First published in 2014, Facsimile accumulated accolades, editions, and translations at unexpected speed, demonstrating that its unique blend of sharpness and tenderness resonates on various scales, becoming one of Alejandro Zambra's seminal titles. "Funny, melancholic, surprising ... It may change how you think about fiction" (The Guardian). "Brilliant, funny ... Sharp and original" (The Daily Telegraph). "Seductive ... Bitingly funny and extremely impressive" (The Daily Mail). "Full of wit, spark, pathos and insight ... It goes beyond all expectations in terms of originality" (Big Issue). "A fun reading, sometimes even hilarious, other times devastating ... A reminder that, for now, some things can only be done by literature" (Nadal Suau, El Cultural). .................................................. ................................... This daring, bitter and fun book is based on an unsympathetic model, perhaps the most unsympathetic of all: a multiple-choice exam to access a university education, specifically the one that thousands of young people, over the decades, had to face to apply to Chilean universities. "They did not educate you, they trained you," says a character in this fierce book, made up of stories, lyrical fragments and language exercises, but also of texts that we darkly recognize as too close (brochures, advertising, pamphlets). Facsimile addresses the failure of an educational system that has perpetuated inequalities and precarious experience. It is a book against the illusion of a single answer, against the ease that eliminates nuances and neutralizes thought.
