Desnuda

Author: Jordi Sierra I Fabra
- Fiction
- Ediciones SM
- ISBN: 9788467569636
- Release Date: 01-01-2014
-Reviewed by: Enriqueta M.F. Larrea

The style of writing is very modern and easy to read, mostly dialogue, with a few, very concise explanations of character mood and situations.  I find that even those who do not enjoy reading could find this book an easy read.  The girlfriend/boyfriend dialogues are easy to understand and keep the reader interested. They are concise, crisp, descriptive, and, although succinct, serve their purpose well in conveying the thoughts of the two main characters.  Their staccato phrases are much like the conversations of teenagers: rhythmic, intense.  I would have enjoyed more character development and more background information about the different characters, approximately ten others, in the book.  Perhaps details such as giving Marga’s father and grandfather a profession or trade would have created more of a mood in which to dwell.  Perhaps the author does not do this in order to have us think of Marga and Ramiro as the only two people he wants us to concentrate on and think of.

The subject matter would be of great interest in the US since domestic violence has been on the increase in the country.  World-wide, one of three women has been beaten, coerced into sex or otherwise abused.  The idea of presenting the subject as a novel for young adults, in an easy-to-read fashion, is timely and necessary to raise awareness and consciousness of this pervasive wrong that cuts through classes and socio-economic boundaries.  Desnuda deals with a naïve, Spanish sixteen-year old who falls in love with an eighteen-year old youth.  We find out about them through their dialogue: when they met; when they had sex for the first time; how that love became more domineering than giving; up to the time their love became all-possessive and abusive in the man’s mind and a reason for fear in hers.  His controlling ways are typical of the pervasive machismo that is written about Latinos and is prevalent in the United States across racial lines.

Because the dialogue is mostly among young people, colloquialisms and slang words are prevalent.  Even I, a native Spanish speaker, found some of them foreign to me because the book takes place in Spain and I am not familiar with all their slang terms.  This would have to be adapted to whatever group of readers the translator has in mind.  

The author was born in Barcelona, Spain and has written many books for children and young adults as well as for the general public in both Spanish and Catalonian.  He has devoted a great part of his career to the study of rock music, in addition to publishing magazines.  His style is known for its dialogue, rhythm, short phrases, intensity and suspense.  This novel is no different.

What I found to be the most successful part of the book is the ending.  It does not simply tell a story of abuse and violence: it gives solutions to the problem.  The central character visits a psychologist who is understanding and caring and urges her to trust her parents.  It sends a message that there is help for teenagers in abusive relationships.  One of the worse scenarios of these relationships is the fact that the abuser feels justified in meeting the punishments and the abused feels she is deserving of it.  The book also explains, through the psychologist, that it is wrong to have these feelings. I would wholeheartedly recommend the book for young adults and their parents. 

 

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