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Nevadako Egunak
"Nevadako egunak" kronika da hasieran, eta bukaeran nobela. Bere pieza guztiak bereziak dira, baina motiboak eta pertsonaiak, beti berberak. "Obabakoak" bezain aldakorra da, eta "Soinujolearen semea" bezain trinkoa. Ez dago orrialde berdinik, ezta orrialde solterik ere. Liburuaren atmosfera nagusia biografiarena da. Bere orrialdeetan azalduz doazen pieza guztiek giza esperientzia dute abiapuntu. Egileak bere berri ematen du haietan, zer bizi izan zuen, zer pentsatu eta imajinatu zuen Estatu Batuetako Nevadan pasatutako denboran, 2007ko abuztutik 2008ko ekainera; baina beste pertsonaia batzuk ere hartzen ditu aintzat, hurbilekoak eta arrotzak, lehengoak eta oraingoak. Lekuek ere badute garrantzia, eta batez ere desertuak.
- GenresFiction
444 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2013
18 people are currently reading
291 people want to read
About the author
Bernardo Atxaga
148 books166 followersBernardo Atxaga (Joseba Irazu Garmendia, Asteasu, Guipúzcoa, 1951) belongs to the young group of Basque writers that began publishing in his mother language, Euskara, in the Seventies. Graduated in Economics for the Bilbao University, he later studied Philosophy at the University of Barcelona.
His first short story, Ziutateaz was published in 1976 and his first book of poetry Etiopia in 1978. Both works received the National Critics Prize for the best works in the Basque language.
He cultivates most genres: poetry, radio, cinema scriptwriting, theatre, children's books, articles, short stories... His national –and soon after international– recognition arrived with Obabakoak (1988) which, among other prizes, was awarded the National Literature Prize 1989 and that has been translated into more than twenty languages.
Many of his poems have also been translated into other languages and published by prestigious magazines such as Jahbuch der Lyrik, 1993, Die horen, 1995, Lichtungen, 1997 (Germany), Lyrikklubbss bibliotek, 1993 (Sweden), Vuelta, 1990 (Mexico), Linea d'ombra, 1992 (Italy) and others.
His first short story, Ziutateaz was published in 1976 and his first book of poetry Etiopia in 1978. Both works received the National Critics Prize for the best works in the Basque language.
He cultivates most genres: poetry, radio, cinema scriptwriting, theatre, children's books, articles, short stories... His national –and soon after international– recognition arrived with Obabakoak (1988) which, among other prizes, was awarded the National Literature Prize 1989 and that has been translated into more than twenty languages.
Many of his poems have also been translated into other languages and published by prestigious magazines such as Jahbuch der Lyrik, 1993, Die horen, 1995, Lichtungen, 1997 (Germany), Lyrikklubbss bibliotek, 1993 (Sweden), Vuelta, 1990 (Mexico), Linea d'ombra, 1992 (Italy) and others.
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Displaying 1 - 26 of 26 reviews
February 20, 2019
As other reviews have mentioned, this is more journal than novel of a Basque visiting professor's stay with his family in Reno, Nevada during 2007-2008. Interspersed with the entries of his and his family's impressions of Reno are longer essays where the narrator recalls childhood memories andrecounts stories related to his Basque origins.
The four stars are for the author's humble and direct prose that clarifies rather than obscures and allows the reader to spend more time thinking about what is written, rather than figuring out what is written.
The four stars are for the author's humble and direct prose that clarifies rather than obscures and allows the reader to spend more time thinking about what is written, rather than figuring out what is written.
March 12, 2020
This book reminds me greatly of Blue Highways by William Least Heatmoon.
Quotable:
What connection was there between justice and compassion? How far should society go in order to protect itself?
Snow interrupts the wheel of time, it intervenes like some extraordinary event in the midst of a long series of very ordinary events; that is where it derives its power. We’re all aware of its power, children especially.
I told Earle and Dennis about what I had read when we met at the coffee stall near the library.
“If they had to pay what we’re going to pay for these coffees for every [online] comment they made, they might have a little less faith in aliens,” Earle said. “That’s the trouble with faith. It’s free.”
Every ceremony presupposes a caesure, a break, an interruption to the flow of life. The hours which, generally speaking, seem so similar, the monotonous hours which, point by point, form a geometrical line, dull and unsurprising, undergo a sudden transformation, and then everything is different.
We always return to our everyday life; we have nowhere else to go. Sometimes something extraordinary happens, some misfortune, and it seems as if everything has stopped and will never start again. However, the current of daily life keeps flowing, even when it seems to have turned to stone, and the grieving, suffering person still has to get up and have a shower in the morning, have breakfast, do the shopping, go to work, listen to what people are saying about last night’s television programmes or the latest football match, or argue with a bank clerk about some mispayment. Gradually, all these activities erase the extraordinary, the misfortune, from his or her head, for just an hour at first, then, later on, for a week or a month. In the end, all that remains in the consciousness is a shadow, a dull ache.
Quotable:
What connection was there between justice and compassion? How far should society go in order to protect itself?
Snow interrupts the wheel of time, it intervenes like some extraordinary event in the midst of a long series of very ordinary events; that is where it derives its power. We’re all aware of its power, children especially.
I told Earle and Dennis about what I had read when we met at the coffee stall near the library.
“If they had to pay what we’re going to pay for these coffees for every [online] comment they made, they might have a little less faith in aliens,” Earle said. “That’s the trouble with faith. It’s free.”
Every ceremony presupposes a caesure, a break, an interruption to the flow of life. The hours which, generally speaking, seem so similar, the monotonous hours which, point by point, form a geometrical line, dull and unsurprising, undergo a sudden transformation, and then everything is different.
We always return to our everyday life; we have nowhere else to go. Sometimes something extraordinary happens, some misfortune, and it seems as if everything has stopped and will never start again. However, the current of daily life keeps flowing, even when it seems to have turned to stone, and the grieving, suffering person still has to get up and have a shower in the morning, have breakfast, do the shopping, go to work, listen to what people are saying about last night’s television programmes or the latest football match, or argue with a bank clerk about some mispayment. Gradually, all these activities erase the extraordinary, the misfortune, from his or her head, for just an hour at first, then, later on, for a week or a month. In the end, all that remains in the consciousness is a shadow, a dull ache.
February 8, 2018
Trigger warnings: death of a parent, mentions of rape and murder. I think that's all?
This book was...yeah. I don't even know.
When I first finished it last night, I gave it 2.5 stars. But the more I think about it, the more I'm like "............what even WAS that??" so I've bumped it down to 2 stars.
Based on the blurb, this sounded like it was going to be a fascinating look at a family dealing with moving from Spain to the US, dealing with the culture shock, with the weird holidays, with the crime in their neighbourhood.
Instead, this was...basically a series of vignettes that didn't really tie together in any way. There were elements of the writing that I really liked (although I'm pretty sure this was originally published in Basque. The edition I read was translated from Spanish, so maybe it was double translated???) and there were definitely SOME sections of the story that I thoroughly enjoyed.
But this just...there was no point in it? Things were introduced and then never mentioned again. Something seemingly BIG would finally happen and then you'd jump to a dream or a flashback to his childhood or just fast forward a couple of weeks. And it just didn't work for me AT all. Sigh.
This book was...yeah. I don't even know.
When I first finished it last night, I gave it 2.5 stars. But the more I think about it, the more I'm like "............what even WAS that??" so I've bumped it down to 2 stars.
Based on the blurb, this sounded like it was going to be a fascinating look at a family dealing with moving from Spain to the US, dealing with the culture shock, with the weird holidays, with the crime in their neighbourhood.
Instead, this was...basically a series of vignettes that didn't really tie together in any way. There were elements of the writing that I really liked (although I'm pretty sure this was originally published in Basque. The edition I read was translated from Spanish, so maybe it was double translated???) and there were definitely SOME sections of the story that I thoroughly enjoyed.
But this just...there was no point in it? Things were introduced and then never mentioned again. Something seemingly BIG would finally happen and then you'd jump to a dream or a flashback to his childhood or just fast forward a couple of weeks. And it just didn't work for me AT all. Sigh.
July 31, 2014
Sigo sin saber si me ha gustado o no. Es la narración del propio autor de un año viviendo en Nevada, donde se entremezclan historias del momento con recuerdos del pasado. No pretende ser una novela, es un cesto de cuentos que se suceden con cierta relación entre ellos. El que haya seguido la obra de Atxaga reconocerá a algunos de sus personajes y lugares, multitud de guiños desde Bi Letter.
Y me gusta su forma de escribir, como me ha gustado siempre, y entiendo que tiene una forma de funcionar un tanto dispersa que a veces se refleja en retales perdidos (que no tiene por qué ser algo malo, de hecho es algo suyo que me suele gustar), pero aun así me parece que en ocasiones ha sido excesivo; en ocasiones solo lo he visto como una enumeración de situaciones. En cambio en los capítulos donde se daba tiempo para explicarse he reconocido al Atxaga de siempre y me ha encantado.
En general una lectura un tanto agridulce.
Y me gusta su forma de escribir, como me ha gustado siempre, y entiendo que tiene una forma de funcionar un tanto dispersa que a veces se refleja en retales perdidos (que no tiene por qué ser algo malo, de hecho es algo suyo que me suele gustar), pero aun así me parece que en ocasiones ha sido excesivo; en ocasiones solo lo he visto como una enumeración de situaciones. En cambio en los capítulos donde se daba tiempo para explicarse he reconocido al Atxaga de siempre y me ha encantado.
En general una lectura un tanto agridulce.
March 26, 2021
Blurb is perfectly accurate. Even to the word 'seductive.' Yes, it's unclassifiable, unsettling, etc. And at many points I don't know which parts are fiction. And I'm not sure that I'm glad I read it. Nor do I know to whom I would recommend it. But gee whiz it's, erm, good.
And yet I don't want to read more by the author, as he really did portray Reno as the first circle of hell, despite Rancho San Rafael and a few good friends... I don't need any more of that literary weight about the Basque homeland or whatever he normally writes about.
Anyway:
If you're in the hospital and the white coats are gathering 'round the bed, remember the Basque proverb, "... when two or three shepherds are gathered together it can only mean one thing: a dead sheep."
I want to listen to Schubert's Rosamunde Quartet, St. Francis' Canticle to Brother Sun, and to Doctor Watson, esp. Summertime.
I really liked having a preset topic of conversation at the Thanksgiving gathering... everyone was to talk about favorite smells, respectively.
Bertolt Brecht: "Did the kings haul up the lumps of rock?" Did the stout men in top hats build the transcontinental railroad?
And yet I don't want to read more by the author, as he really did portray Reno as the first circle of hell, despite Rancho San Rafael and a few good friends... I don't need any more of that literary weight about the Basque homeland or whatever he normally writes about.
Anyway:
If you're in the hospital and the white coats are gathering 'round the bed, remember the Basque proverb, "... when two or three shepherds are gathered together it can only mean one thing: a dead sheep."
I want to listen to Schubert's Rosamunde Quartet, St. Francis' Canticle to Brother Sun, and to Doctor Watson, esp. Summertime.
I really liked having a preset topic of conversation at the Thanksgiving gathering... everyone was to talk about favorite smells, respectively.
Bertolt Brecht: "Did the kings haul up the lumps of rock?" Did the stout men in top hats build the transcontinental railroad?
February 26, 2019
O que aconteceria se Cormac McCarthy decidisse escrever um livro de memórias.
A estranheza dessa preposição é difícil de destacar. É um livro de memórias: nove meses na vida de uma família basca passando uma temporada nos EUA. Mas também é um romance policial/existencial ao estilo McCarthy. Ou True Detective. Um pouco de Irmãos Coen e David Lynch. Mas também é um livro de memórias. O que significa que nunca é tão bizarro como nesses autores/artistas. Nem tão extremo. Mas ao mesmo tempo é perigosamente próximo: o Mal, a morte, o deserto, como se fossem vizinhos.
A estranheza dessa preposição é difícil de destacar. É um livro de memórias: nove meses na vida de uma família basca passando uma temporada nos EUA. Mas também é um romance policial/existencial ao estilo McCarthy. Ou True Detective. Um pouco de Irmãos Coen e David Lynch. Mas também é um livro de memórias. O que significa que nunca é tão bizarro como nesses autores/artistas. Nem tão extremo. Mas ao mesmo tempo é perigosamente próximo: o Mal, a morte, o deserto, como se fossem vizinhos.
December 5, 2018
This book is by the Basque author Bernardo Atxaga. It was written during his sabbatical at the University of Nevada-Reno. The book contains his reactions to the US during his stay, memories of his childhood in Spain, and historical and cultural insights into the Basques in Spain and diaspora in the US. Highly recommended.
October 19, 2020
Mina ematen dit hain nota baxua ematea baina benetan ez zaidala batere gustatu.
Nevadako istorioak gustatu zaizkit, nolatan Bernardo Atxagak, bere emaztea ta bi alabak, moldatzen diren Estatu Batuetako bizitzara. Gero, flashback pilo bat sartzen ditu, ta gehienak zentzugabeak ta nahiko aspergarriak. Batenbat libratzen da, boxeolari kontuez aritzen denean adibidez, baina gehienak uff...
Gero, Nevadako istoriora bueltatzen denean, askotan denboran salto handia ematen du ta kontatzen duenak ez du zerikusirik lehenago kontatzen zegoenarekin.
En fin, irakurtzen nenbilela, soilik liburua amaitzeko irrikia nuen. Ta Bernardo Atxaga delako, bestela bere horretan utziko nukeen hasiera-hasieratik.
Nevadako istorioak gustatu zaizkit, nolatan Bernardo Atxagak, bere emaztea ta bi alabak, moldatzen diren Estatu Batuetako bizitzara. Gero, flashback pilo bat sartzen ditu, ta gehienak zentzugabeak ta nahiko aspergarriak. Batenbat libratzen da, boxeolari kontuez aritzen denean adibidez, baina gehienak uff...
Gero, Nevadako istoriora bueltatzen denean, askotan denboran salto handia ematen du ta kontatzen duenak ez du zerikusirik lehenago kontatzen zegoenarekin.
En fin, irakurtzen nenbilela, soilik liburua amaitzeko irrikia nuen. Ta Bernardo Atxaga delako, bestela bere horretan utziko nukeen hasiera-hasieratik.
August 9, 2021
Crónicas de su estadía con su familia en Nevada… creo que el formato no es para mi. No pasa nada en este libro, aunque rescato la mirada externa sobre la sociedad y la cotidianidad de la vida estadounidense. La mirada europea sobre lo que es tan natural para un estadounidense: la muerte, la inseguridad, la religión, las preocupaciones, etc.
August 7, 2018
This is just simply an outsiders look at the US experience, super easy to read, says some pertinent, sometimes funny stuff and touches a couple of nerves about the bad parts of the US experience, well written.
January 5, 2019
Nevada Days/ Atxaga
This free-flowing journal of days in Reno. An alien (Basque) in a world where all are revealed as aliens. Myths - familial, cultural /memories / dreams/ readings/ conversations- all blur in this Kaleidoscopic trip.
We sit at the bar, cradling a beer listening to wonderful music of people bumbling through their thoughts as Obama and Hillary campaign against each other, bodies of soldiers killed in Iraq return, and news of victims of a serial local rapist are reported.
These backgrounds merge with the foreground in a beautiful human dance of life.
“”...for Crazy Horse, the world we inhabit was merely the shadow of another world, of the real world, and that he could only get into that real world through dreams, and in his dreams he saw his horse dancing wildly, crazily, which was why he called himself Crazy Horse, and it was in his dreams, too, that he acquired his skills as a warrior, because it was there , in the real world, that he discovered new ways of fighting the white man.”
This free-flowing journal of days in Reno. An alien (Basque) in a world where all are revealed as aliens. Myths - familial, cultural /memories / dreams/ readings/ conversations- all blur in this Kaleidoscopic trip.
We sit at the bar, cradling a beer listening to wonderful music of people bumbling through their thoughts as Obama and Hillary campaign against each other, bodies of soldiers killed in Iraq return, and news of victims of a serial local rapist are reported.
These backgrounds merge with the foreground in a beautiful human dance of life.
“”...for Crazy Horse, the world we inhabit was merely the shadow of another world, of the real world, and that he could only get into that real world through dreams, and in his dreams he saw his horse dancing wildly, crazily, which was why he called himself Crazy Horse, and it was in his dreams, too, that he acquired his skills as a warrior, because it was there , in the real world, that he discovered new ways of fighting the white man.”
August 31, 2018
I received an ARC in exchange for an articulate, level-headed review.
In summation, this book was an indulgent disaster. Writer-in-residence has no imagination so he writes a "novel" about a writer in residence. It's a random collage of stuff he did while in Nevada. Mixed with entirely unrelated stores from his childhood. This book has no justification to exist. A true shame.
In summation, this book was an indulgent disaster. Writer-in-residence has no imagination so he writes a "novel" about a writer in residence. It's a random collage of stuff he did while in Nevada. Mixed with entirely unrelated stores from his childhood. This book has no justification to exist. A true shame.
July 25, 2021
Aunque está escrito con detalle y bastante sensibilidad, Días de Nevada, no me ha parecido nada del otro mundo.
Está escrito como un diario, mezclado con noticias, recuerdos y sueños que no vienen mucho a cuento. Quizás por su propia estructura, el libro es muy asimétrico, en el sentido en que hay partes muy interesantes y otras que son un pestiño. Los sueños son especialmente aburridos, y los recuerdos espontáneos no están relacionados con la realidad que, en ese momento, está viviendo el protagonista
Te encuentras ante una historia sin más nexo común que la ubicación. Quizás por eso el final se te hace especialmente aburrido, simple y sin ningún interés. ´
Resumiendo, en Días de Nevada estamos ante un "diario" de un viaje, con pasajes muy interesantes sobre el lugar y sus gentes, pero que el autor estropea con sus aburridos recuerdos y sueños idiotas, que entorpecen la lectura e irritan al lector. No lo recomendaría especialmente, pero se lee fácilmente y es una opción más para pasar el rato.
Está escrito como un diario, mezclado con noticias, recuerdos y sueños que no vienen mucho a cuento. Quizás por su propia estructura, el libro es muy asimétrico, en el sentido en que hay partes muy interesantes y otras que son un pestiño. Los sueños son especialmente aburridos, y los recuerdos espontáneos no están relacionados con la realidad que, en ese momento, está viviendo el protagonista
Te encuentras ante una historia sin más nexo común que la ubicación. Quizás por eso el final se te hace especialmente aburrido, simple y sin ningún interés. ´
Resumiendo, en Días de Nevada estamos ante un "diario" de un viaje, con pasajes muy interesantes sobre el lugar y sus gentes, pero que el autor estropea con sus aburridos recuerdos y sueños idiotas, que entorpecen la lectura e irritan al lector. No lo recomendaría especialmente, pero se lee fácilmente y es una opción más para pasar el rato.
April 15, 2020
Entré en el mundo literario de Atxaga con "Obabakoak", un libro absolutamente fantástico y lleno de imaginación, originalidad y literatura. Sin embargo, este libro autobiográfico basado en los 9 meses que el autor vivió en Reno, Nevada, EE.UU., aunque tiene algunos relatos muy interesantes que me han transportado a ese mundo de Obaba de la primera novela que leí de Atxaga, no ha logrado entusiasmare del todo y lo único que he querido, a medida que pasaban las páginas, era terminarlo para poder comenzar así otro libro.
August 23, 2018
Me ha gustado cómo intercala las vivencias a modo de retrospectiva mientras conectas con su día a día en Estados Unidos. La parte de recuerdos de su infancia ha sido fascinante. Me ha hecho buscar datos para saber un poquito más de una historia ajena a mí, y eso siempre me encanta de un libro. Lo dejé de leer hace unos meses y retomarlo ha sido una buena decisión. Definitely, there is a time and place for everything.
February 2, 2022
If you want a narrative that gets places fast, look elsewhere. But if you're in no rush, this apparently very lightly fictionalised memoir of a Basque academic's stay in Reno Nevada has its rewards. It's recognisably the work of an academic: there's too much reference to other books. But it's convincing and, at times, touching. You get a good sense of the alienation felt by a family in a foreign and very different country.
January 17, 2024
Libro pésimo, parece el diario de un adolescente, aunque más bien parece que tuvo que escribir algo para que el viaje le contara como trabajo y desgravar algunos gastos. Desconexo, alguna historia familiar que va urdiendo hasta el final, sin faltar algún toquecito nacionalista vasco. Muy decepcionante. Al menos no me ha costado nada porque me han dejado el libro. Lo único bueno para mi
October 8, 2024
Gehien gustuko izan dudan gauzetako bat kontatzeko modua izan da: badirudi ez dela ezer ere ez gertatzen, edota modu oso objetiboan kamara bat dela, bere egunerokoan idazten. Hala ere, gai terribleak jorratzen ditu, hala nola, (in)justizia, zigorrak, ezbeharrak, heriotza eta naturaren anomaliak.
January 10, 2019
Couldn't really make this one work for me, couldn't really connect the Nevada happenings with the flashbacks.
February 12, 2019
Experience of Reno, Nevada from non-American.
May 27, 2021
I will probably read this book again but I found it very slow going at first.
May 23, 2020
I like Bernardo's fiction books and his turn of phrase is just as vibrant in this semi-autobiographical book. Mixing modern experiences from Reno with recollections from the Basque country works, and there are suprising connections. The vignettes make for a relaxed novel.
Read
July 20, 2021
Trigger & Content Warnings
Rape mentioned
Death of a parent
Murder mentioned
Rape mentioned
Death of a parent
Murder mentioned
June 30, 2019
A devoted reader of Atxaga, this by ok is a bit of an anomaly. His books are for the most part based in the Basque Country of Spain but this is based in and around Reno Nevada. Interestingly the best parts are when he does reminisce about Spain.
July 1, 2023
Picked this up on a whim in Bilbao looking at the understandably slim selection of books in English at a local bookshop. Had to purchase when I saw the author is from the Basque Country. A complex storyline, full of nuance; much like the region itself.
Displaying 1 - 26 of 26 reviews