,lo que facilita la identificación taxonómica y un anexo sobre Zonas ornitogeogáficas Argentinas. Es una excelente guía de campo.

Juan Alonso is an Ameican original. This is his best and most accessible book. Read it and discover him for yourself.

El autor realiza un riguroso análisis de las causas de los serios problemas que sufre desde hace décadas la educación pública uruguaya y analiza dos posibles vías para superarlos: Los vales educativos según Milton Friedman (propuesta que critica y descarta) y su propuesta personal, basada en la privatización de la gestión de algunas escuelas públicas (en las que el Estado mantendría la propiedad de los inmuebles) y la desregulación del contenido de la enseñanza.

A truly life changing book. It's an ever unfolding revelation of insights into South American secrets. From Patagonia to the Panama Canal the tome's fascinating and shocking revelations astound and entertain. One cannot help but believe that if a major publishing house had only picked it up a Pulitzer Prize would have resulted. I could not put it down.

As a huge fan of South American rock, as well as music of all Latin cultures, this book for me is truly indispensable. Maybe if there were any others like it, there would be stiff competition, but as far a I know, there ain't. A friend of mine had a copy which I xeroxed because I could not locate it before I went to Argentina last year. Of course, once in Argentina I encountered books like it, but only written in castellano (Argentine Spanish). I needed it to help guide me through locating high-quality, relevant discs, vinyl and therwise of Rock Nacional, or classic Argentine Rock of the 60's and 70's. it is sad that all of this music is not available here in the U.S., but hey, I'd love to be proven wrong. The rewards are great for any rock fan with an open mind. This book is brilliant in its originality, economy and general opinions on the music by the author, for as a music fan I had to agree with many suggestions he had of must-haves for collectors of this freaky, melodic stuff. Believe me, there's more where the music discussed in this book came from.

A brilliant work on a subject in which is very hard to find information. The book will give you an inside look into how the Tupamaros were looked by Uruguayans. It starts by exposing the conditions that triggered the formation of this group and it reveals through several interviews with Uruguayan adults and even kids the influence that they were starting to have in Uruguay. Also, there's a very good interview with a Tupamaro in which he describes the taking of Pando and the escape from "La Carcel de Punta Carretas". Moreover, it describes vividly the torture methods employed by the regime and how it affected the Tupamaros' methods.

As most books in this subject, this book is extremely hard to find. It might require some extra effort and time but believe me is worthy.

Todo Uruguayo tendria que leer este libro ya que describe un muy importante y oscuro momento en nuestra historia.

After reading his prior novels (particularly "The Weekend" and "Andorra"), I've come to expect that Peter Cameron's novels will be beautifully crafted and full of rich, human dialogue and insight. Peter Cameron's new novel, "The City of Your Final Destination," met my expectations and then some. Like his other works, "City" is full with wonderful yet unassuming prose and dialogue, and intelligent observations on modern life. What makes "City" really special, though, is its generosity towards its characters and their fortunes. The novel recounts, without any of that easy cynicism, but with lots of humor, an exiled and splintered family's coming to terms with a beguiling offer from a young graduate student who descends upon them unannounced. Never syruppy or sentimental, Cameron warmly shows us what it's like today to try, all at once, to do the right thing by all, the best thing for yourself and, in the process, manage to carve out a little love and happiness. Not an easy task, but when rendered with heart and pluck by Peter Cameron, it makes for great, rewarding reading. Enjoy.

I just read Peter Cameron's new novel after reading its glowing review in the New York Times. I'd read and enjoyed his other novels and short stories, and so I was happy to see that he had a new novel out. This one is more light-hearted than his other books but doesn't sacrifice any of the elements that made the other books satisfying to me. His elegant writing and almost uncanny way with dialogue is still on display. Most important for me, though, is the way Cameron manages to convey so much about his characters in such few words. Each of the characters is interesting and unique. It's a really fine book.

I read this wonderful novel after reading Richard Eder's rave review in The New York Times. For once, a critic's hype was absolutelyl justified. I haven't read a more beautifully written and satisfying -- not to mention howlingly funny -- novel in ages. Peter Cameron gives you everything you want from a novel (or at least everything I want): amazingly complex and sympathetic characters, a gorgeous depiction of scene and event (it's no wonder Eder claims the book would make a fantastic movie -- you can almost see the movie as you read the book, it's so vivid and alive), the smartest, wittiest, most moving dialogue of any contemporary writer, and a hurtling plot that encompasses all sorts of human questions of morals and manners and love. The book is a light as a summer breeze, but has considerable depth -- it is explores its moral quandries with the sort of effortless, sure touch of E. M. Forster. My tastes may be old-fashioned, but I didn't think people were writing novels like this anymore: smart, beautiful, supremely moving. No cynicism or authorial ego here. Yes, it's conventional, but wow is it a wonderful book.

This book reads like a work of journalism. It was good because it explained the economic and social conditions that spawn totalitarian regimes and military takeovers. Very good bibliography if you want to further your study. Good Interviews. Very Thorough and Fair. More than I would have been. Names, Dates, and the history behind the story is always given.

An incredible book that describes a few horrific cultures of dictatorship that will hopefully be forever unrecognizable to people in the United States. The most fascinating parts of the book are the theories of how the dicatorships came to be (the Tupamaros in Uruguay and the backlash of the military, etc.); even more incredible is how the leaders of the respective dictatorships stayed in power out of necessary compromises with the government(some are still in power, which will be difficult to swallow after reading this book). It is, in the end, a hopeful book with a warning: "¡Nunca más!" The book asks "how do you come to terms with those that tortured?" (especially in the incredible situation of passing someone who tortured you in the street, described by someone in the book) Another point the author makes is that there can be forgiveness after such horror, and if there's not there may just be more torture. A very worthwhile read, but not for the squeamish.

Lastly, the book provides a good introduction to a much neglected country: Uruguay. There are very few accounts in English of Uruguay, and this is probably the best I've seen. I have also visited Uruguay; it is a fascinating country and well worth a visit. You get a real appreciation for the friendliness of the people after reading what a lot of them went through during "la dictadura."

This is a magnificent book about a terrible subject. From the sixties through till the mid-Eighties, almost the entire continent of South America fell under the sway, or rather the boot, of military dictatorship. The dictatorships were, without exception but with varying degrees of vigour, active in torturing political prisoners. Weschler does a masterful job in describing the various forces that contributed to the overthrow of democracy throughout the Southern cone (not the least of which was American insistence on training Southern militaries and police forces in counter-insurgency in the hope that Castro's example would not spread further south), but the book's focus is not only the depravities of the two regimes -- Brazil and Uruguay -- but on the efforts of survivors of torture and imprisonment to make their oppressors see and recognise their evils.

The first section, 'A miracle, a universe' recounts the incredible efforts that went into collating and publishing the account Brasil: Nunca Mais (Brazil: Never Again), a book which set forth the policies of systematic torture and denial of due process practiced by Brazil's dictators. The truly remarkable aspect of the work was that all the material was obtained from the regime's own archives, over a period of several years, and at great personal risk to the authors. It's an inspiring story, and one that demonstrates the power of the written word.

The second and longer part of the book, 'The reality of the world', centres of the efforts of a committe in Uruguay to call those accused of torture during the country's decade-plus period of military dictatorship to account. In an effort to hasten reconciliation (or so they claimed), the civilian government declared an amnesty for those imprisoned for subversion under the old regime; later this amnesty was extended to those who tortured their political enemies. A group of concerned citizens began an exhausting referendum campaign to put the second amnesty to a vote. Weschler makes their task as exciting as a Hollywood thriller, without ever losing sight of the horror and tragedy which had been their inspiration. It's a beautifully structured, patient, and gorgeously written piece of work. An afterword makes some more general claims about the need to speak up on the subject of torture. 'The scream that comes welling out of the torture chamber is thus double -- the body calling out to the soul, the self calling out to others -- and in both cases, it goes unanswered. Torture's stark lesson is precisely that enveloping silence: it aims to take that silence and introject it back into its victim, to replace the flame of subjectivity with an abject, hollow void.' It is through reading books like Weschler's, and discussing and acting on his suggestions and the example of those in Brazil and Uruguay and elsewhere, that this silence can be partly drowned out. The book deserves -- indeed, demands -- a wide readership.