Book Notes: Almudena Grandes’ Los besos en el pan

My book is pretty much done but I still feel obligated to read all novels of the crisis I come across, especially when they are written by writers as famous as Almudena Grandes.

Grandes interrupted her work on a series of novels about the Spanish Civil War to write this crisis novel, and, oh, how much I wish she hadn’t.

Because this novel sucks.

And then it sucks some more.

Grandes adopts this aggravating posture towards people who suffer as a result of the crisis that drives me nuts. Her central idea is, “Ah, enough with whining over the crisis. It’s not that bad. Think of people who survived the Civil War. They had real problems!”

Grandes did not live during the war. She is a very well-off person who has no business lecturing people on being more resilient. She comes off as a dick when she dismisses the suffering caused by the crisis.

Grandes’s husband also wrote a crisis novel a couple of years ago, but his novel mostly avoids this condescending didacticism.

In short, it’s a very crappy novel, and I suffered through every page. The novel ends with every character getting over themselves and valiantly confronting the crisis. Except for the Muslim character who – I kid you not – goes to Syria to join ISIS. And that’s the last sentence of the novel, the Muslim fellow joins ISIS. Oh, and the novel’s Chinese characters, what do they do? Right you are, they procreate.

Bleh.