Wrong Blood

by Manuel de Lope

Book by Lope, Manuel De

Genres: Fiction, Historical Fiction, Spain, Historical, Literary Fiction, Spanish Civil War

304 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2000

Reviews

[Nancy Oakes · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Wrong Blood is the story of two women of different classes in Spain's Basque country: Maria Antonia Etxarri, the young daughter of a local innkeeper and Isabel Cruces Hernandez, who comes from a family of wealth and influence. During the Spanish Civil War (1936-1939), their individual tragedies unexpectedly bring and then bind them together for the rest of their lives. Isabel falls in love with and marries an army captain, who is killed shortly afterwards, leaving behind not only Isabel but her unborn child. Maria Antonia, only a teenager, is raped when a group of soldiers take shelter at her father's inn. The local doctor, Felix Castro, is the central figure connecting them both. In the present, Miguel Goitia, law student and Isabel's grandson, is spending time at his grandmother's estate (which now belongs to Maria Antonia), a sanctuary of peace and quiet while he is preparing for his bar exam. His very presence there brings out memories of old wartime secrets that Miguel is not privy to -- and Castro is torn between telling him the truth about things or letting old memories lie dormant. It is also a story about loss, grief, the nature of class distinction, and as Dave Boling, author of Guernica and one of the blurbers wrote, about "... human survival at desperate times."

In terms of the writing, the direction of the plotline is a bit obvious once you begin reading, but that hardly matters in the long run. I only rarely find an author whose prose is so eloquent that I want to read the book again just to appreciate its beauty. And considering this is a translated version, well, I can only imagine how absolutely wonderful it must be in the original Spanish. The story is paced very well; it starts a bit slow, setting the overall tone immediately, while allowing the reader to absorb and appreciate small details that might otherwise be overlooked. The sense of time and place is evoked largely through the use of flashbacks, which take the reader seamlessly and skillfully through the hardships of war into the present and back again, without causing any interruption to the overall flow of the story. It is a book that will you find difficult to put down until the very end.

I recommend this novel to people who enjoy Spanish novels in translation, and who truly appreciate the beauty of the written word. It's definitely not a book for those who want something quick and easy, nor is it an action-packed novel that once you've read you'll forget, like so much fiction that's out there on bookstore shelves at the moment.. It's a book to be enjoyed slowly -- and kept on your shelf to visit again some day.

[Michelle]

The Wrong Blood is one of those novels I really wanted to love but left me feeling flat. Several days after finishing the story, I am not quite certain what Mr. de Lope was trying to accomplish. Was he trying to tell a story about the impact of the Civil War or was it more a study of humankind and their reactions to adverse conditions? I suspect the answer is both things, but the fact that I am not 100 percent certain about it leads me to conclude that he was not successful with whatever he was attempting.

The narrator is obviously a man, and unfortunately, this is not a novel where a male author writes female characters that are true to life. Considering that the story revolves around María and her struggles, this is a glaring conflict. This is particularly true of the rape scene, which avoids any discussion of the emotional trauma and approaches the entire scenario rather clinically and coldly. Throughout the novel, María is never truly fleshed out as a woman but remains this chilly, miserly one-dimensional character who is more concerned about counting place settings than about others' feelings. I suspect that in the right hands, María could truly have come to life, which would have made the flashbacks and other parts of the story come to life as well.

Considering how much of the novel revolves around the characters, Dr. Cortez and the grandson Goitia, Isabel and María, the fact that they remain stilted and lacking in emotional connection does nothing to recommend the story. The big reveal is quite predictable, and the entire story plays out as one expects. A character-driven novel only works when readers are able to take a vested interest in the characters. Unfortunately, the reader is not able to connect with any of the characters in this fashion.

The Wrong Blood redeems itself via its descriptions of the Basque countryside. Lyrical in their sweeping grandeur and beauty, this is where Mr. de Lope shines. The reader truly gets a sense of what the Civil War did to the inhabitants of the area, how confusing and treacherous it was for all involved and the scars it left on both people and locations.

As this is Mr. de Lope's first novel translated into English, one cannot help but wonder how much is quite literally lost in translation. Then again, because the physical descriptions are so excellent, this leads one to conclude that very little is actually lost. Therefore, is this an instance of an author who is better able to provide poetic descriptions of places but cannot do the same for people? Without reading Mr. de Lope's other works, one may never know. I do know that The Wrong Blood has moments of brilliance but a large majority of the novel fails to spark. The result is a novel that does not live up to its own expectations.

[Kara · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is really a 1.5 rating, but I can't in good conscience give it the same number of stars that I have 50 Shades of Grey, so, whatevs.

There's no doubt that this is a beautifully written book. Full of poignant observations about life and such. Definitely flowery and could have/should have been toned down. A lot.

But there's an obvious problem with this book - there's no conflict. Nothing actually happens. The book tells the story of two women whose lives were drastically and irrevocably impacted during the Spanish Civil War. That sentence, while factually true, makes the book sound far more interesting than it ever was. In reality the book meanders through flowery language until you've forgotten who you're reading about, and by the time the author lets you know that something has occurred or is about to occur, you've long stopped caring because you were reading purple prose instead of character development.

This review sounds harsh, and I don't intend for it to be, but the book definitely misses a crucial element of what makes a story a story, ya know? I'm fully willing to concede that the art of storytelling is different in Spain (this is a Spanish book translated for us folks across the pond), but that didn't make me enjoy it any more.

[Lydia Presley · Rating 4 out of 5]

When I started to read this book I was worried that I'd tackled it too soon after reading The Lacuna by Barbara Kingsolver. The Wrong Blood was also a "steak" of a book and Manuel de Lope created a beautifully written story that translated incredibly well.

The story centers are three main people, Maria Antonia Etxarri, the daughter of a former innkeeper from a nearby town; Dr. Felix Castro, a young, crippled doctor; and Isabel Cruces Herraiz, the bride (and later widow) of a young officer, all living in the village of Hondarribia.

Miguel Goitia, a young notary student (law) arrives and stays at his grandmother's inn and, with his arrival, all three characters are pulled in to the story with a common bond.

Like I mentioned previously, the writing is truly a beautiful thing. The story, although confusing as the players are set in place, everything is put into place with a precision that took my breath away.

There were a few aspects of the book that disappointed me, I was able to see through some of the plot advancements, but overall - a worthwhile read and another book to put on my favorites of translated literature.

[Gretchen Rings · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Wrong Blood opens in a small Basque village at the beginning of the Spanish Civil War, alternating between 1930s Spain to present. This is the first book of de Lope's to be translated into English, and I am eager to read more. Literary and exquisite.

[Katie · Rating 5 out of 5]

It was my great pleasure to work on this stunning book. The key is to surrender to the prose, wade into the descriptions, and let the story unfold in its slow, magnificent way.

[Mikel González · Rating 4 out of 5]

5 de Noviembre de 2024
Este libro de Manuel de Lope, escritor burgalés, no solo va de la guerra civil, si no de sus consecuencias en la vida de los protagonistas que la vivieron y como es recordada generalmente con indiferencia por las generaciones venideras. A parte del entorno en el que se desarrolla la historia, hondarribia, hendaya, alsasua, me ha gustado como refleja el sin sentido del propio conflicto, mucha gente luchó en un bando u otro por mera casualidad, acabando con la vida de sus propios compañeros. También se refleja como en la vida, y más en una guerra, las diferencias sociales marcan tu futuro y hacen, si es posible, más desgraciado a aquellos que ya no tenían nada y después de la guerra pierden hasta la propia consideración como humanos por parte de los demás, convenciendo a los desgraciados de su posición y su insignificancia. La novela es bastante desesperanzadora pero enseñar a seguir adelante, abrazar la vida y sus circunstancias y conseguir la felicidad por el mero hecho de vivir. Es un libro que me ha enganchado pero me ha costado leer debido a su narración, lo recomiendo pero no sé si lo volveré a leer.

[Jill Meyer · Rating 4 out of 5]

"The Wrong Blood" is a beautifully written and translated novel by Spanish author Manuel de Lope. Set in both the dark days of the Spanish Civil War and in current-day Spain, the story slowly rolls out of two women, both greatly affected by the war and the aftermath. A wealthy young bride, who loses her husband in the war, and a lowly-born servant, Isabel and Maria Antonia, live a life together with the daughter of one of the women. The grandson who comes to live with the women in the present, hears of the women from an old doctor who has been their neighbor for seventy or so years.

"Blood" is slowly paced. The beautiful language rolls out and as long as the reader is not expecting much in the way of a plot, the book is a gem.

[Jennifer · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was just okay - I figured out what the entire "secret" was very early on and I felt the pacing to be excruciatingly slow. I don't know if this was something that was because of the translation or if it was just the nature of the plot. The setting and character-building was well done and very melancholic and dreamy, which kept me just interested enough to see how it would play out. A very meditative piece on the passage of time, how the past can haunt you and the secrets people keep; both from themselves and each other.

[Diane · Rating 5 out of 5]

This novel begins during the Spanish Civil War, and focuses on two women: a servant girl who is raped by an officer, and a wealthy widow of a military man. The book weaves their two stories together, along with the doctor who lives next door to them and observes their lives. The plot is a little slow, but the writing is beautiful, and keeps the reader engaged. The author creates an atmosphere, rather than focusing on character development, but it works well to keep the reader engaged. He creates an inner world of three people during the trauma of the Spanish Civil War and its aftermath.

[Holly · Rating 2 out of 5]

There isn't really much of a plot, but the plot that is there plays out exactly how you think it will. Except there is no real explanation of the arrangement between Maria and Isabel. It's readable, but not what I would call gripping or compelling.

[Stephen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Manuel de Lope's "The Wrong Blood," is tough to review without giving up the ghost, literally.

It is the story of three people bound by a series of shared spawned by the Fascists deathly advance through the Basque Country during the Spanish Civil War.

Situated for a few passages at the front, the novel mostly broods in the enclosed worlds of two houses on the coast: "Los Sauces" and "Las Cruces."

In one of them live two victims of the conflict, in the other a lame doctor, whose affliction allows him to escape the generalized carnage, yet still be affected by its perversions

The young lawyer Goitia, looking for a place to study, returns to his childhood home at "Las Cruces" whic his deceased mother has left to her life-long house servant, Maria Antonia.

The biggest secret is revealed to the reader at the three-quarter mark, though not necessarily to the young lawyer.

But his rare visit, coupled with the advancing age of the doctor and the house-servant, provide a last chance to rewrite a small history, and the tension to keep from, or unleash upon him the truths they know, form the crux of the conflict.

"Between them," De Lope notes, "the doctor and the old woman could awaken the inexistent memory of young Goitia, assuming that young Goitia had any interest in the stories the old woman and the doctor could tell him."

The path toward that resolution is dominated by an unnamed narrator with no dog in the fight being covered. The action and exchanges between principal characters are employed to sparing effect.

Most of the narrative progress is unspoken, but latent in the air each character is sharing; air rife with narrator's presentiments and ornate musings.

"The Wrong Blood," is mostly back-story, the young man's arrival provoking "the powerful flood of memories" that had "overflowed the sluice gates."

It is a running commentary on what the trio have endured, what they are thinking at any given moment in the history; a history not presented chronologically, rather leapfrogging back and forth along the line of time.

The author's focus is trained mostly on ambience, on environment, on the oppressive realities that precede each character's birth. There are not very many choices available to these people, and still less offering a dignified path.

The liner notes for this Other Press addition quote Gabriel Garcia Marquez deeming De Lope's work, "a celebration of our language."

Since that language is Spanish, the consumer of the English-language effort must take the master at his word. Or at least the word of translator John Cullen who teases a wide vocabulary, a rich thicket of words, and somber palette out of whatever De Lope intended.

In the opening passages, the author depicts the roses of 1936 to be "plump as wet nurses breast."

Later, in a passage more characteristic of, than exception to, "The Wrong Blood, De Lope writes that, "The curtains of rain in the distant, dull-gray clouds bursting over the sea filled her with nostalgia, because, for her, the weeping of the heavens was the ultimate poetical sensation, and nothing compared with the lyrical emotions of abandonment and dispossession that the rain promised.'

In this fashion does the omnipresent narrator mostly hold forth on details and objects surrounding, giving them prior lives, symbolic charges; casting them as witnesses to both a tragedy and a forced permutation in an otherwise natural order by class and the war's outcome.

These can be historical details, the product of fine research, such as the "strange straw wraps used in those days to cover champagne bottles with a kind of cape or hood that protected the glass," or much broader and social in aspect.

Describing how the ill-fated Captain Herraiz and his bride Isabel made it work, the writer observes, "It was said that certain in those years were happy, cautious, and dissolute, and those terms included everything that a judicious and seductive mixture of good breeding and carnality entailed."

If this novel is back-story, it is also a tale of the rearguard, of noncombatants flailing about in a great and sudden disruption. Del Lope conjures it as a place no less harrowing than the front.

For more than power and money, the meaning of each being upended by the times, it is the war which forces the hope-killing obligation to compromise one highest aspirations.

The doctor, by way of example, settles for "the peace of the weak and the just, and it granted him the tranquility of opening the gate and limping back to his house to pour himself of cognac. There was no sadder peace than that."

[Sue Cauhape · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Wrong Blood is a complicated story with a very simple plot. Taking place in the present in a seaside village of the Basque Country, The Wrong Blood, tells of a young lawyer who spends a few months in his family's villa to study for his Notary exams. The doctor who lives next door pesters him to go out for lunch for reasons which are never revealed to the young man. The old woman servant, who inherited the villa from the lawyer's grandmother, bustles around him, keeping mainly to herself, but always in the background. Both of these dottering old folks hold a deep secret about the lawyer's heritage and ancestry. To the end, as the plane carries the young lawyer back to Madrid to take his exams, the doctor and the old servant decide to retain this secret, realizing that to reveal it would cause unhappiness in their young visitor's life.

His visit, however, has brought a flood of memories of the Carlist War that effected these people so profoundly. This story is rich in details of Basque culture and attitudes towards life. While the storyline of the present is simple, the plot of the past brings all the anguish and struggle of wartime to the forefront. The reader must pay attention to the back-and-forth transitions between these eras, because they meld so closely within the minds of the characters and thus in the narrative.

This is a book to be savored and enjoyed slowly, like the rich stews of the Basque Country. The concept of name and family is different among the Basques, whose presence in a house is so ancient that an individual is named for the house rather than for the family. This makes the Old Servant Woman's sacrifice so much more poignant because while she inherited the House of her employer and would've customarily acquired the Identity attached to it and it's family, she is denied this privilege. Instead, she is given the house and all its material wealth as well as eighteen million pesetas. With these, she must make do and hold a tragic secret close to her heart.

[Andres Lopez · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Wrong Blood is a fiction/Spanish novel. I chose this book because the cover was very interesting and also the pages were uneven so I thought that was cool so I bought it. The book is about two women who are pregnant and from different classes. Isabel Cruces Hernandez who is a rich person and Maria Antonia Etxarri who is a teenager who got raped. Both of them are pregnant and lonely. Felix Castro is a doctor that has a lot to do in the story and the two women. It is a man vs. society because there is a lot of difference with the rich and poor in the book. This could also be a man vs. man because there is lies and unto;d memories that someone had to face and didn't know what to do. The book starts of slow and he talks with details but then it gets good. He uses similes and also describes some things that might not be that important. I will recommend this book to people who like Spanish authors. This book was very well translated I think because it did seem kind of easy to read. If your a pregnant women that is lonely this could be a good book for you.

[Michael · Rating 3 out of 5]

Beautifully written poetic prose, summed up with a quote from the book: "The spectacle repeated itself monotonously..."

Slow going with overlong descriptions giving you many, many more words than plot. Many times I found myself skimming through a paragraph.

"Out beyond the breaking waves, the sea rippled with white patches like fleeces of wool, the sheep-scattered sea, tended by the winds, carrying in its bosom the uncontainable force of the tempest that could break out in a few hours, or on the other hand, maybe the wind would die down at dusk and they would be granted the dark sea of night, thick and placid as a muscular animal, brimming over at high tide as if the exhibition of its power had filled the basin formed by the land and the continents."

The ending was predictable and I don't understand the promotional hype about the surprise twist.

[Natasha · Rating 1 out of 5]

I have to be honest: I really struggled to get through this book. I've found that books translated from Spanish are, for the most part, a slow read for me. I can't be sure if it's just a translation issue, or if it is more a natural, cultural divide that I just don't understand. That said, the author is obviously a talented writer. He uses a lot of great metaphors and has a firm grasp on language. But his heavy, flowery prose is what ultimately killed my enthusiasm for reading this book. It really did become a chore to finish it. I will leave you with my favorite part of the book, where he describes a leaky faucet: "the old woman ... awaited the intermittent suicide of a drop of water in the bathroom sink ..." (page 114, Other Press edition, 2010)

[Kristi · Rating 2 out of 5]

For me this was a difficult read. The writing style is not like anything I am use to reading, though that could be in part to the way it translated from Spanish. The story line itself was predicable, but the author inserted so many tangents and spent a lot of time discussing and comparing things that I felt weren't necessarily relevant to the story.
A lot of time is spent discussing the past events which have shaped the future of the characters, but I still could fully decipher what the real problem and solution were. What was the point of this story? Or it simply could be a matter of it not ending the way I thought it should. Either way, I am glad to have finished this book, although it won’t be one I read again.

[Wendy G · Rating 2 out of 5]

Well, "The Wrong Blood" was beautifully written and I think it would appeal to someone really interested in Civil War-era Spanish history and culture. There's a lot of culture in this book. As I said, it is also beautifully written. The problem I had with this novel is that the main characters are backdrops to the changing landscape and political drama. I finished the book wanting to better understand why the central drama happens, and who these two women are. I wasn't very satisfied with "The Wrong Blood" although I read it through to the end.

[Alison · Rating 3 out of 5]

This belongs to the Spanish Civil War "recovery of memory" novelistic genre. The atmosphere of rural northwestern Spain was very evocative. Definitely a slow read with a predictable plot. As a political allegory, interesting. The young notary who returns to his grandmother's house to study for his law exams has little interest in the family mystery that an crippled neighbor half-heartedly tries to reveal to him. I couldn't get it in Spanish, so I had to read it in English, but it seems like an excellent translation.

[Jeffrey · Rating 4 out of 5]

From the first line of this book..I was captivated.

Two women from either side of the social track in the Spanish Civil War and the repercussions.

There are so few books on this period in the English language...oh, please not more Gernam Nazi books...we seldom get much on the horrors of Franco so learning about what it was like adds lustre.

I found the story easy to read ...the twists are obvious...but you get a feel for the country and the desperate situation of people living there at the time.

A real find...well-written, a plot, reasonable pace...and learning.

[Lorna Dykstra · Rating 3 out of 5]

The premise of this book sounded quite exciting but I am afraid that I found the story dull and boring. The ‘mysterious and silent’ agreement between the two women was quite obvious almost from the start of the novel and after that it all went downhill for me. Its saving grace is the unacknowledged tension between Maria and Castro which made me keep on reading, and the several beautiful (though sometimes heavy-handed) descriptions throughout the book. A pity I didn't enjoy it more.

My rating: 2.9

Read Around The World Challenge: Spain

[Eleanor · Rating 4 out of 5]

I struggled to read this book but I'm very glad I did. I did figure out
the "mystery" of the book - the title is a give-away - and the writing
can be "a slow, but beautiful go" as you get to the action ... the
sadness of the book and description of grief is moving - the characters
don't grab you, but do grow on you. It's well worth the time invested
in reading the book - read it both for the prose and in the end ... the
story.

[bobbi · Rating 3 out of 5]

whew! this was not a fast read. if you like stories that have a lot of dialogue and lots of plot twists and turns - this book is not for you. there is exactly one plot twist and you'll know what it is from the beginning with very little intuition. there are a lot of beautiful descriptive passages and wonderful characters. this style of writing is not for everyone but if you are a reader who likes to contemplate as they read, you may like this fine.

[Ann Fisher · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is one of those books I would have never read if it hadn't been a book group selection. Set in the Spanish Civil War, this quiet story of two women survivors is wonderfully moving. De Lope writes in a detached voice, picking up all the details of a scene, for a surprisingly powerful effect. This is the first of the author's books to be translated into English. I'll certainly look for the next one.

[Sara Testarossa · Rating 3 out of 5]

Part of me wonders if I would have enjoyed this book more if I read it in the original Spanish. The writing style may have been more enjoyable, but the plot, not so much. I think this is because so little actually happens in the book. The majority of the interesting events are retold from the past, and I didn't feel any sense of resolution at the end of the book. I did enjoy the meandering journey, somewhat, though, and it was worth reading.

[Ellen · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this book, it was simple and poetic with a satisfying end. I have a feeling it is better in its original spanish, something about the flow and sentence structures seems kind of unnatural or forced at times, but after I got used to the style I really enjoyed it. It definitely has the feel of other literature from modern Spain, not happy or tragic but just real and focused in without judgement on characters making decisions.

[Jean · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed this book very much and found the descriptions vivid and memorable. Since I have travelled to some of the places mentioned in the novel, this added to my reading pleasure and in addition, I knew little about the Spanish Civil War which is the background for the novel. I just wish that I were able to read this book in the original Spanish.

[Sarah]

Leisurely – verging on lethargy – but never quite tipping the scale between sluggishness and unhurried appreciation for the roses (of which, the author is careful to note, there is an astounding variety in Basque).

Full review on The Stanford Daily website

[Tuck · Rating 4 out of 5]

exquisite i think is the word. about a small out of the way place during the spanish civil war in 1936, Hondarribia basque country. and two women who make a deal. A woman's side of war. women should all be our war councils, there would be less war.

[PK Reeves · Rating 3 out of 5]

John Cullen's translation of Manuel de Lope impressive yet I wanted more on the lives of the characters. Rating 3.5 stars Read Review on Aisle B link http://aisleb.tumblr.com/post/1498465...