Ema, the Captive

Thanks to the efforts of New Directions Publishing, an increasing number of Cesar Aira’s 80+ books are becoming available in English translations. This latest release (Ema, the Captive) is a somewhat conventional historical fiction novel set in 1800s Argentina, in which a young mother is pulled from her home and traded around the Argentine Pampas region. The story moves around a lot and is too episodic, but Aira’s rich descriptions of the Pampas landscape and terrain make this another worthwhile book.