Proceed with Caution

Argentinian writer Ratto’s revelatory if underpowered English-language debut collects stories and a novella featuring intensely watchful, unassuming narrators who imbue the stories with a sense of foreboding. The best entry is the title piece, in which a lonely woman becomes attracted to a man who strongly resembles a dog, or perhaps is a dog. As their relationship edges toward intimacy, the uncertainty around it is creepy, tantalizing, and indicative of the larger perils in human relationships altogether. In several other stories, the narrators are uninvolved observers with a touch of the voyeur, watching the butchering of whales (“Quintay”), a handsome blond server (“Neko Café”), and a battling couple in a fancy car (“Black Dog”). Most of these feel a bit undeveloped, though “Submerged,” the novella, finds some depth. The unnamed protagonist is stuck on a submarine with a full crew. Water is rationed, the submarine’s captain does not dare surface for fear of attack, and the narrator is progressively losing feeling in his legs as he struggles to live “with the illusion that... everything might return to the way it was in the old days.” The highlights are worth the price of admission. (Jan.)