“Latin America’s new literary star” (The New Yorker), Alejandro Zambra is celebrated around the world for his strikingly original, slyly funny, daringly unconventional fiction. Now, at the height of his powers, Zambra returns with his most audaciously brilliant book yet. Written in the form of a standardized test, Multiple Choice invites the reader to respond to virtuoso language exercises and short narrative passages through multiple-choice questions that are thought-provoking, usually unanswerable, and often absurd. It offers a new kind of reading experience, one in which the reader participates directly in the creation of meaning, and the nature of storytelling itself is called into question. At once funny, poignant, and political, Multiple Choice is about love and family, authoritarianism and its legacies, and the conviction that, rather than learning to think for ourselves, we are trained to obey and repeat. Serious in its literary ambition and playful in its execution, it confirms Alejandro Zambra as one of the most important writers working in any language.
About the Author: Alejandro Zambra; Translated by Megan McDowell
Alejandro Zambra is the author of the story collection My Documents, which was a finalist for the Frank O'Connor International Short Story Award, and three previous novels: Ways of Going Home, The Private Lives of Trees, and Bonsai. His books have been translated into more than ten languages. He has received numerous prizes in Chile, including the Chilean Literary Critics' Award in 2007 and the National Book Council's award for best novel in 2007 and 2012, as well as international distinctions such as the Prince Claus Award in Holland. His stories have appeared in The New Yorker, The Paris Review, Harper’s, Tin House, and McSweeney’s, among others. In 2010, he was named one of Granta’s Best Young Spanish-Language Novelists. A 2015–2016 Cullman Center fellow at the New York Public Library, he divides his time between New York and Santiago, Chile.
Reviews/Quotes
"Dazzling...a work of parody, but also of poetry." —The New York Times Book Review "Brilliant, innovative, beautiful—David Markson’s Vanishing Point meets Junot Díaz’s This Is How You Lose Her." —The Guardian, "The Best Books for Summer 2016" "Playful and profound. . . . [Zambra's] comic timing is impeccable." —Jane Ciabattari, BBC.com, "10 Books to Read in July" "Throughout Multiple Choice, Zambra traffics in a depth of imagination and playfulness that is akin to a guessing game. As with many of his earlier works, he is content to play with, prod, and shake up the reader, confirming once again that the questions we ask about the world and about ourselves are oftentimes far more telling than the answers.” —NPR
Additional information
Book Author
Alejandro Zambra; Translated by Megan McDowell
Publisher
Penguin Books
Language
English
ISBN
978-0143109198
Pages
128
Format
Paperback
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