Buena novela ambientada en el final de la época de la especulación salvaje en España,de principios de los años 2000. Cruda, como no podia ser deotra manera. ( )

This book is a little too perfect for me, and I really doubt my objectivity. Grumpy old man narrator? Yes. Syntactical complexity? Yes. Translated by the simply amazing Margaret Jull Costa? Yes. Criticism of greed, capitalism, and exploitation? Yes. Recognition that most social injustice has deep, historical roots? Of course.

Chirbes is as dark as Bernhard, but takes it all far more seriously. There is no way you could read this, as you can read Thomas B, as a joke, as just a wild exaggeration that might point to something important, or might not. This book is really serious. The prose is wonderful, and had an interesting effect on me; I don't think any book I've ever read has made me *feel* as this book made me feel (an emotion or mood that I can't actually name; perhaps it's just "the Chirbean"?). And it made me think, too, in deeply unpleasant, uncomfortable ways. But mostly it leaves me speechless with admiration.

Unless this book is a real outlier, it's an outrage that none of Chirbes' other work is available in English. ( )