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A review by libromancy
All Men Are Liars by Alberto Manguel
3.0
I wouldn't be surprised to see All Men are Liars entered into the Tournament of Books next year. It's the kind of novel that usually appears in the brackets; it's artful, readable, and benign.
The book is divided into five narrative sections, each describing how Alejandro Bevilacqua, author of the acclaimed work In Praise of Lying ended up dying below Alberto Manguel's balcony. (Yes, Alberto Manguel is the real life author of this book. And no, Bevilacqua is not real.) The five narrative versions are reminiscent of The Usual Suspects or [b:The Savage Detectives|63033|The Savage Detectives|Roberto Bolaño|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1327882402s/63033.jpg|2503920]. It's not as messy and painful and dangerous as Bolano's work, which is a great pity to this reader, although it's exactly what will make it more accessible to others. It also borrows from The Savage Detectives an interest in Latin American literature and the literary scene; it sprinkles theories and platitudes in liberally. (To stick with the lying theme Manguel says that all Latin American authors are liars.)
Maybe a better book to compare it to would be [b:Scars|12087796|Scars|Juan José Saer|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1314210085s/12087796.jpg|17055978] by [a:Juan José Saer|199815|Juan José Saer|http://photo.goodreads.com/authors/1283738436p2/199815.jpg]. Scars also follows a death from different perspectives. But even though Manguel's book claims there can be no single truth, it presents a less complex scenario than Saer's, even though Saer's pretends to be the more straightforward of the pair. Scars was painful for me in a way that All Men was not. And that's why Scars will never win the Tournament of Books, but All Men are Liars very well could.
The book is divided into five narrative sections, each describing how Alejandro Bevilacqua, author of the acclaimed work In Praise of Lying ended up dying below Alberto Manguel's balcony. (Yes, Alberto Manguel is the real life author of this book. And no, Bevilacqua is not real.) The five narrative versions are reminiscent of The Usual Suspects or [b:The Savage Detectives|63033|The Savage Detectives|Roberto Bolaño|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1327882402s/63033.jpg|2503920]. It's not as messy and painful and dangerous as Bolano's work, which is a great pity to this reader, although it's exactly what will make it more accessible to others. It also borrows from The Savage Detectives an interest in Latin American literature and the literary scene; it sprinkles theories and platitudes in liberally. (To stick with the lying theme Manguel says that all Latin American authors are liars.)
Maybe a better book to compare it to would be [b:Scars|12087796|Scars|Juan José Saer|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1314210085s/12087796.jpg|17055978] by [a:Juan José Saer|199815|Juan José Saer|http://photo.goodreads.com/authors/1283738436p2/199815.jpg]. Scars also follows a death from different perspectives. But even though Manguel's book claims there can be no single truth, it presents a less complex scenario than Saer's, even though Saer's pretends to be the more straightforward of the pair. Scars was painful for me in a way that All Men was not. And that's why Scars will never win the Tournament of Books, but All Men are Liars very well could.