The Linden Tree

Reviews

"Readers already familiar with his strange and exhilarating fiction…will need no persuading to read The Linden Tree. Indeed, the work functions almost as an origin myth for Aira's brilliant oeuvre." — American Book Review

"A gentle semi-autobiographical novel about the author’s childhood in Coronel Pringles, Argentina; the book recalls Peronism and the invention of a provincial middle class, juxtaposing portraits of eccentric neighbours with meditations on how complex social reality is refracted through a child’s eyes." — Steven Zultanski, Frieze

"An ethereal ramble through the sweet haze of nostalgia by the prolific Argentinean writer Aira. When is memory not true? If we can only live our lives in one direction, how can we ever learn from our future? These are the heady ideas Aira seals firmly in a fictional memoir that finds him sauntering through the past of a man nearly exactly like him... A funny, sardonic, and richly emotional journey through one man's interior experience." — Kirkus

"Surreal, witty, and funny." — The Guardian

"South America’s answer to Haruki Murakami." — Andrew Irvin, The Miami Herald

"Argentina's greatest living writer." — The Nation

"Exhilarating. Should not be missed." — The New York Times

"Aira’s work is varied and extensive, but The Linden Tree may be one of its best points of entry, affirming the existence of a Latin American literature that refuses to conform to the conventions and stereotypes of magical realism, social realism or other clichés about fiction from this part of the globe." — The New York Times

"In this novella, which teases readers with suggestions of the autobiographical, Aira has one eye on his country’s past and the social effects of Juan Perón’s regime...Although comprised of what can seem like individually minor creations, Aira’s project is no less ambitious than Proust’s, and for those of his fans who cannot read his work in Spanish, the arrival of each new title is a bittersweet occasion. It has taken 14 years for this book to reach us in English, and that is too long to wait. We want more, and we want it yesterday." — Patrick Flanery, The Spectator

"Hail César!" — Patti Smith, The New York Times Book Review

"Once you start reading Aira, you don't want to stop." — Roberto Bolaño