1990 regal ETeixidor / 1991 Santi

In San Camilo 1936 we have a book that Cela promised to write on the subject of the Spanish Civil War--in which he fought for the Nationalist side. If the writer is to be believed the character representative of him is--on the eve of the conflict torn between choosing one side or the other--staring at himself for long periods in the mirror and accusing himself of this and of that and at the same time balancing a family and a social life chasing all kinds of girls while setting aside time for that special one. Not to get me wrong I gave this book 5 stars for a reason--because I like it more than a lot. I might even say I think it's fantastic. Cela takes us back into time to a place on the verge of a political and a civil explosion. He puts the reader right in the center of a hot and humid and festering situation--one can feel a growing and almost unbearable tension in the movement of his prose and the language that he uses always circling back to the same situations--his character going over and over again and trying to get a grip on what any of it means to him. Camilo finally makes that decision for better or worse almost at the same time that the violent street scenes erupt all around him--as bodies fall or are lined up against a wall or flung still alive off of buildings. Not the easiest read or something for the squeamish. The Spanish Civil War was a very violent and nasty affair. ( )

H1.32-2