3.5
When I Was Mortal
ByPublisher Description
Twelve short stories by "the most subtle and gifted writer in contemporary Spanish literature" (The Boston Globe)—and the award-winning, international bestselling author of The Infatuations.
Victims of mistaken identity, sponging relatives, amateur sleuths, eavesdroppers, professional liars, assassins, and failed bodyguards populate the short stories in When I Was Mortal. Plots turn on curious exigencies--a woman about to star in her first porn film; a night doctor who adds new meaning to "specialist"; a ghost whose neglect is greatly resented.
Victims of mistaken identity, sponging relatives, amateur sleuths, eavesdroppers, professional liars, assassins, and failed bodyguards populate the short stories in When I Was Mortal. Plots turn on curious exigencies--a woman about to star in her first porn film; a night doctor who adds new meaning to "specialist"; a ghost whose neglect is greatly resented.
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Meet readers like you in the Fable For You feed, designed to build bookish communitiesWhen I Was Mortal Reviews
3.5
“A collection of short stories with a poignant and relevant commentary of human nature.
Marías is an expert at scene setting and playing with the reader's curiosity - balancing what we see with intense anticipation and suspense. It's a wonderful glance into fragments of lives and a commentary on how we as humans pry into other's experiences, unable to truly see things as they happen through someone else's eyes. leading to speculation and truly showing what an unreliable narrator is. While the voice was strong and there was some incredible tension-building scene setting, some of the stories ultimately felt quite similar, I suppose as most of the works were commissions and so were done to meet certain criteria.
All in all, I believe I'd like to explore more of Marías' work, and think this is a great entry point to his particular tone. Moreover, I greatly enjoyed this quote and feel I'm going to be annoying about it for a while.
"I'm convinced that consciousness is the source of man's greatest suffering and there's no cure for it, no way to blunt it, the only end is death, though even that you can't be sure of."”
About Javier Marías
JAVIER MARÍAS was born in Madrid in 1951. He has published fifteen novels, including The Infatuations and A Heart So White, as well as three collections of short stories and several volumes of essays. His work has been translated into forty-four languages, has sold more than eight and a half million copies worldwide, and has won a dazzling array of international literary awards, including the prestigious International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award and the Prix Femina Étranger. He died in 2022.
Translated by Margaret Jull Costa
Translated by Margaret Jull Costa
Other books by Javier Marías
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