Aaron Shulman

This isn’t the fault of the book, strictly, but wow—what an unpleasant group of people to spend time with. There wasn’t a single member of this family that I felt any empathy or attachment with. Felicidad was probably the closest, and in any other book she would have been my least favorite character.

The author clearly seems taken with the family and their saga, so I’m not accusing him of painting an ugly portrait. (I’m contrasting Shulman with, say, Robert Caro, where you come away show more hating the subjects of his biographies because he hates them so much). But I did not enjoy reading this. In addition to the characters themselves, the writing was inconsistent. For much of the first section, I wondered who exactly it was written for. It seemed to be: people who are obsessed with this “literary family,” and know virtually nothing about them. I wouldn’t think there would be a lot of overlap there.

Just as I was about to give up, the writing improved. The narrative is stronger through the middle section of the book, leading up to and during the filming of The Disenchantment. The final section coasts on this push, so that I was able to finish. In the end, I did come away with a bit more understanding of what Spain went through during WWII & Franco’s reign. And I suppose I learned a lot about this family, though I literally couldn’t care less. show less

A fascinating history of Spain in the 20th century (and touching on the beginning of the 21st) as seen through the the life of one very interesting and very literary family. I admit I didn't know very much about modern Spanish history or the Spanish Civil War going in, other than the bare bones, and what I had read was very filtered through a specific American or British lens: ie. usually through the lens of Hemingway or his ilk and the Spanish Civil War as a "prelude"/build up to War World show more II rather than a conflict in its own right.

This book is still written by an American, obviously, but it does have some quotes from Spanish poets and soldiers, as well as history. It focuses on Leopoldo Panero, who starts out as a republican during the Civil War and then switches sides and becomes kind of a state poet for the Franco administration, his wife, Felicidad, and their three three sons, Juan Luis, Leopold Maria, and Michi, who are all authors in their own rights. After Leopoldo Sr.'s death the family participates in a Grey Gardens style documentary and that lends the theme of the nature of memory and how we construct our own narrative history to the book.

It made me want to read more about the Spanish Civil War, the Paneros, and also to read more Spanish literature. If anybody has anybody recommendations, show less