Last Wednesday the two novels that won the Planeta Awards went on sale: the winner was , by Paloma Sánchez-Garnica; and the finalist, , by Beatriz Serrano. And, specifically, Babelia That same day he published the reviews of awards that often forget literature in their search for a commercial effect, which is why they continue to be embedded in the controversy of recent years. “The cataract of tragic breakdowns, hyperdramatic moments with overdoses of betrayals, blackmail and deaths, full filler dialogues, almost kitten-like tenderness and the feeling of learning important things about the cruelty of the 20th century,” writes Jordi Gracia in his review of Victoria“it constitutes a method typical of the most popular novel and that usually rewards the Planet, or it goes crazy and lowers even that humble popular standard.” For the critic of EL PAÍS, for example, the jury went crazy in the last two years, with , and , by Luz Gabás. With Sánchez-Garnica’s novel, simply, this year the jury has not “opted for a minimally literary novel, but at least it is a commercial story with a broad (very broad) popular spectrum.” Regarding the finalist work, our expert Carlota Rubio highlights that it will “widen the generational range” of the award, since Serrano’s novel will appeal to the young, and not so young, who discovered the world through the Internet.
Our book of the week is , an extensive and painful report by EL PAÍS journalist Juan Navarro García, in which he tells how the towns and their inhabitants that suffered from the terrible fires of 2022 that devastated the province of Zamora have been left. If the fire meant the destruction of landscapes, animals and even the lives of some people, in the embers of that misfortune there are barely the ashes of an even emptier Spain.
Other interesting books reviewed by critics Babelia son, an interesting essay by José Lázaro that revolves around the French writer and sadomasochism activist; , by Nicolas Teyssandier, a fascinating story that addresses many of the questions (and opens other questions) about the many times our lineage did something for the first time, from mastering fire to burying the dead; , another illuminating essay by Patrick Boucheron that raises the paradoxes of putting a milestone on the calendar to a multitude of historical events that are not so easy to locate in time; , by Natalia Junquera, who reminds us that reporting requires a lot of passion, a point of unconsciousness and a true commitment to bringing out the truth; and the new edition of the ‘plaquette’ of 1886, with translation by Miguel Casado and illustrations by Frederic Amat, from , by Arthur Rimbaud.
Finally, José Luis de Juan analyzes two titles about the lives of two great Soviet writers who suffered the purge of the communist regime during Stalin’s time: , of Shimon Markish, y , by Georges Nivat.
