against age discrimination

My initial approach to this writer was to not approach him any further. I had just published El Tiempo Meanwhile, a 2010 Planeta Prize finalist, and when Mercedes saw that I was going to read it, she advised me to put it off for later. I, who always pay attention to people who love me well, did not read it. And yes, he was right, I realized years later. Last Tuesday, Carmen Amoraga gave a speech in Elda on the occasion of Library Day celebrations, describing the important function of the library and giving wonderful praises to reading, words that I would also sign, and almost in passing presented her latest novel.

The plot is simple: two old people in love. But what is behind it is not like that at all, because if we think about it, no life is simple. And that, I think, is a defining feature of his narrative: providing and showing the literariness of people with non-novelist lives.

The style of the novel is clear, concise and direct, easy to read; It details the lives of all the characters and their associated partners, especially José Manuel and Cari. To do this, the author uses an omniscient narrator who never fails (for me, while reading the book, Carmen Amoraga’s voice constantly sounded in her speech, it was a delight). It tells us the entire history of the heroes, piece by piece and scattered throughout the novel. This way the reader understands them perfectly with a very well developed progression, which means they will all have their own novel to write. Of course, it is a modern-day novel in which we witness the story of falling in love and how big a shock this fact has for both of them. The narrator also plays with the immediate future of the plot, as he develops predictions with great confidence in his narration: “Tina returns at night and cannot imagine what will happen to her.” (p. 247). So much so that this scaffolding provides the novel with a very good narrative efficiency.

In principle, based on what we are told, the story can be very emotional, even cheesy, which is actually how we show our feeling of being in love (“[…] “They fell in love on a sunny Saturday morning.” P. 171), but if necessary we will certainly deny it before God. Now the author reliably compensates for this by using unrestrained sexual vocabulary: “They really fucked” (p.230); 2the dust of our lives” (p.251); and also through the use of a popular dictionary, which further authenticates the characters.

In addition, many themes are shown that shape an entire universe of social narrative: the affirmation of democratic memory, friendship and its abuse, relations between mother and daughter, the nucleus of the family, the extent to which one can fall. love with more than one person, whether so-called revenge with death can be justified, how to understand and live relationships, how much we know how to make choices and whether we really deserve the life we ​​live deep down: “Tina He doesn’t deserve the chance she has either. If she doesn’t know how to love herself, she doesn’t deserve to be loved this much.” ” (p.201).

So why should you read this novel? Because this is a bold and revealing story that denounces prevailing social ageism, making visible the lives of activists who are no longer young; because it is a wonderful novel that you can enjoy the pleasure of reading, and if we bring some of the dedication that he devoted his novel to us, it is a book that we will share with our partner as we share life and heart (mindlessly).