SOURCE: A review of Taratuta and Still Life with Pipe: Two Novellas," in Booklist, Vol. 89, No. 8, December 15, 1992, p. 714.

[In the following excerpt, Hooper briefly outlines the plots of Taratuta and Still Life with Pipe.]

Donoso is probably the most highly esteemed contemporary Chilean novelist. His latest book to be translated for U.S. publication is actually two novellas. Taratuta is concerned with a Russian revolutionary of that name whom the novelist-narrator has come across in his desire to learn more about Lenin. The character of Taratuta has beguiling aspects that make the narrator want to ponder and write about him, but the man's historiography is incomplete. The narrator tracks down a fellow who just might be a descendant—but that person proves nearly as illusory as details about Taratuta. The fact that the project must remain incomplete teaches the narrator and the reader an important lesson in life...