Ways of Going Home

Alejandro Zambra's short novel, Ways of Going Home, is unlike anything I have read.  It will take the reader a bit of time to get used to the writing style of this debut, but it is very much worth the effort. 

We begin with an earthquake in Chile and an unnamed nine year old boy meeting, Claudia, a twelve year old girl during the aftermath. They strike up a friendship and she asks for a favor from the boy.  He's not quite sure what to make of the bizarre request 

The second portion is about the "writer" of that tale and how he is trying to fix things with his ex-wife, partly through the story he's writing.  He tries to find ways of writing his tale of an unnamed protagonist and Claudia, but isn't sure how much of his own life to include in the story.

The best way I can describe this work is that it uses the movie within a movie style (Adaptation, anyone?), but instead we have a book within a book.  The reader switches from character to author and past to present several times throughout this novel.  The payoff is well worth it.