Els llits dels altres

From Abuse to Disorder to Survival
Review of the Fum d'Estampa Press paperback edition (December 16, 2022) translated by Mara Faye Lethem from the Catalan language original Els llits dels altres (October 8, 2018)

Everything can be hidden, but there are stories that are like big eagles pecking at your liver. You shoo them away and cover up the wound as best as you can. You learn to walk bent over, pecked full of holes and making do with one arm, as if that were the only way forward. Until the day you want to live and you need both hands.

This was novella with a concentrated impact due to its 100 page length, which will likely be read in a single sitting. Although the journey is harrowing at parts, it also has its moments of dark humour show more which somewhat lighten the load. A woman named Claustre returns from a visit to her bitter and aged mother and stops at a roadhouse on the way back to Barcelona where she encounters a waitress who is an old acquaintance. Both women had suffered abuse from relatives in their youth and they reminisce and commiserate with each other.

The bulk of the book is Claustre telling her life story in flashbacks, about her escape from abuse via a sheltering and sometime promiscuity in the 'other beds' of the title. This leads to an eating disorder in later life with tales of purging and some absurd misadventures with laxatives. Regardless of all related trauma, the story was ultimately one of survival.

See photograph at https://www.lamira.cat/imgWP/1024/682/52/force
Author Anna Punsoda. Image sourced from La Mira.

This is the first novel and the first complete English translation of Anna Punsoda, who has herself published translations from German to Catalan (e.g. Rilke, Kafka, etc.). Punsoda was previously translated in English as the writer of the "Lust" section from The Seven Deadly Sins (Fum d'Estampa Press, 2022). The translation by Mara Faye Lethem was excellent and conveyed powerful images and emotions.

I read Other People's Beds through a subscription to Fum d'Estampa Press. The press was "founded in 2020 by translator Douglas Suttle to bring exciting, different Catalan language literature to an English speaking audience. Though small, the press quickly established itself as an ambitious publisher of high quality titles. Since then, we have been long- and short-listed for some of the most important literary prizes in the UK and abroad, and have recently started to publish fantastic literature in translation from languages other than Catalan."

Other Reviews
NOTE: This is an excellent review, but it does reveal almost the entire plot and structure of the book with numerous chapter details. Other People's Beds reviewed by Jenny Wu at Full-Stop, December 12, 2022.

Trivia and Links
Read an interview with author Anna Punsoda at Fum d'Estampa Press here. show less

Primera novel.la de l'autora, ens descriu la vida d'una noia i les dificultats que se li presenten des de la seva infantesa a la juventut. Descripció crua dels seus primers anys com a filla d'un matrimoni malavingut: mare màrtir casada amb un home alcohòlic. Les relacions amb la família més àmplia, l'inici sexual per part del seu oncle, que abusa d'un infant de 7 anys. L'anorèxia com a sortida a tanta infelicitat. La dificultat per establir relacions amoroses i de parella. La seva lectura et sotragueja i t'inquieta.

Primera novel.la de l'autora, ens descriu la vida d'una noia i les dificultats que se li presenten des de la seva infantesa a la juventut. Descripció crua dels seus primers anys com a filla d'un matrimoni malavingut: mare màrtir casada amb un home alcohòlic. Les relacions amb la família més àmplia, l'inici sexual per part del seu oncle, que abusa d'un infant de 7 anys. L'anorèxia com a sortida a tanta infelicitat. La dificultat per establir relacions amoroses i de parella. La seva lectura et sotragueja i t'inquieta.

Angoixant, només per a lectors de pedra picada. És una història molt dura i narrada amb cruesa. Algú ha dit que és la versió hardcore de Permagel. Jo he hagut de llegir quatre contes de Pere Calders per treure'm l'angoixa de sobre.

Un relat amb angoixant d'el desenvolupament d'una nena que va ser violada en la seva infantesa.