Advice on reading Hopscotch?

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I'm planning now to try to read Cortazar's Hopscotch. I tried it once before, two years ago, and after about fifty pages (of reading the out-of-order version) I found myself utterly lost, and so very bored. It felt as compelling as reading an untranslated book written in a language I don't speak. Are there any veterans out there with advice? Should I read it beginning to end or jumping around? Are there any companion books/websites to check out?

― David Elinsky (David Elinsky), Friday, 28 May 2004 19:55 (twenty-one years ago)

very smart people
that I know hate this a lot
I myself love it

read sequentially,
it is just a novel so
you won't get confused

the extra chapters
are just comments and sidetracks
maybe skip that shit

― Begs2Differ (Begs2Differ), Saturday, 29 May 2004 02:31 (twenty-one years ago)

why do you love it?

― slow learner (slow learner), Monday, 31 May 2004 01:04 (twenty-one years ago)

the reason I ask is because I too have tried several times to read it but alas no success yet. maybe you have a vision that would help others to crack this book.

also, if you ignore the "extra" chapters, then they kind of sit there unread, and then...? you have prose poems? deleted scenes?

― slow learner (slow learner), Tuesday, 1 June 2004 13:02 (twenty-one years ago)

three years pass...

Picked this up off my to be read shelf over the weekend and saw the instructions on how to read it and immediately gave up :(

― Jeff LeVine, Monday, 24 March 2008 16:16 (seventeen years ago)

fifteen years pass...

I am about to start this, which route should I take?

― il lavoro mi rovina la giornata (PBKR), Wednesday, 10 January 2024 17:40 (one year ago)

The express highway

― The Glittering Worldbuilders (James Redd and the Blecchs), Wednesday, 10 January 2024 19:50 (one year ago)

Drop it on your toe and scream and run

― Nabozo, Wednesday, 10 January 2024 20:23 (one year ago)

El camino real.

― The Glittering Worldbuilders (James Redd and the Blecchs), Wednesday, 10 January 2024 20:30 (one year ago)

The extra stuff is basically extra so you can just read it in linear order and read the other stuff whenever you like if you enjoy the main order.

― The Glittering Worldbuilders (James Redd and the Blecchs), Wednesday, 10 January 2024 20:31 (one year ago)

Not that I myself have ever finished it, neither in English nor in Spanish. I also kind of feel Gregory Rabassa is overrated as a translator, but he was in the right place at the right time.

― The Glittering Worldbuilders (James Redd and the Blecchs), Wednesday, 10 January 2024 20:32 (one year ago)

Heh. I Saw Gregory Rabassa On The Subway Today

― The Glittering Worldbuilders (James Redd and the Blecchs), Wednesday, 10 January 2024 20:34 (one year ago)

La autopista del sur

― The Glittering Worldbuilders (James Redd and the Blecchs), Wednesday, 10 January 2024 20:59 (one year ago)

I'm going to read the entire thing, including all "bonus" parts, so if I am planning to do that, hopscotch is probably the way to go.

― il lavoro mi rovina la giornata (PBKR), Thursday, 11 January 2024 00:20 (one year ago)

Suit yourself

― The Glittering Worldbuilders (James Redd and the Blecchs), Thursday, 11 January 2024 03:42 (one year ago)

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