cover image Dostoevsky's Last Night

Dostoevsky's Last Night

Cristina Peri Rossi, Christina P. Rossi. Picador USA, $20 (180pp) ISBN 978-0-312-13054-1

Compulsive gambling becomes an avenue to self-discovery in this witty tale of psychoanalysis and self-determination set in contemporary Barcelona. Jorge, erudite divorcee, raconteur and writer for a glitzy Spanish magazine, whiles away his excess time and money in a local bingo parlor and, occasionally, in more elaborate casinos abroad. With the aid of his sexy, unyielding analyst, Lucia, he has begun to investigate and, with varying levels of resolve, combat his addiction. Displaying a Wildean mixture of grandiosity and self-mockery, Jorge brings sundry philosophical insights to bear on his problem-and is always quick with an aphorism or literary quotation, most frequently from Dostoyevski, who shared his affliction and documented it so forcefully. Rossi renders the smart and colorful Jorge, candid yet armed with complex rationalizations, through a seamless first-person voice, a narrative triumph that seems to have lost none of its grace through Dail's able translation. (July)