SOURCE: A review of Goodbyes and Stories, in Híspanla, Vol. LXXIV, No. 2, May, 1991, pp. 335-36.

McMurray is an American educator and Critic who has published book-length studies of Jorge Luis Borges, Jose Donoso, and Gabriel García Márquez. In the following excerpt, McMurray offers a favorable review of Goodbyes and Stories.

Juan Carlos Onetti (1909) is Uruguay's best-known and most admired writer of fiction. Although he owes his reputation primarily to his novels, he is also the creator of some fine short stories. . . . [The translations in Goodbyes and Stories] succeed admirably in capturing the monotony and pessimism pervading the Uruguayan's bleak imaginary world. Like other Latin Americans of his generation, Onetti writes in a style replete with problems for the translator. These include a convoluted style reminiscent of Faulkner (a major influence) and an abundance of abstract nouns which, if not translated with care, can cloud meaning...