Group Read, August 2024: Obabakoak

Our August group read is Obabakoak by Bernardo Atxaga. Please join us for this read, and post any comments on this thread.

I’m about a quarter of the way into the book now. I was surprised to see this isn’t a novel as such but a series of short stories connected to the Basque town of Obaba. So far the stories have sucked me in, but the endings have been indifferent. I’m also intrigued that the author wrote in the Basque language presumably out of love of/loyalty to the region yet most of the characters in the stories seem to be yearning to get away from there.

I'm a bit over half way through. The stories at the beginning each have a different feel to them, and then there is this long middle section about a little, half-deserted little town called Villamediana which I didn't like all that much. It's about an outsider who comes to live in this unlikely place, and it reminded me of Christ Stopped at Eboli which was somehow more humane. The final group of stories I am enjoying more.

>3 annamorphic: I agree that the second group of stories are more interesting, and the overarching connections make it more of a novel with some satisfying twists and turns.