NADA

by Carmen Laforet



I wanted to read Nada: A Novel (Modern Library Classics) because it received the rare 5-Star rating on Bookmarks Magazine's "Best of 2007" list. According to Publisher's Weekly, it is a 1945 Spanish cult classic available in English for the first time in the U.S. The story takes place in post-Civil War Barcelona and follows one year in the life of a young woman, Andrea, living with members of her wildly dysfunctional extended family while she attends school.

The mood is very dark throughout, and while this normally doesn't bother me at all, as I got deeper into the story I was telling myself, "I don't like this book." But I kept on reading. When I thought about what it was that was so distasteful to me, I found that it wasn't the book itself that I didn't like. My problem was that the depictions of the characters and their disturbing behavior were so intense that it was making me uncomfortable. I would get jumpy when it looked like Juan was going to fly into one of his violent rages, afraid he was going to beat me this time instead of his wife. I got creeped out every time Roman walked into the room. I wanted Aunt Angustia to quit talking to me. I wanted to take Grandma and run away. I didn't want to know any more of their awful secrets, but there I stayed until the bitter, tragic end.

What is so interesting to me is how consistently this book made me strongly feel things while I was reading. I admire it for the ability it had to make me so uneasy. I felt like it was me living in hunger in that squalid apartment with those crazy people. If you're looking for a light, happy read, this is not it. But if you want to take a peak through the keyhole into that seedy apartment down the hall, you'll hit the jackpot here!

Lezlie