The 351 Books of Irma Arcuri
David Bajo, . . Viking, $25.95 (289pp) ISBN 978-0-670-01929-8
Volumes by Borges, Cervantes, Sebald and others serve as clues and almost as characters in Bajo’s intriguing debut, a love story wrapped in a bibliomaniacal whodunit with a hall-of-mirrors bow on top. The books belonged to Irma Arcuri, a bookbinder, writer and the lifelong object of preternatural math whiz Philip Masryk’s desire. After Philip learns that Irma has supposedly killed herself and bequeathed her library to him, he quits his job to explore Irma’s books and discover any messages that might be left in them for him. With the help of Lucia, a beautiful woman uncannily familiar to Philip, he discovers that Irma has not only rebound the books but also changed their texts; a new story is added to Borges’s
Reviewed on: 04/14/2008
Genre: Fiction
Open Ebook - 304 pages - 978-1-4362-2353-9
Peanut Press/Palm Reader - 304 pages - 978-1-4362-2354-6