This was a fun one, but also very tricky to rate. On one hand I have zero criticisms about this story, the prose, characters and themes are all succinctly executed; on the otherhand nothing really stood out to me much either. Which in all fairness; its a very short book so it's going to be hard to leave a lasting impression, I just wish there was a little more mmm- "special sauce".

I enjoyed the dichotomy between men who are completely logical in how they go about things vs men who are more memory/creatively driven.
The story of the chess player being driven to mania through obsession with one task was fun too.

Also: excellent translation by Andrea Bell. The prose was very clear and understandable, it didn't feel choppy at all and flowed smoothly.