The Scent of Buenos Aires: Stories by Hebe Uhart
by: Hebe Uhart / Maureen Shaughnessy (Translator)

Softcover. NY, Archipelago Books, 1st, 2019, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: None, Softcover in pictorial wrappers, 477 pages. The Scent of Buenos Aires is the first collection of Uhart's to be published in English, drawing together her best vignettes of quotidian life, stories that sneak up on you. Refreshingly approachable, they are punctuated by street talk and saturated with a cryptic wit that recalls Lydia Davis. Uhart renders moments at the zoo, the hair salon, or a homeowners association meeting with delightfully eccentric insight. These stories cast an unusual, intimate light on the inner lives of plants, animals, and humans, magnifying the minute, everyday quirks of Argentina's small towns: a cat curls around his owner to humor him, a classroom of children sway like trees when their teacher turns her back. Smiling to herself, Uhart reveals the infinite ways we show ourselves to one another. Clean copy.