From the start, it’s clear that “Ordesa” will be a variation on the autobiographical novel: The narrator or speaker, or confessor — is a 50-ish Spanish writer named Manuel,..

who, living alone in his Zaragoza apartment, contemplates what he’s lost. The list may not be long, but it cuts deep. His father died a decade ago, his mother the previous year. Heavy drinking and an affair have ended his marriage, and his two teenage sons have turned their attention elsewhere, even during the rare times they visit.But this novel is something else, too, something undefinable, amorphous.

Manuel Vilas writes both novels and poetry, and this book falls somewhere in between. It’s a meditation on yearning, solitude and self; a soul storm, a mirage of phantom figures — resurrected images of dead ancestors, childhood memories, the changing face of Spain itself.

Read more here: The New York Times