Hopscotch (Rayuela)

Name: Hopscotch (Rayuela)
Author: Julio Cortázar

Julio Cortázar · 1963

Cortazar's 1963 novel can be read in two ways: straight through, or by following a different chapter sequence using the author's instructions. Its Paris-to-Buenos Aires dislocation, jazz-inflected prose, and intellectual playfulness made it the literary touchstone of 1960s Latin America. The novel that taught a continent's literature to be formally experimental.

The case against

on the characters
“has no narrative action whatsoever, no characters”
Unsigned review · Kirkus Reviews, 1966
on Horacio’s chauvinism
“Oliveira is a pompous posterboy for male chauvinism and all the worst aspects of machismo”
a book blog
on the length
“At five hundred and sixty-four pages, the purposefully difficult style will try the patience”
a book blog
on the hopscotch trick
“I discovered the hopscotch trick was actually pretty uninspired”
a book blog