Learn Spanish With Stories (B2): Vecinos del infierno - A Short Story in Spanish for Intermediate and Advanced Learners

by Juan Fernández

A MURDER MYSTERY BOOK IN SPANISHVecinos del infierno is a thriller which, I hope, will grab your attention from the beginning and will keep you motivated till the end of the book. It's a story that you will really want to read. A story you won't easily put down. A story that may keep you so intrigued, you may forget that the main purpose you started reading it was to learn Spanish!

LEARNING SPANISH BY READING. READING IN SPANISH FOR PLEASURE.Reading Spanish short stories like Vecinos del infierno is one of the most effective and pleasant ways to learn Spanish. By reading, you can learn vocabulary and grammar structures in context, without the need to memorise lists of isolated words or study endless grammar rules.

INTERMEDIATE AND UPPER-INTERMEDIATE LEVEL OF SPANISHVecinos del Infierno is a Spanish short story written especially for intermediate and upper-intermediate learners of Spanish. It has been carefully designed to help students review and consolidate key vocabulary and grammatical structures from levels B1 and B2 in the Common European Framework of Reference (CEFR).


A FUNNY SHORT STORYVecinos del infierno is a book to learn Spanish, but it's also full of irony, humour and good vibes which will make you smile, laugh out loud sometimes or even cackle, snort, giggle or titter.

Genres: Spanish Literature, Fiction

254 pages, Kindle Edition

Published February 9, 2022

About the author

Juan Fernández is a Spanish teacher at University College London. He was born in the south of Spain, in Granada, one of the most beautiful cities in the world. In 1997 he moved to the UK, where he has been teaching Spanish for more than 15 years.
He is also the creator of 1001 Reasons To Learn Spanish, a website with games, videos, podcasts and many activities to help you learn Spanish in a pleasant way.

Reviews

[Diana-Michaela Shaffner · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a delightfully crazy story! Mr. Fernández has done a great job in giving us adult Spanish learners something to read that goes far beyond the typical length of short stories, is full of surprising plot twists, and has a number of laugh-out-loud moments.
The language is not an easy read for an intermediate learner. It may be better suited for advanced learners. However, it is not so complex that an intermediate student couldn't follow the events unfolding. Which, of course, is the point when reading a book.
Vecinos del Infierno is a highly recommended read for adult learners.

[Peter den Haan · Rating 5 out of 5]

For inductive learners, reading books is a great way to improve language skills. My experience with books like this is that usually either the stories are well executed, or the difficulty level is consistent and pitched right, but rarely both. I have to compliment Juan Fernández on being the exception. With my early intermediate level Spanish I thoroughly enjoyed both the narrative and the learning experience. The list of idiomatic expressions at the end of each chapter was helpful.

[Tim · Rating 4 out of 5]

IF YOU'RE STUDYING SPANISH, READ HIS BOOKS!!!

I loved the idea of this book; a short novel which is easy to read, easy to understand, it is funny, exciting and mysterious, and totally in Spanish! For practice! And it came with a vocabulary with explanations of certain words and phrases after each chapter, which was super helpful and you can always go back and look at the words later to learn even more!

I loved that I understood the entire plot, and actually almost felt like reading a book in English. That was great for my self-esteem when it comes to Spanish (I've studied it for almost 6 years now). I really liked the story too. Not that it was the centre of attention here, for me at least, neither the language or anything like that. But it becomes a great book for learning, which was its main purpose I think, and therefore it gets such a high grade because it definitely filled its purpose well and I STRONGLY recommend this, or perhaps any other book in a lower grade (depending on your level of course) if you want to learn and read even more Spanish!

[Jim · Rating 4 out of 5]

I’ve read most of Juan Fernandez’s books and have loved them. His books draw me into his characters and seem to me to be a bit autobiographical. This one was a bit difficult for me as it is written at the B2 level, advanced intermediate. As another reviewer pointed out, you can follow the story if your Spanish is not quite sufficient to fully enjoy it. I will return to this one in the future when my Spanish is a bit better.

[r · Rating 3 out of 5]

One of the better graded readers I've read. The first half in particular brought Dostoevsky's underground man to mind, as well as Topor's 'The Tenant'. Graded readers are repetitious by construction, and this style fits naturally with the self-obsessed, fairly misanthropic narrator. The second half of the book feels tonally very different, and in my opinion it's not very strong. Nonetheless, it serves well its purpose for language learning.

[Marvin Vingerhoed · Rating 5 out of 5]

Kwam op dit boek na het veel te moeilijke spaanse boek van Isabel Allende. (Dat ik wel uitgelezen had!) Dit is speciaal voor studenten van niveau B2 (een internationale afspraak). Een heel grappig verhaal met een wending die ik niet zag aankomen. Heel motiverend om te merken hoeveel ik begrijp. Zeer gestructureerde opzet, er zijn uitdrukkingen vetgedrukt en aan het eind van elk hoofdstuk staan die uitgelegd. In het Spaans, maar op zo’n manier dat de betekenis duidelijk is.

Geeft me ook zelfvertrouwen dat mn leessnelheid in Spaans enorm is toegenomen, vergeleken met een paar jaar geleden. Dit boek heb ik in ca 1,5 week gelezen.

[Brian Matthews · Rating 4 out of 5]

POR FIN!! Este libro fue muy difícil. Pienso que leer en otros idiomas es buena práctica pero es agotador. Gracias a mi nuevo aparato (kindle), pude resaltar las palabras que no conocía. La historia fue interesante. Fue sobre un asesino en un apartamento. También escucho a los podcasts de este escritor. Añadí todas las palabras a mis tarjetas de Anki. Qué lata. Leeré un libro más fácil la próxima vez. Vale la pena.

[Robert M · Rating 4 out of 5]

Probablemente casi cuatro estrellas. Fue interesante y mantuvo mi atención. Aprendí muchas formas nuevas de insultar a mis vecinos. Hay momentos divertidos y también impactantes. La segunda parte del libro fue un poco diferente y me preguntaba sobre la hija de nuestro narrador y sus relacion.
Tambien todavia tengo preguntas sobre él y la mosquita.

[Lynn]

An interesting story. The level was just right to allow me to get into a flow while also being challenging and stretching/increasing my comprehension. The plot was bizarre though; parts of it felt like a fever dream.

[Hunter Smith · Rating 3 out of 5]

Me encanta Juan Fernández, pero este libro es un poco extraño… es bastante largo, y la historia va a lugares que no podía haberme imaginado. Es un buen libro, pero a mi no tan agradable que sus otros libros!

[Linda Kordas · Rating 5 out of 5]

excellent

It was really entertaining, funny at times, it kept me reading. It repeated some words enough that I learned them. A wonderful read!

[Cindy Crocker · Rating 4 out of 5]

Kept my attention

This story was one that I wanted to keep reading for the story. Continuing to learn Spanish was an extra benefit.

[Sandra Dionisopoulos · Rating 5 out of 5]

lots of be vocabulary

Although the story was a bit strange, it introduced the reader to a rich array of new vocabulary. It provided good practice with the imperfect tense.

[Alena Jirasek · Rating 2 out of 5]

My review

I am very disappointed in Juan. This story is outright stupid. Juan can write better, I know because I have been following him.

[DavidO · Rating 5 out of 5]

Mur buena

Querido lector,

Esta historia es muy buena y interesante. Mucho mas major que la mayoria de las historians para aprendar español. Gracias, señor Fernández.

[Philip · Rating 4 out of 5]

Me moló muchísimo, siguiente Juan!

[Sheila · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good dialog, weird plot, engaging characters mas o menos

[David · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was OK

I’m actually a big fan of the readers Fernández has put out, and I have now read all of them except te last two, which I will start on tomorrow.

This is not his best. The tone switches completely through the middle and the second half as a whole is very cursi IMO. I have decided to reread a lot of his books as a learning exercise, but not this one.

[Mrs Diane Goodgame · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed this book. It was quite difficult for me to understand at times, it’s pitched at slightly above my level but it’s good to have a challenge.
The story was funny, off beat, with some adult humour, and an intriguing plot.
I shall look for another book in the series.