I found the whole story rather boring because of the huge amount of details. The author takes ten pages to describe guests at a funeral. I did find his use of concepts in the story very interesting: he would mention the word ‘haunted’ and then keeps hinting at it with a variety of analogies pages later.

The movie on the television in the bedroom and toy planes in the bedroom of the son also remind you of the word ‘haunted’. The title of the book is often quoted, referring to the Spanish Civil War. “Tomorrow in the battle think on me, when I was mortal; and let fall thy lance.”

Later in the book, the author suddenly grabbed my attention by discussing the Anglo-Saxon origins of words. This is where my passion for linguistics surfaced. But then the main character rambled on about being made a double co-fornicator because he shared a bed partner with someone else. And how the untimely death of Marta took the possibility of forming a bond from him. Yes, I got it after the first ten pages you spoke about it.

We also learn more about the main character’s history and when he finally sheds some light on what he experienced, this book finally became a story. The main character’s transition from feeling relaxed to jealous and eventually to feeling trapped was well-done.

I ended up being impressed with the message and concept but bored by the delivery. If you appreciate detailed descriptions and enjoy meandering thoughts, then you might like this book better than I did. 

Translated from Spanish by Margaret Jull Costa.