The Shipyard

Juan Carlos Onetti · 1909–1994 · Uruguay

Originally El astillero (Spanish)

Why it matters

Larsen returns to the coastal town of Santa María to manage a bankrupt, rusting shipyard as though it still did business, courting its owner's addled daughter in an elaborate shared delusion. Onetti's bleakest study of dignity sustained by pure self-deception.

At a glance

A static, claustrophobic plot and a narrator who withholds as much as he reveals demand patience.