“She fascinated me like a dark abyss, and if I was in despair it was precisely because I loved her and needed her. How can something to which we are indifferent plunge us in despair?”

An Argentine story in the labyrinthine tradition of the author’s countryman, Borges. Sabato is one more of an entire boatload of Latin American authors who fled their countries for exile in Europe or the US during periods of military dictatorship. When he returned to Argentina (he died at 100 in 2011) Sabato burned all his work except for three novels, saying that he did not want to be remembered for mediocre work. The last descendants of an old oligarchical family of Buenos Aires reside in a de...

On Heroes and Tombs is a story of the great young blinding love and it is a story of the great love mystery.And there is a great dark story within the love story: Report on the Blind.• God does not exist.• God exists and is a bastard.• God exists, but falls asleep from time to time: his nightmares are our existence.• God exists, but has fits of madness: these fits are our existence.That is the hypothetical nature of our existence according to the gospel of the blind. Reading it I thought of Jorg...

Decent review fromm 1981: http://www.nytimes.com/1981/07/26/boo...The point in that review that I disagree with most strongly is the idea that Sábato isn't funny. The third section of the book, "Report on the Blind," is dark, twisted, and totally paranoid, but it's also a playful usage of an unreliable narrator. It's funny like parts of Lolita are, although the author's literary intentions and overall sincerity-level could not be more different.Like Aira (me thinks this to be a common trait to g...

ESTE ES UNO DE LOS MEJORES LIBROS QUE HE LEIDO Y ES LA PRIMER OBRA DE SABATO QUE LEO. EL ESTILO ES MUY DIFERENTE EN UNA MANERA POSITIVA A OTROS AUTORES DEL "BOOM" LATINOAMERICANO.EL LIBRO DURANTE LAS DOS PRIMERAS PARTES MANTIENE UNA BUENA TRAMA EN DONDE ALGUNOS DE LOS EPISODIOS MAS MEMORABLES EN MI OPINION SON EL BOMBARDEO DE BUENOS AIRES EN EL INTENTO DE GOLPE DE ESTADO EN CONTRA DE PERÓN EN LA DECADA DE 1950. EN ESTE EPISODIO SABATO ES CAPAZ DE COMENZAR A CREAR UNA ATMÓSFERA DE OSCURIDAD Y DE

Ernesto Sabato began his professional life as a scientist, first garnering a PhD in physics from Argentina’s Universidad Nacional de La Plata and then proceedings to the Sorbonne and the Curie Institute. In the aftermath of the Second World War, Sabato would abandon science in favour of writing, producing fiction, essays, and translations until well into the 21st century. Though Sabato would only produce three novels—THE TUNNEL in 1948, ON HEROES AND TOMBS in 1961, and THE ANGEL OF DARKNESS in 1...

The antagonist/protagonist Alejandra seems to be the extended version of Idiot's Nastasya Filippovna, and that's something I couldn't get out of my brain all the while reading this. This is a great novel, quite Dostoyevsky-esque, has it's great moments, presents this unforgettable imagery, but I didn't comprehend it all the right way. Definitely needs a reread.I wish I, a] knew Spanish b] read a bit of Argentine History (which I did while reading the book, and not prior) c] had put in more ef...

El Túnel is one of my favorite books ever. I have re-visited a few times. But somehow I never put hands on Sobre héroes y tumbas despite being always on my list; until now.Maybe because I was really looking forward, maybe because of the incredible reviews or maybe just because it wasn't the right time to read it; the fact is that it took me almost 2/3 of the book to truly enjoy it. The book has passages of pure literature but the story didn't engaged me. Nevertheless, I am sure I'll get back to

'I can feel the passageof time, as thought it werecoursing through myveins, along with my blood'It's not often I turn to google maps whilst reading a book. In the case of Ernesto Sabato's 1961 novel I found it helpful but not essential. The first third of the novel there didn't seem to be a moment without the mention of a specific area within the city, add to that an abundance of street names, landmarks and buildings, which initially bothered me. Because the city in question and the setting for

" Everything here is full of nostalgia, maybe because there are few countries in the world where this feeling is so repetitive. To the first Spaniards, because they missed their homeland from afar, then to the Indians, because they longed for the lost freedom, the very meaning of their existence ; and finally, to immigrants, because they missed their homeland, their wonderful habits, the Christmas holidays next to the fire ".It is a book I read before " The Tunnel ", but to which I had some rel...

Sobre Héroes y Tumbas is the second novel by Ernesto Sabato. It was a good complex read that explores the depth of humanity. The book starts with an announcement that the late Alejandra Vidal Olmos has just shot her father and then burned herself alive, and so, the book is mainly about the lives of these two characters and what led to the afore mentioned situation, though the plot is developed through other characters.Before continuing, I must say that the book was divided into four chapters. Ea...

I fell in love with the female character of this book. She's the type of girl who would keep you close, but far enough to maintain your constant interest. Sabato's psychological descriptions of the characters are excellent, as usual.

Sobre Héroes y Tumbas = On Heroes and Tombs, 1981, Ernesto SábatoOn Heroes and Tombs is a novel by Argentine writer Ernesto Sabato (1911–2011), first published in Buenos Aires in 1961, and translated by Helen R. Lane in 1981. Nineteen-year-old Martin Castillo is a boy from Buenos Aires trying to find his path in life. He meets and falls in love with Alejandra Vidal Olmos who with her father Fernando represents the "old", post-colonial and autochthonous Argentina, which is seen mutating amid a st...

Well...I have a mixed feeling about this book.The first half of the book, consisting in two parts - The Dragon and the Princess and Invisible Faces - was one of the most intense reading I had so far and I was thinking that this is worthy of a 5 stars rating.But after that it's like you're reading a completely different book, wich can be a good thing, nonetheless, but I was captivated by the story between Martin and Alejandra and wanted to know more of that, thus I was a bit dissapointed by the s...

It took me a long time to read this because I kept going back to re-read passages and episodes, and to do sketches of the characters’ faces as a visual support. Sometimes I just indulged in going back to a particularly intense moment, in a book that is packed with them, and immerse myself into the awe of its horror, pathos or literary beauty. This book was a hell of a ride, a remarkable journey down into the depths of human despair, a portrait of formidable weakness and formidable strength. But

This is a book that can only be read holding your breath. One that takes you completely there, and leaves you utterly confused. A book about chaos and obsession - incomprehensible even to the author himself.

It is not clear to me why Sabato did not get Nobel Prize for literature. This book is the masterpiece. The plot is quite strange and it enabled Sabato to tell profound things about the world and human nature in general. On Heroes and Tombs defenetly goes to my favorite shelf.

It totally blew me away! One of the finest gems of Latin American literature that should not be missed. An incredible dense and complex masterpiece, it dives without fear into dark and unexplored crevices of the human mind and soul with unbelievable style and intensity. Hats off to Ernesto Sabato!

This is for the most part a philosophical novel about the tortuous nature of love and the impenetrability of loved ones. It's related through conversations between two friends as they attempt to piece together memories of their dead lovers, but the story is also interlaced with Argentine history - a history of battles and radical ideas. At its core the novel is about a man's search for meaning in a cruel, senseless world.All of that stuff is good, but the real treat in the book comes in the thir...

I don't know where to begin on this. Some parts are 5 stars and some are much less. I am not sure if 3 stars is the right rating.... I was really excited to read this book and perhaps that ruined it for me. I get the feeling that I didn't quite get the book, perhaps I was thinking it was something else. It starts brilliantly but eventually drags. The Report On The Blind was at times entertaining and crazy but also dragged for me and except the last few pages it felt repetitive.There are some bea...