Author: Almudena Grandes
Editorial: Tusquets
Year Published: 2010
Pages: 715
ISBN: 9788483832530
I just finished reading Agnes and the joy less than half an hour. Since the publication in September last year had a huge desire to read, although so far the only thing I had read was Almudena Grandes Ages of Lulu . Several months ago I reserved the book at the library and finally, after a long wait, got my hands on.
I took with great desire and from the first pages I was seduced by the story. However, in the end I had to hit the last two days to binge to finish it before returning to the library. The reason? closed rooms, Care Santos. But that's another story.
For now the only history that matters is that of Agnes. The first thing I thought at the end of the book is that it could have had a better title. I loved the character of Agnes, their history, their evolution and transformation. But mostly I liked her enthusiasm, her passion, her strength, her courage, her integrity, her tenacity. His joy.
Her desire to live, to move forward, to survive, to overcome all obstacles, to overcome all the hits, all adversities. His ability to forget the past, not looking back but not forward. Their strength to enjoy the present, today, knowing that that's all that matters, because the past no longer matters and it is better not to think about and do not look into the eyes of the future.
That joy that kept her family Falangist floor Montesquinza street from the jail familiar but no less frustrating, oppressive and suffocating. In Madrid, his city, his life, his past. That same joy that helped him survive in prison Sales and the Pont de Suert, where the jailer was his own brother and where he had to flee not only him but also of the sick, cruel and abusive obsession of another Falange.
That joy that brought him to Bosost, in the Val d'Aran, and Toulouse, France. But above all, the joy that brought him to Galan, his only love, the love of his life. A love worth living, even if in hiding in the injustice, fear, war. Because you know that there are no underground life, no better, nor worse.
That joy that would not let him sink, despair, surrender. Not even mourn. Because Agnes is not the kind of person. She does not like pity. He likes to fight, no matter what happens, until the end. But above all, likes to cook. It is this passion for cooking that will advance, grow, change, mature and above all, live.
both fascinated me, seduced and admired the happiness of Agnes that the 715 pages of the book I have known a little. I would like to continue hearing the story of Agnes, Galán, their children and grandchildren but also to understand, Lefty, the Wolf, Botafumeiro, the Sacristan, the Cabrero, the Bocas, Montse, Angelita Amparo, Lola. Of all during the Civil War, Franco's dictatorship and even then, for democracy, when they no longer had to hide, to flee, when no one pursued them, they returned to be free, when they returned to their land, your home, your country, when the underground was a bad dream, a nightmare that never could or would want to forget they still believed in the Communist Party because that party, regardless of their leaders, politicians, the objectives of the conference and the meeting was his family.
A family that had enabled them to experience the worst years of his life, the hardest, most uphill, but also the best, the sweetest, happiest. Over thirty years of unique, unforgettable, unique. For better and for worse.
Although I have to confess that my historical chapters have been much more boring in the end I liked how life intersect, stories, past, present and into the future of all the characters .
I can only put a downside to this novel. In the first pages talks about the French city of Toulouse and the English town of Tolosa, but refers to the latter as a city of Navarra, where Toulouse is Navarre, but Guipúzcoa. However, this little stick I almost forgot the end of the book when talking about Jesus Monzon Repáraz Pamplona and his girlfriend, also from Pamplona, \u200b\u200bis mentioned not only in Pamplona, \u200b\u200bbut the Rochapea neighborhood, the neighborhood I lived between 2005 and 2010. One thing compensates the other.
is difficult to review a book of 715 pages with many characters and so many scenarios. Madrid, Pont de Suert, Bosost, Viella, Toulouse. Some scenarios in which many things are important and momentous: the English National Union, the operation Reconquista of Spain, the Pyrenees Radio. The story of love and indifference of Carmen de Pedro and Jesus Monzon Repáraz the Ibarruri Dolores and Francisco Antonio. But if there is something important and significant in this story is Agnes, his joy and sweetness, as intense as the five kilos of bagels.
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