On the limits of the lie in the age of post-truth treats Fine Rain (Tusquets). Should we lie, do we need to do it, we all lie sometime, we lie only to please? Luis Landero displays a good sample about the nuances of the deceit throughout this novel. "It is foolhardy to say everything that is thought," the writer told La Esfera in an interview when the book was published.

«Now you know with certainty that the stories are not innocent , not entirely innocent. Perhaps neither are daily conversations, carelessness and verbal misunderstandings or speaking by speaking. Perhaps not even what is spoken in dreams is entirely innocent. They are the first words of Fine Rain, where it slides and what is intended to be treated. Suggesting more than counting, half words, comment with ellipses.

To tangle the skein further: life is not what one lived but what he remembers, said Valle-Inclán; both to be told or to write it, as García Márquez argued. «Lying is necessary to live, to live together. Even in love, ”says Luis Landero (Albuquerque, Badajoz, 1948). More dangerous and complicated is still telling the family. Even more when it comes to a meeting. This is the scenario of Fine Rain . On the occasion of the mother's 80th birthday, Gabriel, one of the three children, calls his two sisters to celebrate him. What the mother did or did not do (a woman of character, of those with tight bun, saving and fear of the smile because it brings misfortune) is key. Like the daughter-in-law Aurora, a woman who, due to her apparent bonhomy, is the involuntary guardian of the different versions that each family member has in relation to the others. As the work progresses, the old grudges emerge, it comes out (smooth and bright) what was said so long ago and did not forget. A spider web is woven with many nuances that resurrect with greater or lesser fury.

The father also appears as a secondary character, an agricultural representative who with his fantasy is the counterpoint to Bernarda Alba of his wife. Or a blurred ancestor, maybe great, maybe grotesque (Pentapolin). Forced weddings, a shop for clews, zippers and buttons, the figure of the practitioner with his briefcase ...

Landero's book belongs to those who embrace. You feel comfortable between your pages. It is allowed to wrap. As in The Balcony in Winter (2014), that narration that swung between the splendor of his childhood under the protection of a family of farmers in Extremadura and the Madrid neighborhood of Prosperidad, where he opened to adulthood. If The Balcony ... showed its awakening to the world, here, in Fine Rain , everything happens from a very brief news of a newspaper that told a tragedy after a family reunion. It was a flash that shot at him: suddenly he saw that the novel was there . For just three months the idea matured and only needed four or five to write it.

«In the family everything is found because there are accounts to heal, grievances that imagination exalts. Or they are invented. Traumas ... And, of course, reproaches that are usually made late. Victimism is everywhere, we always look guilty. That 'I could have done ...'. We project the frustrations in the family. Or in politics, ”adds Landero.

The difficult thing is to understand without judging: this is the greatness of Cervantes, according to the writer, that is not to be confused with being forgiving. Man, human nature, says Landero, is selfish and spiteful, competition always arises to see "who has it longer." It is very difficult to talk, he says, in this country. "It used to be unconverted."

Through Fine Rain the reader will find phrases of various characters such as these, which help or mislead:

- «True happiness is only found in the depths of pain».

- «God has not done me any favor».

- «Almost everyone loves with liars kisses».

- «We all have a lot of words inside that are like caged beasts».

- «Have you experienced the feeling that someone disarms your body?».

- "Wouldn't she also be reinventing the past and building a story to suit her?"

- «The hidden truth poisons the soul».

And there goes the book.

Luis Landero has celebrated this year the 30 of his dazzling literary debut with Games of the late age , that novel that sent by mail to Tusquets to see if there was luck and that starts like this: «On the morning of October 4, Gregorio Olías got up earlier than usual ». It was a triumphant baptism. The book achieved prestige and sales. And there is still Landero, who was also a guitarist at the time, already retired as a literature teacher. There he continues to debate between three directions. He explained in Between the lines: the story or the life : «Manuel Pérez Aguado [transcript of Landero], besides being a teacher, is a reader and writer. This, well regarded, is still a problem, because despite being three complementary activities, however there are conflictive and even exclusive areas. For example: there are authors, such as Joyce, that interest the writer, much less the reader and the teacher; the reader and the teacher like Galdós, and the writer not so much ».

Luis Landero continues to tip life.

Expert votes

JUAN MARQUÉS

1. The island of the rabbits (Random House Literature), by Elvira Navarro

2. Kramp (Alliance), by María José Ferrada

3. The names of things (Sixth Floor), by Mariano Peyrou

4. Look and Romanticism (Erein), by Ramon Saizarbitoria

5. Alegría (Planeta), by Manuel Vilas

ANNA MARÍA CHURCH

1. The remembered part (Random House Literature), by Rodrigo Fresán

2. Ways to be far away (Galaxia Gutenberg), by Edurne Portela

3. This foolish haze (Seix Barral), Enrique Vila-Matas

4. Not telling everything (Random House Literature), by Emiliano Monge

5. Nervous system (Random House Literature), by Lina Meruane

SANTOS SANZ VILLANUEVA

1. Fine Rain (Tusquets), by Luis Landero

2. Through Don Quixote (Kingdom of Cordelia), by José María Merino

3. Petit Paris (Anagrama), Justo Navarro

4. The negotiated yin and yang (Seix), of Eduardo Mendoza

5. Resurrection (Galaxia Gutenberg), by José Ovejero

ALBERTO OLMOS

1. Reference (Tusquets), by Ignacio Ferrando.

2. Land of women (Seix Barral), by María Sánchez ..

3. Living below (Candaya), by Gustavo Faverón.

4. Europa (Alrevés), by David Llorente.

5. 8:38 (Candaya), by Luis Rodríguez.

JESUS ​​TRUEBA

1. Mothers not (Ed. Transit), Katixa Agirre.

2. Far from Kakania (Peripheral), by Carlos Pardo.

3. The names of things (sixth floor), by Mariano Peyrou.

4. Land of women (Seix Barral), by María Sánchez.

5. Nervous system (Random House Literature), by Lina Meruane

MANUEL LLORENTE

1. Fine rain (Tusquets), by Luis Landero.

2. Hard times (Alfaguara), by Mario Vargas Llosa.

3. The art of wearing raincoat (Anagrama), by Sergi Pámies.

4. Duel of bishops ' (Peripheral), by Vicente Valero

5. Sexual totality of the cosmos (Seix Barral), by Juan Bonilla

According to the criteria of The Trust Project

Know more

  • culture
  • literature

The PaperHemingway Sphere in Cuba: 22 years of literature and rum

The Paper Sphere Eduardo Mendoza, a historic smile

The Paper SphereMaría Moreno, a way of being wild