When her partner disappears, a young veterinary assistant drifts from the city towards Open Door, a small town in the Argentinean Pampas named after its psychiatric hospital. Embarking on a new life in the country, she finds herself living with an ageing ranch-hand and courted by an official investigating her partner's disappearance. She might settle down, although a local girl is also irresistible ...This evocative, atmospheric book makes a quiet case for the possibility of finding contentment in unexpected places, with unexpected people.
Open Door
and over 1.5 million other books are available for Amazon Kindle . Learn more
| |||||||||||||||
Did you know you can trade in your old books for an Amazon.co.uk Gift Card to spend on the things you want? Visit the Books Trade-In Store for more details. Special Offer until June 30, 2013: Receive an additional £5 promotional Gift Certificate, when you trade-in at least £10 worth of books. Learn more. |
Book Description
Frequently Bought Together
Product details
Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
|
More About the Author
Discover books, learn about writers, and more.
Product Description
Review
'Look out in the autumn for Open Door by the much-praised Iosi Havilio, one of the launch titles on the And Other Stories list.' - Boyd Tonkin, The Independent 'Iosi Havilio's remarkable first novel brings news of an intriguing world' Martin Schifino, The Independent 'An ambiguous tale that verges on dark comedy - With skill and subtlety, the novel hints that a whole society might labour under an illusion of liberty.' The Economist 'Deliberately unshowy, so that plot twists can unfold in the quietest ways.' Fatema Ahmed, Prospect 'There is a lot of sex and violence in Open Door, but it is never gratuitous. - You have in your hands a masterpiece.' - Oscar Guardiola-Rivera With minimalist beauty and exquisite strangeness, Iosi Havilio offers a mesmerising addition to the literature of solitude. - Chloe Aridjis 'Open Door really surprised me, it doesn't obey any of the laws of reading, it feels like it sprang out of nowhere.' - Beatriz Sarlo, Perfil 'Open Door is not a choral novel but a series of solitary songs sung in intimate keys. It contains a tale to mull over, a story not easy to forget.' - El Pais 'Living, some say, is much easier than thinking about life. This seems to be the almost unconscious guiding force that drives the heroine of Open Door, Iosi Havilio's first book; a sober, restrained novel through which his mature craft shines.' - Susana Rosana, Clarin
About the Author
Iosi Havilio was born in Buenos Aires in 1974. Open Door is his first novel. His second novel is Estocolmo (Stockholm). Originally published in Argentina, both have now been issued in Spain. Beth Fowler was born in Inverness in 1980 and lives in Glasgow. She has spent time in Chile as an English teacher and is now a full-time translator. In 2010 she won the inaugural Harvill Secker Young Translators' Prize.
What Other Items Do Customers Buy After Viewing This Item?
Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful
By Eleanor
TOP 500 REVIEWER
Format:Paperback
The unnamed narrator of "Open Door" is a veterinary assistant who finds herself in the small country town of Open Door after her girlfriend mysteriously disappears in Buenos Aires. In this dream-like novel, told in the present tense, the great plains of the Pampas are vividly evoked as the narrator aimlessly spends her days having sex, taking drugs, and researching the history of Open Door, the mental hospital after which the town is named.
This is a compelling novel with some powerful and unsettling scenes. Disturbing incidents are revealed to the reader but never explained, injecting the hazy atmosphere of the plains with the feel of a nightmare. The narrator seems removed from the reader: she is historyless and affectless, describing what emotions she does feel in a simple unadorned way. Oscar Guardiola-Rivera in his afterword describes "Open Door" as a novel in which 'there are only appearances' and 'the story remains in the surface', I agree with him and I think this is an aspect of the book which might divide readers.
Despite not being able to truly love this novel I would recommend it, and I hope that its sequel, which Havilio is currently writing, will also be translated into English. Finally, once again the publishers And Other Stories have produced a beautifully-presented paperback.
This is a compelling novel with some powerful and unsettling scenes. Disturbing incidents are revealed to the reader but never explained, injecting the hazy atmosphere of the plains with the feel of a nightmare. The narrator seems removed from the reader: she is historyless and affectless, describing what emotions she does feel in a simple unadorned way. Oscar Guardiola-Rivera in his afterword describes "Open Door" as a novel in which 'there are only appearances' and 'the story remains in the surface', I agree with him and I think this is an aspect of the book which might divide readers.
Despite not being able to truly love this novel I would recommend it, and I hope that its sequel, which Havilio is currently writing, will also be translated into English. Finally, once again the publishers And Other Stories have produced a beautifully-presented paperback.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
By TFS
Format:Paperback
"open Door" is a very powerful story about life happening. The story of ayoung women just unfolds, just happens. Her decisions, her sex, her everyday and not-so-everyday encounters, just happen. The book is powerful in tell about observations and things that happen to the young vet without posing big questions, given good reasons. Still every page fills the reader with small questions and doubts, what-ifs.
Customer Discussions
|
This product's forum
Active discussions in related forums
Search Customer Discussions
|
Related forums
|
Listmania!
Look for similar items by category
Feedback
- Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
- I am the Author, and I want to comment on my book.
- I am the Publisher, and I want to comment on this book.
|
