The latest addition to my website is Alejandro Zambra‘s Bonsái (Bonsai). This is a clever, witty, post modern novel about sex/romance with literary undertones. Our main character is Julio who starts an affair with Emilia. We learned from the first sentence that she is already dead though Julio himself does not learn about her death till well after we do. However, before she dies, we follow their romance which seems to be based on finding the appropriate word to use for sexual intercourse and reading a variety of books, including, of course Proust, but not, of course Chekhov. Some of Julio’s former girlfriends seem to go to Madrid, including, as we know Emilia where she dies. Julio struggles a bit with his life and career, meeting an author who may well be the alter ego of Zambra and Julio even pretends to write a manuscript of a book by the same alter ego author. The book features a bonsai, as a symbol of enduring love, which is not something we find in this book. The book is very witty, very clever and very short, 76 pages, and q most enjoyable read.