If an incel groyper woman-hater decided to write a novel on how feminist theory turns women into crapbuckets of entitlement he couldn’t have provided a more humiliating portrayal of modern womanhood than a young feminist writer from Spain Lucía Solla Sobral. Her novel Comerás flores is a big bestseller among crowds of young female readers who praise the book for its “stunning and brave” depiction of how all men deserve to be #MeTooted into infinity.
Marina, the main character of the novel, is a 25-year-old woman who shares the greatest hope of most female characters in Spanish literature since the death of Franco which is to attach herself to a man who will treat her forever like a cute, endearing toddler. Marina wants a boyfriend who will provide her with designer clothes, a chic apartment, expensive vacations, fancy restaurant outings and who will respect her as an independent career woman even though she is utterly helpless and makes no money.
Young men who can offer a luxury lifestyle are thin on the ground in Spain, and Marina attaches herself to Jaime, a successful businessman and a single father of an adult daughter. At first, Jaime seems moderately enthusiastic about babying Marina but eventually she realizes that he’s abusing her. For example, he asks her to share the gigantic closet in his luxurious apartment with his adult daughter. That’s abuse, isn’t it? Jaime doesn’t remember Marina’s food fads and is not mega happy about her getting sloppy drunk with friends at 4 am and whoring around with other guys. He buys her an expensive bag from the designer she doesn’t like instead of guessing which designer she does like. Such an abusive prick! After 3 years together during which Jaime pays for everything and somehow manages to be supportive of Marina’s pretense at being a career woman, he expects marriage and family. This is the form of abuse that really tips over the scale.
Marina is shocked that years of reading Judith Butler and doing “feminist activism” didn’t prepare her to recognize such egregiously chauvinistic behavior. She finds courage to reclaim her independence while #MeTooting poor Jaime. As I’ve been saying since back in my doctoral dissertation, the main goal of women’s liberation for female characters in contemporary Spanish fiction is to be liberated from the need to grow up. Lucía Solla Sobral and her readers have once again proven me right.
Clarissa's Blog 
Good Lord, you have a stronger stomach than me, madam. I could never read a whole novel with a protagonist I hated, that woman in the novel makes me want to smack her stupid. That kind of dependency on a man nauseates me and would anger my mother, she’s had some sort of job since she was a teenager and taught me not to rely on men for money.
I really don’t understand what happened to Spanish women to make them so goddamn woke, did they really think their ancestors were slaves under Franco? I have a weird perspective since I am a homely, lifelong celibate with no interest in sex, marriage, men or women and a converted Catholic from paganism, plus I come from a Cuban immigrant background whose parents are lifelong Republicans. Abortion doesn’t concern me since I don’t date or have sex or an interest in sex, neither does dating or marriage. I suppose they internalized the message that being a wife and mother is oppressive and that all right wing stuff is evil, I don’t consider either to be bad but not my thing. I am disappointed in my co-ethnics, but I am an American and they can vete carajo if that’s what they want
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It’s my professional obligation to put myself through this so that others don’t have to. 😆😆😆
But this novel was so ridiculous that I kind of enjoyed it. Women like Marina exist in a hell of their own making, and it does feel good to observe them squirm.
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OT (slightly): Have you seen the Spanish series “La Suerte. Una serie de casualidades”?
I liked it a lot (despite a kind of downer ending). One of the main foci (maybe not intentional? I’ve seen different ideas about it) is how men relate in groups and the bonds that can develop between men even from very different backgrounds.
One thing I like also (maybe kind of spoiler) is how gradually they introduce el Maestro. You spend the first half of the first episode thinking the series will be about two guys but then one slips more into the background.
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