Hopscotch (novel)
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Hopscotch (original title Rayuela) is the most famous novel by Argentine writer Julio Cortázar.
This experimental novel from 1963, written in an episodic, snapshot manner, has 155 chapters, the last 99 being marked as "expendable". The book can either be read from chapter 1 to 56, or hopping from chapter to chapter in the order suggested by the author: some chapters fill in gaps in the main story, while others add information about the characters or impressions from Cortázar (pictured as Morelli, a character that makes a brief appearance in the narrative) about aesthetics and the meaning of literature.
The book tells episodes from the life of Horacio Oliveira, an Argentine intellectual. In the first half of the story, he lives in Paris with Maga (her actual name is Lucia). Later on, he returns to Buenos Aires after some unfortunate events. Once there, he meets an old time friend, Manuel Traveler, and his wife, Talita.