MARIA DUARTE is swept along by the cocky self-belief of a ping-pong hustler in a surprisingly violent drama
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Fiction Review: Optic Nerve by Maria Ginza
Maria Ginza's novel is an outstanding exploration of the nature of perception
STEVE ANDREW recommends a lively and often moving guide to once vibrant spaces that have been abandoned or swept away
GEOFF BOTTOMS appreciates the local touch brought to a production of Dickens’s perennial classic
MARY CONWAY is disappointed by a production whose design and cartoonish acting overwhelms the close scrutiny of characters
SUSAN DARLINGTON enjoys the raucous familiarity of a traditional topsy-turvy pantomime
RON JACOBS introduces the latest novel by the best writer of US working-class fiction writing today
Optic Nerve
by Maria Gainza
(Vintage Publishing, £14.99)
THIS exquisite novel of a woman in her twenties searching for meaning through the paintings she loves is a stunning debut from Maria Gainza.
Part autobiographical fiction, part art criticism, it’s set in her native Buenos Aires and comes across as a subtle chronicle of a city, family life and a culture deeply rooted in the “southern cone” of Latin America.
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