Normal People - Sally Rooney

A horrible book about a sick relationship between two toxic people, a relationship that never feels real, between two characters that are as cardboard-ish as they come, with zero arc and non-relatable at all, "Normal People" is a failure on all levels, a novel that is boring as they come and that could be summarized in: we like each other but we will make each other and people around us miserable; wash, rise and repeat.

Connell and Marianne are both studying at the same high school, but while Connell, even if from a poor family, is a good student and also good at soccer, Marianne comes from a rich family (for whom Connell's mother works as a cleaning person), nerdy and anti-social (and bullied). The book centers on these two despicable (because they are) characters and drags us for almost three hundred (million) pages through their lame, superficial, boring and stereotypical lives, till... Well, I will not spoil the ending.

Poorly written, with an unclear and unfocused writing style, and zero ideas on where to take the story, Rooney fails on all levels in making the story interesting at all, or of giving us an insight to the lives of these broken people. Instead of understanding them, we will end up hating them, and finding their behavior just plain boring.

Not worth your time.

The best: a couple of surprisingly well written paragraphs (maybe because all the rest is so rubbishy)

The worst: boring, horribly repetitive, despicable and toxic characters

Alternatives: Jonathan Coe, Shiwon Miura, Margaret Atwood, Jaume Cabré... if you want a touching and well written look on humans there are many good options, way better than this book

2/10

(English)

Metropolis - Philip Kerr

Bernie Gunther is a young detective who gets the opportunity to join the homicide's department in this prequel to the series that ended up being the swan song by Philip Kerr. Gunther gets the order to help investigate into the killings of prostitutes by a figure known as 'Winnetou' by Berliners, in reference to the character from Karl May's novels. And the investigation will take Gunther to the darker side of the Berlin of the era.

This is the first book by Kerr I have ever read. And I have to say I am pleasantly surprised: nice and streamlined written style, with little touches and flourishes that give life to the text; well developed characters (even if of the card-board variety); and an amazing depiction of the life and atmosphere of an era (or at least as how we could imagine that era to be). The plot, the mystery, is also well told and developed, even if it is a little bit (a lot) obvious. The only big downside is the constant messages around strong-men-that-drink-and-get-all-the-women type. It gets a little bit too much, our hero your prototypical and boring charming rogue.

The best: the characters have personality; the atmosphere and the environment are top-notch

The worst: the killer is an obvious choice; those 'bad&violent-men-but-also-soft-inside' archetypes that perpetuate silly (and dubious) ideas around masculinity

Alternatives: older like "Man In The Queue"; Japanese like Edogawa or Kirino; Val McDermid or Camilla Läckberg

6/10

(English)

One of Us is Lying - Karen M. McManus

A highly entertaining but shallow book, "One of Us is Lying" is not the worst you can do on a free afternoon, but it won't really surprise or shock you particularly.

It all goes around Simon, Simon being the 'official gossiper' in his particular high school, the teenager who gets to know all the secrets to then post them on the internet, to the chagrin, anger or enjoyment of his schoolmates.

Simon dying from an allergic reaction pretty soon in the book. To then becoming the four students that were with him in detention suspects in his death. While reading it, it reminded me, of course, of all those shows like "Pretty Little Liars", where teenagers with extraordinary romantic/sex lives get entangled in surprising mysteries and deaths.

We get prototypes here: the jock, the geek, the pretty and shallow one, the bad guy... Who McManus does a great job in developing, creating nuanced and full of life characters, people you will feel close to and care about, and worry that one of them may or may not be Simon's killer.

However, all this great character creation and development, and stale but enjoyable depiction of high school life, gets bogged down by a pretty poor mystery, and a resolution that seems fairly obvious once you are one third into the book.

The best: the characters are well fleshed out and you will care about them and their world and evolution

The worst: you can see where all of it is going pretty soon; some of the connections to real life events may not sit well with some readers (in particular if you are sensitive/close to those events)

Further reading: there is so much mystery to read out there... so, "Gone Girl" or if you are more into YA... not a mystery one, but "The Hunger Games" or "Cinder" are highly entertaining

6/10

(English) 

Purgatori - David Marín

A little town where a witch has come back. A priest that has been killed in a roundabout frequented by prostitutes, with his trousers down and cocaine in his car. How are those two events related? Secrets and more secrets. A bunch of policemen will try to find the truth.

"Purgatori" is, theoritically, a noir or mystery novel with a touch of the fantastical. I say theoritically because Marín fails miserable at this. The mystery is your run-of-the-mill character with a lame secret; the suspects are poorly drawn and developed; the 'witch-y' affair is lazy and an excuse for a couple of sex scenes; and those sex scenes are totally unnecessary and feel like the writer's wish fulfillment when it comes to women.

Only some atmosphere and depiction of the life and language of Balaguer and surroundings help the book save some face. Better options abount.

The best: the setting and local touch

The worst: there is no sense of mystery, threat or danger; the unnecessary sex scenes with 'scintillating' female characters

Further reading: look no further than "Man In The Queue" or "The Killings At Badger's Drift". In Catalan language, Carbó's books have more mystery and atmosphere than this one

4/10

(Original Catalan)

Teoria King Kong - Virginie Despentes

This is one of those books that, even if I don't agree with everything it says (it takes a couple of cheap shots, kind of out of the blue, like when she attacks short, ugly men; some statements seem way too much written into stone), is a very interesting and necessary read, that won't bore you and will make you thing about some very important topics in any society, like prostitution, gender and power relations and the role of capitalism and money in gender (and human) relations. Despentes just goes on a rant for around 150 pages (in this translation) but she never becomes too repetitive and makes the reader want to read more about the topic and become more active in their daily life when it comes to these themes.

The best: it is a really worth your time and read around women, gender, men, violence...

The worst: it is ranty, so if you don't like that style...; a couple of cheap shots

Further reading: A lot, like "A Room of One's Own / Three Guineas" (Virginia Woolf), "Nightwork" (Anne Allison) or "Sex Among Allies: Military Prostitution in U.S.-Korea Relations" (Katharine H.S. Moon)

8/10

(Catalan translation by Marina Espasa)

The Testaments - Margaret Atwood

The best thing that can be said about this book is that it is written by Atwood, so it is well written and it has some interesting ideas.

The worst it can be said is that it is totally unnecessary, pointless, and it feels like a money grabbing affair. Even worse, it can be seen as diminishing the world in which "The Handmaid's Tale" happened, making this dystopian world a less interesting and ambigous affair.

Because "The Testaments" feels like an afterthought, a book written by Atwood just because "The Handmaid's Tale" became so popular after its adaptation in a TV show. It is easy to read, yes, and the characters, even if cartoonish, don't overcome their welcome. But the story is simple and not particularly interesting and, as said, it diminishes the ambiguity that so well worked in the first book of this now series. And the ending is kind of weak.

The best: it is Atwood, even if a minor one

The worst: it feels totally unnecessary and it takes some of the atmosphere and 'charm' that was in "The Handmaid's Tale"

Alternatives: Just read the first one

6.5/10

(English)

Narrenturm - Andrzej Sapkowski

This book could be great if it wasn't for the fact that almost two thirds of it are about Sapkowski and his characters leering over women. Because the other third is really entertaining and fun, the adventures of Reynevan, who has to run away after being found with a married woman and whose life gets entangled with religion, dark magic, wars and politics. After finding himself on the run early on in the book, Reynevan gets to meet with all kinds of different and interesting characters, and is in the middle of betrayals, secrets, the Inquisition... And all with your traditional dark, gritty, dirty, messy Sapkowski style to tell a story and to give voice to the characters. Too bad then that he is so obsessed with bodies and looks, in particular women's, and dedicates long passages to their description, taking the reader from the story and making it a little creepy affair. It was something that was already on "The Witcher"'s series, but here it feels tenfold. Entertaining, yeah. Tiring, too. The best: religion & adventures! The worst: Sapkowski and women 4/10 (Castilian translation by José María Faraldo)