AUTHOR: Ignacio Martínez de Pisón
PUBLISHER: Seix Barral (Planeta Publishing Group)
GENRE: Fiction, Adult
READER’S NAME: Lisa M. Rodríguez
DATE: May 31, 2021

Ignacio Martinez de Pisón is a Spanish novelist, screenwriter and journalist. Born in the city of Zaragoza in 1960, he resides in Barcelona and writes in both Castilian Spanish and in Catalan. He is the author of over twenty books and collections of writing, primarily novels. His work has already been translated into other languages, and he has been awarded over fifteen Spanish and European prizes for his skill and talent as a writer.

Fin de temporada, which means End of the Season, was published by Seix Barral, a Planeta Group imprint, in August 2020, and the Spanish version is available in paperback (376 pages), as an e-book, and in audio format (8 hours, 26 minutes).

This novel takes place in Spain over a period spanning from the late 1970s, during Spain's transition from dictatorship to democracy, to the early years of the new century. The descriptions of Spanish regions and culture over the period are engagingly entwined with the novel's plotlines.

The main characters of the novel are Rosa, a woman born around 1960, who becomes pregnant in her late teens. Her boyfriend, still in law school, encourages her to end the pregnancy, because a child will interfere with his career plans. He promises to marry Rosa in the future. To Rosa's shock and horror, her boyfriend is killed in a roadway accident on the way to obtain the abortion. She herself is hospitalized, but the pregnancy continues, and Rosa gives birth to a boy, Iván.

The story then jumps forward to the late 1990s and Iván's late adolescence. One of the greatest strengths of the novel is the author's expert narration. Third-person narration is used throughout, but with emphasis leaning toward different characters at different points in the story. The effect is to allow the reader to develop empathy for the various main characters while still viewing the story from the outside, where space for evaluation and analysis exists.

Over the course of the novel, Rosa's controlling behavior is gradually shown to move toward displays of debilitating mental illness. The progression is so slow, and Martínez de Pisón's writing is so subtle, that Rosa's descent into mental illness might even escape the reader for much of the book.

In fact, many of the characters in the book are slow to realize what is happening, including Iván himself and his mother's one close female friend, her business partner. After all, a parent's efforts to slow down a child's first romantic relationship is not unheard of, nor is a parent's effort to strongly influence a child's first job choice.

The problem, the author reveals, is that in spite of the generally warm and close relationship between mother and son, Rosa has habitually used a number of techniques to ensure that her son sees the world as she chooses. Many U.S. readers would consider some of her behaviors, even early on, to verge on psychological mistreatment. Rosa often makes use of affectionate but domineering language, as well as repeated demands for promises of life-long companionship and devotion.

Iván has been allowed no relationships with his mother's family or his father's, and he is unaware of the extent to which his mother has withheld significant information about his own life and family. Rosa has moved him from place to place throughout his childhood, so he has no strong friendships of his own.

Iván, in spite of his good nature, finds it difficult to create an adult life for himself, even when helpful and accepting adults and peers reach out to him, and even when he receives a significant inheritance from his father's family.

By the time Iván finally displays his independence, makes discoveries about his past and his family, and becomes able to express his need for some psychological distance from Rosa, his mother's psyche has weakened to the point that she can no longer maintain the façade of a functioning adult.

During a period of several months when Iván attempts to build a new life with a young woman, Rosa becomes disconnected from reality. She is found attempting to kidnap a newborn baby.  Rosa's friend arranges for her to receive psychiatric care, but Rosa will now cease to be an adult capable of living independently.

The last two healthy sources of support that Rosa and Iván have, Rosa's business partner and Iván's girlfriend, must finally distance themselves.

Iván, now with the full knowledge of his family history, chooses to become his mother's caregiver. This novel would prove a fascinating and challenging read for a U.S. audience. A translation might require some additional information on the enormous social and legal pressure exerted on young Spanish women to avoid out-of-wedlock children during the post-dictatorship period. The dialogue and narrative style, the fruit of the author's decades of experience in storytelling, would move easily into English, and the speed and forward push of the story are highly engaging.