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A review by soavezefiretto
Lo raro es vivir by Carmen Martín Gaite
3.0
Picked this up mistakenly thinking it was the book I was reading in 1996 and which I wrote about the journal of that year that I'm re-reading. But then I noticed it actually has an inscription by the author dated 1998, so the one I was writing about in 1996 was most probably Nubosidad Variable, which I don't have at home. Pity.
(I remember buying this and another book by the author at the Madrid Book Fair, standing in line with my friend Laura for the author to sign it. I bought "Negra espalda del tiempo" by Javier Marías that same day, who told me that he actually didn't like Thomas Mann, but then relented and conceded that Doktor Faustus was good.)
I liked this one fine, but not that much. I usually don't like flighty protagonists that are all "oh, I know I'm problematic and all, but that's just the way I am" - I mean, if you know you're hurting people, can't you at least try to change? The one I want to know more about is actually the protagonist in the last scene, which takes place about 2 years after the novel. The one who writes her dissertation in the kitchen nook designed by her husband. In the end, that's why I read novels: I just want to see how people live, and I want to know why they do stuff. Too much plot and crazy stuff happening just distracts from that.
It's definitely not among the best Spanish novels of its generation, and not the best of her author either, I think, but if you *do* like flighty protagonists, and want to get a whiff of a certain atmosphere in Madrid in the nineties, you might want to give it a try. It's certainly charming enough.
(I remember buying this and another book by the author at the Madrid Book Fair, standing in line with my friend Laura for the author to sign it. I bought "Negra espalda del tiempo" by Javier Marías that same day, who told me that he actually didn't like Thomas Mann, but then relented and conceded that Doktor Faustus was good.)
I liked this one fine, but not that much. I usually don't like flighty protagonists that are all "oh, I know I'm problematic and all, but that's just the way I am" - I mean, if you know you're hurting people, can't you at least try to change? The one I want to know more about is actually the protagonist in the last scene, which takes place about 2 years after the novel. The one who writes her dissertation in the kitchen nook designed by her husband. In the end, that's why I read novels: I just want to see how people live, and I want to know why they do stuff. Too much plot and crazy stuff happening just distracts from that.
It's definitely not among the best Spanish novels of its generation, and not the best of her author either, I think, but if you *do* like flighty protagonists, and want to get a whiff of a certain atmosphere in Madrid in the nineties, you might want to give it a try. It's certainly charming enough.