AUTHOR: Belén Gopegui
PUBLISHER: Literatura Random House
GENRE: literary fiction
READER’S NAME: Nicole Bell
DATE: March 28, 2018

Belén Gopegui has received several awards for her works, including el Premio Tigre Juan and el Premio Iberoamericano, and she has been a finalist for several others. At least one of her books, The Scale of Maps, has been published in English. Gopegui is recognized as an important voice in modern Spanish literature and has appeared in the media in articles and interviews, and especially currently with regards to this book.

Quédate este día y esta noche conmigo [Stay This Day and Night with Me] is set in Spain, but its location is not all that important to the work since this story is about the human experience everywhere. The plot centers on the burgeoning friendship between the two main characters: Olga, a retired mathematician, and Mateo, a college student passionate about robotics. The book is their attempt to explain their history to Google and influence the powerful company through an extremely unique job application. Drawing from various theories and fields of knowledge (communism, philosophy, mathematics, artificial intelligence, and more), Olga and Mateo ponder ideas such as free will, responsibility for one’s actions, the existence of merit, and whether humans are in fact just robots, among others. Tension grows in the plot, though, as the relationship between Olga and Mateo becomes strained due to ideological differences, Olga faces terminal illness, and Mateo plans an attack on Google.

This book has an intriguing structure because the main plot is a story that acts as the job application that Olga and Mateo send to Google. This job application is then set within the framework of a report written by the person (or robot—it is unclear) who evaluates job applications sent to Google. So the book opens with this report, and switches back to it two more times throughout the rest of the narration (the job application). In addition, the report is written in the first person, from the point of view of the one evaluating these applications. 

However, the job application itself speaks with the combined voice of Mateo and Olga, and is narrated in the third person but directed towards Google as the recipient. This book is not heavy on action; instead it draws the reader along by a progression of ideas and counterarguments, and by the unfolding of Olga and Mateo’s stories.         

Gopegui’s imagery and metaphors are original, and her syntax has good rhythm to it. She constructs sentences well to keep them building until the very end, and knows how to use sentence length wisely, using both short and long sentences to create tone and emphasis:

“In Zurich and in other regions of Switzerland, you know, it is possible to commit suicide with the support of volunteer organizations. Many people, those that can afford to, Google, travel there so that they are given a liquid that tastes like gin and that, in less than an hour and without pain, puts you to sleep forever…Olga and the man who was her lover and now was her friend, with different diagnoses and similar prognostics, were going to die, and they preferred to go softly into the night, with a gin and tonic in hand, the substance mixed there in the cup, two wooden chairs together on a dock at a lake. And friendly people who knew would take care of their bodies later (160).”

This book would be ideal for translation because the subject matter is universal. It treats the human condition through the lens of two individuals and the general themes discussed in the book are very relevant to today. Furthermore with its aim directed towards Google and other big business, Quédate. . . brings up issues of power and what it means to be a human being in a world filled with data and technology. I highly recommend this book for publication. Its structure is relatively unique, as well as the fact that it is narrated in various persons and to various audiences. Furthermore, Quedáte. . . is successful in its combination of a fairly simple, but still engaging plot, with deep philosophical questions. It is a criticism of society that seems to mix a philosophical essay with a work of fiction. But besides its individuality in structure and composition, it is well written, it touches on many different themes, and it is thought-provoking.