Carmelo di Gioli read and liked Jimmy's review of The Invention of Morel (New York Review Books Classics):

"At first this book was good but a little predictable. It felt like Last Year at Marienbad. Then it started to feel a little like Celine and Julie Go Boating. These are both great films that I love, so I didn't mind. But the book definitely differ...more At first this book was good but a little predictable. It felt like Last Year at Marienbad. Then it started to feel a little like Celine and Julie Go Boating. These are both great films that I love, so I didn't mind. But the book definitely differs from these in interesting ways, and I really loved the last 30 pages or so. I haven't read Borge's introduction to it yet, but he is so predictable for loving it: it's got most of the signature things in a Borges story: mirrors, reproduction, the fact that the text you are reading is some kind of imperfect artifact (the footnotes were a nice touch, and sometimes quite humorous esp. the one about Malthus on p.83 (also makes you wonder about the "editor"))... though there is no library filled with books, and the prose isn't as dense.

My only complaint is that the narrator's paranoia in the beginning, and his slow-ness to catch on to what is happening even after the reader kinda figures it out is kind of disappointing. I found myself thinking "come on man, don't you get it already?" Sometimes I also found his "voice" to be tiring, too obvious a fabricated fictional voice. Also, near the end, he explains everything (except for one thing, which the editor points out in a footnote), down to the reason for the two suns. I felt this whole section was unnecessary; if left out, the book would've been more pleasurable on a repeat read (or multiple repeat reads, for eternity, get it? haha)

But these minor quibbles shouldn't detract from the overall quality of the book, and the kind of depth it is able to reach in under 100 pages is impressive (although it could be even shorter if the annoying things I noted earlier were to be eliminated). You can read it in a day (and should).

PS - I just thought of this... and I wonder if this works in the original language, but: I love that the title of this book has double meanings. If the title were "Morel's Invention," it would not be as interesting. But as "The Invention of Morel", it makes you wonder if the title refers to Morel's invention or if it refers to the fact that Morel is himself an invention. (as in "The Invention of the Telephone")(less) "