AUTHOR: Clara Pastor
PUBLISHER: Acantilado
GENRE: Literary fiction (Short story)
READER’S NAME: Alice Banks
DATE: August 17th, 2023

Voces al amencer is Clara Pastor’s second short story collection, and compiles four stories that explore themes of solitude, memory, and our connections (or lack of) with those closest to us. Each of the stories are stand-alone, and introduce us to new settings and characters, however, the same themes run throughout the collection.

The opening, and title story, Voces al amencer, is by far the strongest. In this story, also the longest in the collection, we meet Elba, who is spending the summer with her parents in their beach house on an unnamed island. Pastor describes the island and Elba’s surroundings in beautiful, poetic prose, and nature, seasons and time play a big part in this story. The main theme Pastor explores, however, is solitude, and Elba’s mother’s concern that her daughter is lonely. Her mother’s concern is something that she is well aware of, not only as a result of what her mother directly says to her, but also because of what she hears her parents saying about her through the thin bedroom walls at dawn. Elba’s mother encourages her to spend some time with Raimundo, a quiet, unassuming beach cleaner who is obsessed with boats, birds and geography, Elba does so, and the pair spend many days together exploring the striking natural beauty of the island. Whilst Elba’s mother is initially pleased – something Elba comes to realize through the conversations she hears at dawn through her bedroom walls – she quickly grows concerned that her daughter is spending too much time outside the house and encourages her to see less of Raimundo. Elba slowly stops spending so much time with him as she reflects on her past relationships, her sister’s marriage, and her relationship with her mother. Voces al amencer is a beautiful and intimate tale of solitude and human-connection.

The following two stories in the collection are written in an equally beautiful, poetic prose, however, are not quite as successful as the first. This is because the characters are far less developed, and the themes are explored on more of a surface level. Of course, it is hard to both of these things within the space of a short story, however, Pastor certainly manages this in the first.

Like in the first, the second story in the collection, La Bicicleta, explores ideas of solitude. We read of Professor Brilli, a seventy-year-old man who lives alone in an apartment in an unnamed Italian city. He is content in his solitude, but one morning on his way out to buy coffee, he bumps into his neighbor, Anna, who offers to lend him some. She brings it up to his house, and prompted by the knowledge that Anna has a pending trip to Naples, they form a bond over talking about the city and the famous painting of La Magdalena. Anna comes over often and they spend afternoons talking. Eventually, she disappears, and when she returns, she tells Brilli that something came up that meant she couldn’t take the trip. Now, with nothing to bond over, their relationship fades away, and Brilli returns to his solitude. Whilst Pastor’s prose shines throughout the story, the narrative thread and characters are not quite as well developed as in the first story, Voces al amencer.

The third story, El invitado, follows a girl as she walks through another unnamed city, arrives home, and begins preparations for a guest to come over for dinner. The guest arrives (both characters remain unnamed) and as they eat, the pair reflect on their friends and their relationships. Again, this story explores ideas of human connections and relationships, and is written with a wonderful attention to detail, yet, like the second, falls short in terms of character development and an in-depth exploration of themes.

The fourth and final story, La noche de las tórtolas once again explores ideas of solitude, human connection, and memory. We read of a man, Gabriel who is spending the evening with his friends and their children, as he has moving reflections on his childhood, his relationships with his mother and father, and with the woman with whom he is in a relationship. Like the others in the collection, it is written in careful, intimate, and poetic prose and is more successful than the second and third stories as its characters and themes are extremely well developed.

Overall, this is a beautiful collection that explores interesting themes, and is very well written in a clearly well-established, poetic style. Throughout the collection Pastor writes masterfully with a poetic and considered prose. She writes with a sensitivity that is subtle, yet suggestive, and familiar to readers. The first story is fantastic, and whilst the second and third fall somewhat flat, in the final story we see Pastor writing extremely well-developed characters and themes once again. Whilst the collection does not necessarily stand out as doing something ‘different’ or ‘inventive’ with its style and themes, it is a collection of lovely, tender stories that approach topics every reader could relate to. Given its universality I think that the book would translate very well into English and would pose no translation issues. Whilst short story collections are often difficult to sell, I do think that there is a market for this book in those that are interested in indie publishers and literary fiction.