Dinner

Celebrated Argentine author Aira (Conversations) typically writes short, genre-defying books (he's penned at least 80 of them) that include criticism of the British limerick and nonsense writer Edward Lear. In this work, originally published in 2006, the narrator is 60, unemployed, and bankrupt, living with his mother. The two spend an evening with a wealthy contractor in the hope that this self-made man might offer a business loan. When the conversation turns to gossip about local people and their relationships, the narrator finds that his memories, while real to him, are missing people's names, an omission that others might call "pits" or "holes" in memory. Later, when mother and son rehash the evening at home, they find they even disagree on the details of what has transpired, while the TV news reports that the dead are emerging from their graves in search of endorphins and sucking the brains from the living.