One of the late Juan José Saer's most beloved novels,
The Regal Lemon Tree shows a master stylist at his best. Set during day and night of New Year's Eve—building up a barbecue that takes on ritual significance—the novel focuses on a couple in the north of Argentina who lost their only son eight years prior. Wenceslao spends the day with his extended family and his memories while his wife—truly paralyzed by grief—refuses to leave their island, which is home to an almost magical lemon tree that blossoms at all times of the year. With the recurring phrase, "dawn breaks, and his eyes are already open," the novel takes on a dreamlike quality, manifesting the troubles the couple has suffered under with an eeriness that calls to mind the work of David Lynch.
A haunting novel of grief from one of Argentina's greatest modernist writers.
"A cerebral explorer of the problems of narrative in the wake of Joyce and Woolf, of Borges, of Rulfo and Arlt, Saer is also a stunning poet of place."—The Nation
"Juan José Saer must be added to the list of the best South American writers."—Le Monde
"To say that Juan José Saer is the best Argentinian writer of today is to undervalue his work. It would be better to say that Saer is one of the best writers of today in any language."—Ricardo Piglia
"The most striking element of Saer's writing is his prose, at once dynamic and poetic. . . . It is brilliant."—Harvard Review
"Brilliant. . . . Saer's The Sixty-Five Years of Washington captures the wildness of human experience in all its variety."—New York Times
"What Saer presents marvelously is the experience of reality, and the characters' attempts to write their own narratives within its excess."—Bookforum
