My Documents

'People kept mentioning his name, but I was slow to encounter the Chilean writer Alejandro Zambra. I hadn't read anything by him before opening his new story collection, My Documents [...] My Documents is the fourth book by Alejandro Zambra to be translated into English (this one very ably by Megan McDowell). All of them are very short and strikingly original, and display a wry self-consciousness about the obligations, difficulties, and pleasures of writing fiction. [...] In his new book, Zambra returns to the twin sources of his talent-to his storytelling vitality, that living tree which blossoms often in these pages, and to his unsparing examination of recent Chilean history. These come together magnificently.'
- James Wood, New Yorker

'[An] excellent collection [...] rich and thought-provoking [...] If you are going to read Alejandro Zambra, which you should, don't just read My Documents, read everything he's done.'
- Chris Power, Guardian

'These stories are graceful, grave, comical, disabused. I guess what I mean is: My Documents represents a new form. When I think about Alejandro Zambra, I feel happy for the future of fiction.'
- Adam Thirlwell, author of Lurid and Cute

'Alejandro Zambra's My Documents is also his best: an eclectic, disconcerting, at times harrowing read. His voice is unique, honest and raw, and there is poetry on every page. Zambra's fiction doubles as a kind of personal history, full of anguish, humour and verve. A truly beautiful book.'
- Daniel Alarcon, author of At Night We Walk in Circles

'Zambra is the author of small classics - short in length, but enormous in every other way. My Documents elevates him to a entirely new level.'
- Valeria Luiselli, author of Faces in the Crowd