Each has a numeric indicator of the subsequent chapter following its terminal sentence. In this way, we do not know which chapter to expect next until it is time to actually read it. It would appear, then, that the second reading is favoured. This is the path which creates a hypertext of Hopscotch , and which gives the book a structure worthy of its name. Starting somewhere in the middle of the text, the reading path returns immediately to chapter one, then to two, then jumps dramatically to 116, before returning to safe haven at three.
Nothing is gained by such a stratagem here.
This seems a sop to simple-minded readers without bookmarks, or perhaps indicates a lack of nerve on the part of the author himself. However, it eminently suits the subject matter of the novel. The protagonist, Horacio Oliveira, is a self-styled writer in the bohemian Paris of the 1950s, stumbling from party to party, wrapped in a cocoon of clever talk and alcohol. He loses a lover, La Maga, and, appreciating her more now that she is absent, returns to his native Buenos Aires to continue his picaresque adventures. The emotionally charged, jazz-infused language whirls about the narrative centre of each chapter in a manner which is only enhanced by the pendulum swing of the chapters themselves.