What do you think?
Rate this book
Ne Mutlu!
Kuşaktan kuşağa, bellek, korku ve arınma üzerine bir hikâye...
"Siz o dönemi yaşamadınız, belleksiz olmak hakkınızdı, gözlerinizi dünyaya açtığınızda savaş bitmiş, biz hepimiz yıllar önce utanca ve ölüme hüküm giymiş, sürgün edilmiş, toprağa gömülmüş, cezaevlerinde ya da korku alışkanlığında mahpustuk çoktan.
Siz edebiyatı yeniyetmeliğinizde bile sevmemize izin verilmediği biçimde seviyorsunuz.
Biz ancak sizin düşleminizde yeniden doğabildik, hem de olduğumuzdan çok daha iyi, daha sadık, daha güzel, alçaklıklardan ve gerçeklerden temizlenmiş olarak.''
"Siz o dönemi yaşamadınız, belleksiz olmak hakkınızdı, gözlerinizi dünyaya açtığınızda savaş bitmiş, biz hepimiz yıllar önce utanca ve ölüme hüküm giymiş, sürgün edilmiş, toprağa gömülmüş, cezaevlerinde ya da korku alışkanlığında mahpustuk çoktan.
Siz edebiyatı yeniyetmeliğinizde bile sevmemize izin verilmediği biçimde seviyorsunuz.
Biz ancak sizin düşleminizde yeniden doğabildik, hem de olduğumuzdan çok daha iyi, daha sadık, daha güzel, alçaklıklardan ve gerçeklerden temizlenmiş olarak.''
223 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1986
About the author
Antonio Muñoz Molina
138 books632 followersAntonio Muñoz Molina is a Spanish writer and, since 8 June 1995, a full member of the Royal Spanish Academy. He currently resides in New York City, United States. In 2004-2005 he served as the director of the Instituto Cervantes of New York.
He was born in the town of Úbeda in Jaén province.
He studied art history at the University of Granada and journalism in Madrid. He began writing in the 1980s and his first published book, El Robinsón urbano, a collection of his journalistic work, was published in 1984. His columns have regularly appeared in El País and Die Welt.
His first novel, Beatus ille, appeared in 1986. It features the imaginary city of Mágina — a re-creation of his Andalusian birthplace — which would reappear in some his later works.
In 1987 Muñoz Molina was awarded Spain's National Narrative Prize for El invierno en Lisboa (translated as Winter in Lisbon), a homage to the genres of film noir and jazz music. His El jinete polaco received the Planeta Prize in 1991 and, again, the National Narrative Prize in 1992.
His other novels include Beltenebros (1989), a story of love and political intrigue in post-Civil War Madrid, Los misterios de Madrid (1992), and El dueño del secreto (1994).
Margaret Sayers Peden's English-language translation of Muñoz Molina's novel Sepharad won the PEN/Book-of-the-Month Club Translation Prize in 2004. He won the Jerusalem Prize in 2013.
He is married to Spanish author and journalist, Elvira Lindo.
He was born in the town of Úbeda in Jaén province.
He studied art history at the University of Granada and journalism in Madrid. He began writing in the 1980s and his first published book, El Robinsón urbano, a collection of his journalistic work, was published in 1984. His columns have regularly appeared in El País and Die Welt.
His first novel, Beatus ille, appeared in 1986. It features the imaginary city of Mágina — a re-creation of his Andalusian birthplace — which would reappear in some his later works.
In 1987 Muñoz Molina was awarded Spain's National Narrative Prize for El invierno en Lisboa (translated as Winter in Lisbon), a homage to the genres of film noir and jazz music. His El jinete polaco received the Planeta Prize in 1991 and, again, the National Narrative Prize in 1992.
His other novels include Beltenebros (1989), a story of love and political intrigue in post-Civil War Madrid, Los misterios de Madrid (1992), and El dueño del secreto (1994).
Margaret Sayers Peden's English-language translation of Muñoz Molina's novel Sepharad won the PEN/Book-of-the-Month Club Translation Prize in 2004. He won the Jerusalem Prize in 2013.
He is married to Spanish author and journalist, Elvira Lindo.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 80 reviews
November 18, 2014
[Revised 4/29/23, spoilers hidden, pictures added]
A retrospective novel of the Spanish Civil War. In the 1980s A young man comes to a small town in Spain to write a dissertation about an obscure novelist and poet who was active in and died in the Civil War.
The chapters alternate between the present and the past. The young man is living at his uncle’s house, who was best friends with the author.
This is a ‘book about books’ and a lot like the Shadow of the Wind or The Angel’s Game (both also translated from the Spanish as is this work) or Night Train to Lisbon. We have our classic gaunt, sleepless, chain-smoking, hollow-eyed novelist. There’s a beautiful, haunting woman who has two men who love her and she loves them both.
The author weaves a mystery about a missing manuscript and a bride who was killed on her wedding night by a random shot through a window from Civil War combatants. But there’s a mystery.
There is much good writing. The novelist says of his father, a peasant, “ ‘The war?’ he said looking around, as if when he didn’t see its traces on the peaceful cultivated earth and in the irrigation ditches he might think I was lying to him.”
And “…perhaps hearing her own voice like the pale shouts in dreams, because the sound of the water erased it, and it vanished in the brilliance of the moon and in the warped spaces of the olive groves and the liquid blue sierra, as weightless and extended as the fog.”
The Spanish author (b. 1956) is a prolific writer with about 25 novels published. Around a third have been translated into English and his best-known work in English on GR is Sepharad.
Top photo from history.com
The author from thebookerprizes.com
A retrospective novel of the Spanish Civil War. In the 1980s A young man comes to a small town in Spain to write a dissertation about an obscure novelist and poet who was active in and died in the Civil War.
The chapters alternate between the present and the past. The young man is living at his uncle’s house, who was best friends with the author.
This is a ‘book about books’ and a lot like the Shadow of the Wind or The Angel’s Game (both also translated from the Spanish as is this work) or Night Train to Lisbon. We have our classic gaunt, sleepless, chain-smoking, hollow-eyed novelist. There’s a beautiful, haunting woman who has two men who love her and she loves them both.
The author weaves a mystery about a missing manuscript and a bride who was killed on her wedding night by a random shot through a window from Civil War combatants. But there’s a mystery.
There is much good writing. The novelist says of his father, a peasant, “ ‘The war?’ he said looking around, as if when he didn’t see its traces on the peaceful cultivated earth and in the irrigation ditches he might think I was lying to him.”
And “…perhaps hearing her own voice like the pale shouts in dreams, because the sound of the water erased it, and it vanished in the brilliance of the moon and in the warped spaces of the olive groves and the liquid blue sierra, as weightless and extended as the fog.”
The Spanish author (b. 1956) is a prolific writer with about 25 novels published. Around a third have been translated into English and his best-known work in English on GR is Sepharad.
Top photo from history.com
The author from thebookerprizes.com
May 7, 2025
Wow, ce carte, ce mult mi-a plãcut!✨️✨️✨️✨️✨️
Nu ṣtiu cum si de ce l-am tot ocolit pe Molina, cred cã mã intimideazã, e ceva intuitiv ṣi parțial inexplicabil. "Beatus Ille" e un masterpiece! Dar vã rog sã nu mã credeți pe cuvânt ṣi sã mã contraziceți (*dacã puteți) dupã ce o citiți. Spor în toate ṣi la vita e bella! 😉
Nu ṣtiu cum si de ce l-am tot ocolit pe Molina, cred cã mã intimideazã, e ceva intuitiv ṣi parțial inexplicabil. "Beatus Ille" e un masterpiece! Dar vã rog sã nu mã credeți pe cuvânt ṣi sã mã contraziceți (*dacã puteți) dupã ce o citiți. Spor în toate ṣi la vita e bella! 😉
June 6, 2020
“Ne Mutlu” kitaplığımda neredeyse unuttuğum kitaplardandı. Molina’nın daha önce “Lizbon’da Gece”sini okumuş, beğenmiştim. Bu ise ilk romanıymış, 1986’da yayınlanmış (bendeki Metis baskısı 1999 tarihli). İspanya iç savaşı hakkında okuduğum romanlara güçlü bir ilave oldu. İç savaş ve sonrasının yarattığı siyasi atmosferde bir aşk üçgeni ve bir aile içindeki güç mücadelesi anlatılıyor. 1930’lardan 1960’ların sonuna kadar olan zaman dilimini içeren, ancak çizgisel bir seyir izlemeyen, anlatıcıların değişebildiği, anlatımda da uzun cümlelerin/paragrafların tercih edildiği, üslup olarak biraz Proust’u andıran güçlü bir roman. Bu özelliklerinden ötürü başta biraz karmaşık geliyor, zorluyor, ama sonra keyfini çıkarmaya başlıyorsunuz. Sonlara doğru bir suç romanı havasına da bürünüyor. Ama “ağır” bir roman olduğunu vurgulayalım tekrar. Karakterler çok iyi oluşturulmuş, iç savaşın acımasızlığı da çok iyi yansıtılmış, özellikle bir bölümde içiniz fena burkuluyor. Sıkı bir roman kısaca. Bu zorlu metni usta çevirmenimiz Neyire Gül Işık da harika çevirmiş.
May 16, 2020
«Beatus Ille» es la obra maestra de mi confinamiento. Con esta lectura me declaro fan de Antonio Muñoz Molina. Recomiendo esta novela por la originalidad del narrador, la riqueza de las descripciones y la construcción de la trama, que te atrapa hasta un final envolvente.
September 26, 2015
Love! War! Friendship! Family! Loyalty! Betrayal! Time! And speaking of time, long, Proustian sentences and and paragraphs that circle and spiral around some aspect of being human until they tunnel down to the heart (or the gut--where do you feel the ache of loss or joy of love?) The story takes place in 1933, 1937, 1947, and 1969 and is not told in linear order; it is also told from the perspective of many characters and narrated by several of them, even at the end changing narrrators unannounced within a chapter. This is a book that takes some commitment to read; here are some reasons it was worth it to me.
The center of the story is in the Spanish Civil War and people die for their beliefs, and kill for them--their passions matter. They are jailed, interrogated (really interrogated), tortured, and lynched.
There is a mystery also at the center, the death by gunshot, in the middle of the Civil War, of a woman on the night after her wedding. She is loved by two characters,her husband and his best friend from childhood (which puts part of the story back into the 1910's.)
There is a plot, though not told in order, with a resolution at the end of the book. The resolution is satisfying, straining probability but not possibility. If Proust bores you, don't worry--things happen in this book.
The book was translated from Spanish in 2008; as I read it, the long steam of consciousness sentences made me think the author was following Javier Maias. Thanks to the wonder of Wikipedia, after I finished the book I learned that it was published in Spanish in 1986, and was the author's first novel. His control of the story and characters is remarkable, and I detected only a few slips. Perhaps Marias imitates the author, maybe they both learn from Proust.
Two of the major characters are writers, one a poet. The Spanish Civil War killed three great Spanish language poets: most famously, Federico Garcia Lorca executed in the first days of the war; Antonio Machado fleeing from Catalonia to France at the end; and Cesar Vallejo sick and exhausted in Paris. Anna Akhmatova said in a poem about Russian literary life before WWI, We didn't know then how many ways there were for a poet to die. It's hard to think of anything more Romantic than a dying poet, and the story may be a little too romantic--but ver little.
The three main characters are well-drawn, three dimensional, and vivid. They are also men. The three main women characters are deliberately mysterious, and live as objects of desire or to play their roles in the plot .
If you are willing to commit your attention and time, this book is worth it.
The center of the story is in the Spanish Civil War and people die for their beliefs, and kill for them--their passions matter. They are jailed, interrogated (really interrogated), tortured, and lynched.
There is a mystery also at the center, the death by gunshot, in the middle of the Civil War, of a woman on the night after her wedding. She is loved by two characters,her husband and his best friend from childhood (which puts part of the story back into the 1910's.)
There is a plot, though not told in order, with a resolution at the end of the book. The resolution is satisfying, straining probability but not possibility. If Proust bores you, don't worry--things happen in this book.
The book was translated from Spanish in 2008; as I read it, the long steam of consciousness sentences made me think the author was following Javier Maias. Thanks to the wonder of Wikipedia, after I finished the book I learned that it was published in Spanish in 1986, and was the author's first novel. His control of the story and characters is remarkable, and I detected only a few slips. Perhaps Marias imitates the author, maybe they both learn from Proust.
Two of the major characters are writers, one a poet. The Spanish Civil War killed three great Spanish language poets: most famously, Federico Garcia Lorca executed in the first days of the war; Antonio Machado fleeing from Catalonia to France at the end; and Cesar Vallejo sick and exhausted in Paris. Anna Akhmatova said in a poem about Russian literary life before WWI, We didn't know then how many ways there were for a poet to die. It's hard to think of anything more Romantic than a dying poet, and the story may be a little too romantic--but ver little.
The three main characters are well-drawn, three dimensional, and vivid. They are also men. The three main women characters are deliberately mysterious, and live as objects of desire or to play their roles in the plot .
If you are willing to commit your attention and time, this book is worth it.
April 2, 2026
İspanyol Edebiyatı denilince iç savaş ilk sırayı alıyor. Bu romanda da böyle ancak “ortaya karışık” türünden savaşın yanına biraz aşk, biraz cinayet dolayısıyla polis-dedektif olayı, biraz politika vb konulmuş. Çok iyi çeviriye karşın yazarın bence pek başarılı olmayan kurgusu nedeniyle okumayı zorlaştırıyor. Anlatıcı ve olayların zamanlamalarını aktarmadaki tercihleri yazarı daha iyi bir kalem yapmamış. Okunabilir, 3.5/4.
September 30, 2022
Beautifully written with a consistency that still makes me shiver, brilliantly-crafted characters blessed with a soul (sometimes the characters who perished in the past appear even more lively than those who are alive in the present time of the book). I have a sort of bad memory when it comes to names in novels but the fact that I still remember most of them, if not all, (and it's a novel with a large number of characters) speaks for me.
The ending left me speechless, I thought it was a perfect way to put an end to a book that bears the same title of Jacinto Solana's infamous opera prima. Expect books, doves, secrets, smoke, war, poetry, lies, statues, guns, paintings, betrayal, love...
How could I not fall in love with this novel?
The ending left me speechless, I thought it was a perfect way to put an end to a book that bears the same title of Jacinto Solana's infamous opera prima. Expect books, doves, secrets, smoke, war, poetry, lies, statues, guns, paintings, betrayal, love...
How could I not fall in love with this novel?
June 21, 2026
Protagonist Minaya is a graduate student fleeing the police in 1969 Madrid. He takes refuge in the country house of his uncle Manuel in the Andalusian town of Mágina. He tells his uncle he is writing his thesis on Jacinto Solana, a poet and his uncle's old friend, shot by the Guardia Civil in 1947. What begins as literary research becomes an attempt to solve the death of Mariana, the woman Manuel married for a single night in 1937 before she was killed by what appeared to be a stray bullet. The investigation leads Minaya to letters, a hidden manuscript, and the testimony of people who have spent decades protecting one version of events.
The Franco-era setting is significant. Muñoz Molina published the novel in 1986, a decade after Franco's death, when Spain's transition rested on the pacto del olvido, the unspoken agreement to leave the crimes of the war and the dictatorship unexamined. The novel challenges that national amnesia. It is demanding, atmospheric literary fiction and a strong example of how Spanish writers have reckoned with the long shadow of the Civil War and Franco.
The prose is dense, built from long sentences that fold back on themselves. Scenes from 1937, 1947, and 1969 bleed into one another, often within a single paragraph, and the timelines are never labeled. Some readers will find them hard to track. The investigation serves mainly as a device to explore how memory works, so anyone wanting a propulsive mystery may find the payoff abrupt. The book rewards patience and offers little to readers looking for brisk plotting or a clear narrative line.
I came to this after reading and loving Muñoz Molina's Sepharad. A Manuscript of Ashes is his debut. I read Edith Grossman's English translation, and the density may owe something to the move across languages. I did not enjoy it as much as Sepharad, which is the better starting point if you are new to him.
3.5
The Franco-era setting is significant. Muñoz Molina published the novel in 1986, a decade after Franco's death, when Spain's transition rested on the pacto del olvido, the unspoken agreement to leave the crimes of the war and the dictatorship unexamined. The novel challenges that national amnesia. It is demanding, atmospheric literary fiction and a strong example of how Spanish writers have reckoned with the long shadow of the Civil War and Franco.
The prose is dense, built from long sentences that fold back on themselves. Scenes from 1937, 1947, and 1969 bleed into one another, often within a single paragraph, and the timelines are never labeled. Some readers will find them hard to track. The investigation serves mainly as a device to explore how memory works, so anyone wanting a propulsive mystery may find the payoff abrupt. The book rewards patience and offers little to readers looking for brisk plotting or a clear narrative line.
I came to this after reading and loving Muñoz Molina's Sepharad. A Manuscript of Ashes is his debut. I read Edith Grossman's English translation, and the density may owe something to the move across languages. I did not enjoy it as much as Sepharad, which is the better starting point if you are new to him.
3.5
March 28, 2025
Comencé a leer a Muñoz Molina desde los primeros semestres de la universidad y, aunque no es un autor frecuente, cada que puedo leer alguna de sus obras no pierdo la oportunidad. Esto sucedió con Beatus Ille:
Un laberinto de recuerdos y sombras
Beatus Ille es mucho más que una novela; es un viaje a través de los laberintos de la memoria, un descenso a las sombras de un pasado que se resiste a ser olvidado. Muñoz Molina construye un relato donde la realidad y la ficción se entrelazan, donde los personajes son a la vez víctimas y verdugos de sus propios recuerdos.
La novela nos presenta a Minaya, un joven estudiante que llega a Mágina, una ciudad ficticia del sur de España (muy recurrente en la obra de Muñoz Molina), con la intención de investigar la figura de Jacinto Solana, un poeta local fallecido. A medida que Minaya se adentra en la vida de Solana, descubre un mundo de secretos y pasiones ocultas, un pasado marcado por la guerra civil y la represión franquista. La búsqueda de la verdad se convierte en un juego de espejos, donde la identidad de Solana se desdobla y se fragmenta.
Sobre el estilo de Muñoz Molina en Beatus Ille:
Atmósfera envolvente: Muñoz Molina crea una atmósfera densa y envolvente, donde la ciudad de Mágina se convierte en un personaje más. Sus calles, sus casas, sus habitantes, todo respira un aire de misterio y melancolía.
Juego de perspectivas: La novela juega con las perspectivas narrativas, alternando entre la voz de Minaya y los recuerdos de otros personajes. Esta multiplicidad de voces crea un efecto de caleidoscopio, donde la verdad se revela de forma fragmentada.
Lenguaje evocador: El lenguaje de Muñoz Molina es preciso y evocador, capaz de recrear tanto la belleza como la sordidez de la realidad. Sus descripciones son detalladas y sensoriales, transportando al lector a los escenarios de la novela.
De personajes y otros demonios:
Minaya: Un personaje que representa la búsqueda de la verdad, la necesidad de desentrañar los secretos del pasado. Su viaje a Mágina es un viaje de autodescubrimiento.
Jacinto Solana: Un personaje enigmático, cuya figura se desdobla y se fragmenta a través de los recuerdos de los demás. Representa la complejidad de la identidad y la dificultad de alcanzar la verdad.
Los habitantes de Mágina: Un coro de voces que construyen y deconstruyen la figura de Solana. Sus recuerdos, a menudo contradictorios, revelan las heridas de un pasado traumático.
Grandes temas:
La memoria: La novela explora la naturaleza de la memoria, su capacidad para distorsionar y reconstruir el pasado.
La identidad: La búsqueda de la identidad de Solana es un tema central, que se refleja en la búsqueda de identidad de Minaya.
La guerra civil española: La sombra de la guerra civil planea sobre la novela, marcando el destino de los personajes y la historia de Mágina.
La literatura: "Beatus Ille" es también una reflexión sobre el poder de la literatura para crear y recrear la realidad.
En general, es una novela que desafía y nos lleva a participar en la construcción del relato. Muñoz Molina nos ofrece una obra que perdurará en la memoria, que nos deja con la sensación de haber habitado un mundo de sombras y recuerdos. Mágina sigue siendo magia.
Un laberinto de recuerdos y sombras
Beatus Ille es mucho más que una novela; es un viaje a través de los laberintos de la memoria, un descenso a las sombras de un pasado que se resiste a ser olvidado. Muñoz Molina construye un relato donde la realidad y la ficción se entrelazan, donde los personajes son a la vez víctimas y verdugos de sus propios recuerdos.
La novela nos presenta a Minaya, un joven estudiante que llega a Mágina, una ciudad ficticia del sur de España (muy recurrente en la obra de Muñoz Molina), con la intención de investigar la figura de Jacinto Solana, un poeta local fallecido. A medida que Minaya se adentra en la vida de Solana, descubre un mundo de secretos y pasiones ocultas, un pasado marcado por la guerra civil y la represión franquista. La búsqueda de la verdad se convierte en un juego de espejos, donde la identidad de Solana se desdobla y se fragmenta.
Sobre el estilo de Muñoz Molina en Beatus Ille:
Atmósfera envolvente: Muñoz Molina crea una atmósfera densa y envolvente, donde la ciudad de Mágina se convierte en un personaje más. Sus calles, sus casas, sus habitantes, todo respira un aire de misterio y melancolía.
Juego de perspectivas: La novela juega con las perspectivas narrativas, alternando entre la voz de Minaya y los recuerdos de otros personajes. Esta multiplicidad de voces crea un efecto de caleidoscopio, donde la verdad se revela de forma fragmentada.
Lenguaje evocador: El lenguaje de Muñoz Molina es preciso y evocador, capaz de recrear tanto la belleza como la sordidez de la realidad. Sus descripciones son detalladas y sensoriales, transportando al lector a los escenarios de la novela.
De personajes y otros demonios:
Minaya: Un personaje que representa la búsqueda de la verdad, la necesidad de desentrañar los secretos del pasado. Su viaje a Mágina es un viaje de autodescubrimiento.
Jacinto Solana: Un personaje enigmático, cuya figura se desdobla y se fragmenta a través de los recuerdos de los demás. Representa la complejidad de la identidad y la dificultad de alcanzar la verdad.
Los habitantes de Mágina: Un coro de voces que construyen y deconstruyen la figura de Solana. Sus recuerdos, a menudo contradictorios, revelan las heridas de un pasado traumático.
Grandes temas:
La memoria: La novela explora la naturaleza de la memoria, su capacidad para distorsionar y reconstruir el pasado.
La identidad: La búsqueda de la identidad de Solana es un tema central, que se refleja en la búsqueda de identidad de Minaya.
La guerra civil española: La sombra de la guerra civil planea sobre la novela, marcando el destino de los personajes y la historia de Mágina.
La literatura: "Beatus Ille" es también una reflexión sobre el poder de la literatura para crear y recrear la realidad.
En general, es una novela que desafía y nos lleva a participar en la construcción del relato. Muñoz Molina nos ofrece una obra que perdurará en la memoria, que nos deja con la sensación de haber habitado un mundo de sombras y recuerdos. Mágina sigue siendo magia.
August 31, 2020
אנטוניו מוניוס מולינה הוא סופר שבשעתו מאד התרשמתי מספרו ״ספרד״, במיוחד מ״ירח מלא״ ופחות מ״חורף בליסבון״.
תקציר הספר מתאר את כתיבתו של מולינה כך: ״ ביכולת סיפורית וירטואוזית, שפיוט ומתח חוברים בה למזיגה מפתיעה, נשזרים כאן סיפוריהן האישיים של דמויות מרתקות של גברים ונשים, על שאיפותיהם ויצריהם, אהבותיהם ושנאותיהם, עם סיפורה האנושי והפוליטי העגום של תקופה אפלה.״
מולינה כותב כאן סיפור שנע על 2 צירי זמן: בשלהי שלטון הפשיסטים של הגנרל פרנקו ואחורה בזמן לתקופת מלחמת האזרחים בספרד.
כפי שנרשם בתקציר, כתיבתו של מולינה, בתיווכה של המתרגמת הנהדרת טל ניצן, אכן וירטואוזית ופיוטית והקורא אמור להתענג עליה. דא עקא, מהר מאד מבינים שהאיזון בין השפה היפיפייה לבין העלילה העמומה משהו, כמעט ואינו קיים ומופרע פעם אחר פעם על ידי מספרים שונים שלוקח זמן להבין מיהם לפי שאר הדמויות. זה מעצבן, בשלב מסוים זה מתיש והכי גרוע זה שאתה מסיים את הספר ושואל את עצמך אם מחר בכלל תזכור מה קראת? מה תגיד למי שישאל אותך בעתיד איך הספר? נראה לי שאגיד שאני זוכר כתיבה יפה אבל לא זוכר על מה ומי נגד מי... זה אגב, פחות או יותר, מה שאמר לי חבר טוב כששאלתי אותו מה דעתו על הספר, לפני שהתחלתי לקרוא...
מבחינתי זו אכזבה גדולה ועוד מחכה לי על המדף ״הפרש הפולני״ שאני מקווה שיפצה אותי במשהו...
תקציר הספר מתאר את כתיבתו של מולינה כך: ״ ביכולת סיפורית וירטואוזית, שפיוט ומתח חוברים בה למזיגה מפתיעה, נשזרים כאן סיפוריהן האישיים של דמויות מרתקות של גברים ונשים, על שאיפותיהם ויצריהם, אהבותיהם ושנאותיהם, עם סיפורה האנושי והפוליטי העגום של תקופה אפלה.״
מולינה כותב כאן סיפור שנע על 2 צירי זמן: בשלהי שלטון הפשיסטים של הגנרל פרנקו ואחורה בזמן לתקופת מלחמת האזרחים בספרד.
כפי שנרשם בתקציר, כתיבתו של מולינה, בתיווכה של המתרגמת הנהדרת טל ניצן, אכן וירטואוזית ופיוטית והקורא אמור להתענג עליה. דא עקא, מהר מאד מבינים שהאיזון בין השפה היפיפייה לבין העלילה העמומה משהו, כמעט ואינו קיים ומופרע פעם אחר פעם על ידי מספרים שונים שלוקח זמן להבין מיהם לפי שאר הדמויות. זה מעצבן, בשלב מסוים זה מתיש והכי גרוע זה שאתה מסיים את הספר ושואל את עצמך אם מחר בכלל תזכור מה קראת? מה תגיד למי שישאל אותך בעתיד איך הספר? נראה לי שאגיד שאני זוכר כתיבה יפה אבל לא זוכר על מה ומי נגד מי... זה אגב, פחות או יותר, מה שאמר לי חבר טוב כששאלתי אותו מה דעתו על הספר, לפני שהתחלתי לקרוא...
מבחינתי זו אכזבה גדולה ועוד מחכה לי על המדף ״הפרש הפולני״ שאני מקווה שיפצה אותי במשהו...
February 22, 2024
????? LITERATURA 🚬🚬🚬
No pero en serio, maravilla de la literatura, y esos plot twists ???? Bárbaro, espectacular, deslumbrante. Medio estereotipado el final, la verdad ni en pedo me imaginaba ese camino, jajsjjsakjsj yo me imaginaba guerra y muerte, héroes caídos q lo dan todo hasta el final HAY QUE TOMAR LOS MEDIOS DE PRODUCCIÓN viva la revolución viva el proletariado
No pero en serio, maravilla de la literatura, y esos plot twists ???? Bárbaro, espectacular, deslumbrante. Medio estereotipado el final, la verdad ni en pedo me imaginaba ese camino, jajsjjsakjsj yo me imaginaba guerra y muerte, héroes caídos q lo dan todo hasta el final HAY QUE TOMAR LOS MEDIOS DE PRODUCCIÓN viva la revolución viva el proletariado
April 6, 2022
Primera novela de Antonio Muñoz Molina que ya constituye una muestra de su estilo, esa fascinante creación que hace únicos a algunos escritores, que deja su impronta. La historia del joven estudiante frustrado en el Madrid franquista de las primeras protestas estudiantiles se erige como hilo conductor que se entreteje con la propia historia de un triángulo amoroso en la Guerra Civil cuyo desenlace fatal ya se conoce pero cuya misteriosa causa se va desgranando poco a poco, casi laberínticamente, de manera que las palabras te envuelven con un preciso detallismo proustiano que caracteriza la obra del autor. El verbalismo desaforado, casi asfixiante, que peca de alguna adjetivacion sobrecargada que más adelante ya depura como escritor más experimentado, deja frases maravillosas que resuenan en la cabeza durante el tiempo necesario para sentir el deleite por la lectura, dejando en segundo plano a la propia historia y creando unos personajes que te arrastran tanto en sus vicisitudes como en sus tormentosos remordimientos.
February 5, 2024
Un libro que cambia a cada página para estallar en un final rebuscado, experimental, psicológico. Lo único que interrumpe la fluidez de una prosa genial es el tratamiento de los personajes femeninos; Mariana: diosa muerta sin personalidad e Inés: adolescente pobre sexualizada hasta lo ridículo. Me desilusionó la revelación final, no por romper la ficción en mil pedazos (eso es lo único que rescato) sino por la relación de Inés con un viejo que conoce desde que nació. Me gustó por la nostalgia verdadera y fingida.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
June 1, 2015
Una historia fascinante y envolvente donde el pasado se confunde con el presente. No es una lectura difícil, pero sí requiere de una gran concentración por parte del lector debido a los numerosos flashbacks y al constante cambio de personajes —muchas veces en un mismo párrafo— que puede llegar a confundir. Sin embargo, vale mucho la pena su lectura.
October 9, 2016
No use, really, in puzzling out who is writing (point of view) or when, both of which are constantly shifting: the book is the author of its own tale.
October 2, 2021
Başyapıt👏👏
August 16, 2024
This is a beautifully written novel taking place in Spain, still scarred by its terrible civil war, still under the Franco dictatorship. It spans three different periods, the late 1930’s, the late 1940’s and the late 1960’s. These three periods are intertwined by place - Manuel’s beautiful and somewhat eerie house - by the seemingly unrelated love stories at the heart of each of them, and by the town from which originate the three main characters driving the story. The great mystery surrounding a long lost manuscript written by one Solana, a journalist-author-poet, childhood friend of Manuel and a Republican hero, is the initial tie-in of all three periods.
The beauty of the novel is in the way it weaves the three timelines into a coherent story, slowly attaching the various threads into a complete tapestry while building up the mystery at its core, that of the death of Manuel’s young bride on her wedding night in the late 1930's and of the death or disappearance of Solana ten years later after he had written what is considered his masterpiece. The search for this lost manuscript in the late 1960’s gives the story its impetus.
The narrative shifts perspective, at times in mid- chapter, and it definitely requires concentration; this is not your typical run-of-the-mill mystery. Gradually, in beautiful prose, what at first seem like unrelated stories gains complexity and momentum as the novel progresses, and finally clarity and a satisfying denouement at the end.
The beauty of the novel is in the way it weaves the three timelines into a coherent story, slowly attaching the various threads into a complete tapestry while building up the mystery at its core, that of the death of Manuel’s young bride on her wedding night in the late 1930's and of the death or disappearance of Solana ten years later after he had written what is considered his masterpiece. The search for this lost manuscript in the late 1960’s gives the story its impetus.
The narrative shifts perspective, at times in mid- chapter, and it definitely requires concentration; this is not your typical run-of-the-mill mystery. Gradually, in beautiful prose, what at first seem like unrelated stories gains complexity and momentum as the novel progresses, and finally clarity and a satisfying denouement at the end.
Read
July 18, 2020במקרה התגלגל לידיי הספר הזה וכמה מזל שדרכו התוודעתי אל הסופר הזה. כתיבתו של מולינה ייחודית ואינה דומה לאחרים. זו היא כתיבה מורכבת ולעתים אף מסורבלת, עקב משפטים ארוכים במיוחד, קפיצות קדימה ואחור בזמן, מעברים תמידיים בין תודעות הדמויות ותיאורים מורכבים ביותר של נופים, מקומות, תחושות ומצבים. קראתי כל משפט ופסקה כמה וכמה פעמים אך בכל זאת נהניתי מהיכולת המופלאה והנדירה של מולינה ליצור מבנה עמוק כזה של ספרות, שמשקף ומהדהד בעצם הכתיבה את התוכן המסופר.
אשרי האיש אנטוניו מוניוס מולינה, הסופר הדגול.
אשרי האיש אנטוניו מוניוס מולינה, הסופר הדגול.
April 11, 2020
Confieso que miento, comencé este libro hace 5 años en Granada, pensé que era lo propio, pero gracias a este confinamiento me he animado a terminarlo, es un libro que absorbe y se necesita un poco de tiempo para volver al cuerpo, tanta descripción poética, tanto patetismo (en el buen sentido de la palabra). Uno de los primeros libros sobre la guerra civil que cuenta en tres tiempos un crimen y varias historias de amor, amor por las mujeres misteriosas, por las que en el fondo nunca existieron pero también por la República, por un sueño que se perdió, pero sobre todo por la literatura y la creación... ¿quién se atrevería a admitir que, en el fondo, nunca se fue un gran poeta pero sí un gran creador de telarañas?
September 3, 2025
leí este libro con 17 en bachillerato y me cambió la vida. también me ha cambiado la vida a los 26. qué libro, qué manera de escribir!!!!!!! no sé qué más decir solo espero volver a leerlo en 10 años y que me vuelva a cambiar la vida
February 12, 2024
definitivamente extraño, un poco imaginado. buen final
March 27, 2020
Maestría narrativa en una novela interesante, brillantemente armada y contada, con estilo complejo pero que se puede leer y disfrutar perfectamente a medida que se avanza y se descubren las verdades ocultas tras los telones que nos ofrece Muñoz Molina.
Esta es una lectura supongo de manual en España, ya que Muñoz Molina es más que conocido y aceptado como gran narrador. Pero yo no lo conocía a detalle hasta aquella tarde que fue a dar una conferencia a la Universidad de Cádiz, junto a su esposa Elvira Lindo. Algo me dijo al oído que tenía que asistir, y afortunadamente llegué temprano gracias al tren, ya que el auditorio terminó llenándose hasta las lámparas. Habló, y el silencio inmediato. Y a medida que hablaba, me fui convenciendo que tenía delante a un gran pensador y escritor, y evidentemente, que sabe lo que escribe, como ya he podido comprobar con su 'Beatus ille'.
De esa tarde ya hace tres años, y por una u otra razón no había podido leerlo hasta ahora. He escuchado escritores que me chirrían los dientes y me ponen de malas, gente que no profundiza en lo que escribe, y que de entrada no me llama a leerlos. Cuando escuché a Muñoz Molina hablando para un auditorio repleto, gente ávida de comprar sus libros, produjo en mí una curiosa sensación de sosiego y esperanza en un mundo sórdido y jodido como es escribir y publicar.
Seguiré con Muñoz Molina, por supuesto. Es un placer leer su narrativa, que suele acercarse constantemente a una poesía ambigua que nos mantiene aferrados a su historia
Esta es una lectura supongo de manual en España, ya que Muñoz Molina es más que conocido y aceptado como gran narrador. Pero yo no lo conocía a detalle hasta aquella tarde que fue a dar una conferencia a la Universidad de Cádiz, junto a su esposa Elvira Lindo. Algo me dijo al oído que tenía que asistir, y afortunadamente llegué temprano gracias al tren, ya que el auditorio terminó llenándose hasta las lámparas. Habló, y el silencio inmediato. Y a medida que hablaba, me fui convenciendo que tenía delante a un gran pensador y escritor, y evidentemente, que sabe lo que escribe, como ya he podido comprobar con su 'Beatus ille'.
De esa tarde ya hace tres años, y por una u otra razón no había podido leerlo hasta ahora. He escuchado escritores que me chirrían los dientes y me ponen de malas, gente que no profundiza en lo que escribe, y que de entrada no me llama a leerlos. Cuando escuché a Muñoz Molina hablando para un auditorio repleto, gente ávida de comprar sus libros, produjo en mí una curiosa sensación de sosiego y esperanza en un mundo sórdido y jodido como es escribir y publicar.
Seguiré con Muñoz Molina, por supuesto. Es un placer leer su narrativa, que suele acercarse constantemente a una poesía ambigua que nos mantiene aferrados a su historia
February 8, 2011
I just wrote a scathing review that goodreads.com threw away, so I'll condense it and just say this book was as pleasant to read as a root canal is to dental procedures. Bottom line: you don't shift points of view in the middle of a sentence. You don't force your reader to backtrack endlessly to try and figure out who is saying what. That isn't mystery, it's damned inconvenient. Only masochism enabled me to finish this book, an excruciating three weeks I could have spent reading a host of other books. I have the suspicion that these literary failings aren't the fault of the translator -- likely the author thought he was doing something experimental by dragging my eyeballs across the equivalent of broken glass the entire length of the book. This approach is avant-garde, like an artist painting himself with turquoise paint and leaping into a cactus patch, and just as successful: he did it, but why? If this is the new direction of literature I'm sticking to the classics.
While this book doesn't descend to the level of one-star Books I Loathe, it flies pretty close to the border. I gave it a second star for competent character development.
Someone described this book wrongly as hypnotic; it is instead tedious, tiresome and a relentless exercise in frustration. If you enjoy beating your head against a wall, read this book. If you have better things to do with your head, pick a different book to read.
While this book doesn't descend to the level of one-star Books I Loathe, it flies pretty close to the border. I gave it a second star for competent character development.
Someone described this book wrongly as hypnotic; it is instead tedious, tiresome and a relentless exercise in frustration. If you enjoy beating your head against a wall, read this book. If you have better things to do with your head, pick a different book to read.
April 29, 2015
Un joven universitario, huyendo de la represión policial, decide regresar a su ciudad natal, Mágina, con el pretexto de recabar información para su tesis doctoral.
Se aloja en casa de Manuel, pariente lejano, cuya casa está llena de fantasmas y misterios que atormentan a los que viven en ella.
Con un estilo particular, el autor va desgranando la trama, saltando continuamente en el tiempo. Retazos de historia que va hilvanando hasta completar el cuadro final.
Una amistad inquebrantable, una mujer misteriosa, un asesinato, una guerra y sus perdedores.
La lectura termina siendo un poco tediosa, mucha descripción y poca acción.
Se aloja en casa de Manuel, pariente lejano, cuya casa está llena de fantasmas y misterios que atormentan a los que viven en ella.
Con un estilo particular, el autor va desgranando la trama, saltando continuamente en el tiempo. Retazos de historia que va hilvanando hasta completar el cuadro final.
Una amistad inquebrantable, una mujer misteriosa, un asesinato, una guerra y sus perdedores.
La lectura termina siendo un poco tediosa, mucha descripción y poca acción.
January 14, 2022
Se trata de una de las primeras publicaciones de M. Molina y aunque tiene algún pecadillo de escritor nobel, a mi me encantó (ya que cuando lo leí también era lector principiante). Al cabo de los años me sigue pareciendo un gran libro, tipo thriller con ambientación rural.
March 9, 2012
This book will break any writer's heart.
May 29, 2017
Abandonado... No consigo mantener la atención en la densísima historia de Minaya. Una pena.
September 25, 2020
Ugh se nota que la escribió un onvre
April 2, 2023
Excelente
Displaying 1 - 30 of 80 reviews