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Branislav is currently reading

El túnel

by Ernesto Sabato

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Reading for the 2nd time

read in January 2024

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Branislav said: " A psychological masterpiece that dives into the mind of an obsessive artist who becomes increasingly consumed by his thoughts. The opening line of the novel tells us everything we need to know out of the gate:

"It should be sufficient to say that I

A psychological masterpiece that dives into the mind of an obsessive artist who becomes increasingly consumed by his thoughts. The opening line of the novel tells us everything we need to know out of the gate:

"It should be sufficient to say that I am Juan Pablo Castel, the painter who killed Maria Iribarne. I imagine that the trial is still in everyone’s mind and that no further information about myself is necessary."

Now, setting aside the certainty of the epilogue, the reader engages not to discover what will unfold but to delve into the intricacies leading to this inevitable tragic end. It is certainly one of the more interesting book beginnings out there and resembles the Dostoyevsky's Notes from the Underground, which starts with "I am a sick man. ... I am a spiteful man. I am an unattractive man. I believe my liver is diseased." From what I understand, Sábato was indeed influenced by this Russian classic and it can be noticed in a few ways:
- Both books are told from the first person perspective and both protagonists are unreliable narrators. You can't trust them because we only get to see their point of view, and they are prone to deception and mind games.
- Both protagonists are letting their mind drive them into twisted, pathological obsession and madness.

Huan Pablo first sees Maria at his exhibition where he notices her hypnotized by the detail in his painting that everyone else seems to overlook. No one found importance in that minor detail behind the main subject. (It showed the girl looking through the window at the beach).

But that small scene meant everything to Huan Pablo - it's where he has put all his heart and his destiny in. Perhaps seeking somebody out there who would understand him, someone who would recognize him on a deep level because he felt like a complete outcast. His obsession with Maria begins the moment he sees her pulled into this small window of his soul and for the rest of the novel all his thoughts are about her.

When a person becomes obsessed with something it has the tendency to drive them insane. Especially with people who are already mentally unstable. Constantly overthinking and imagining worst possible scenarios gets even more chaotic when love is the source of obsession. It's a sure way to hell especially when the person obsessing is an aggressive one demanding answers and acting as the world revolves around them.

Maria does not help keeping the painter's mind at ease. At one moment she is caring and seductive with him, but soon after she is cold and detached. She plays with his emotions as if on purpose. It is a small insight into her character that we get. She might enjoy torturing him or maybe crave being the victim of his madness. Her actions may be driven by a desire for attention and personal insecurities, a need for control or a desire for emotional intensity.

“The hardness in her eyes and face disturbed me. 'Why is she so cold?' I asked myself. 'Why?' Perhaps she sensed my anxiety, my hunger to communicate, because for an instant her expression softened, and she seemed to offer a bridge between us. But I felt that it was a temporary and fragile bridge swaying high above an abyss.”

Sábato was a renowned physicist who turned to writing and painting at the second stage of his life. He was only 2 months away from his 100th birthday when he died. It's interesting that the name of the protagonist - Castel - means Castle; symbolically he was far from being strong and sturdy but on the other hand it might convey a sense of isolation and self-imposed imprisonment.

The story is beautifully written, captivating and keeps you engaged even though you know how it ends. It is a philosophical and literary exploration - intense and uncomfortable, a story that you feel with your heart, mind and stomach. It's not a pleasurable read but it's a great reading experience. 4.5/5 ...more "

Jan 20, 2024 01:59AM · see review

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Presuda: sabrane pripovetke

by Franz Kafka

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May 09, 2026 07:53AM

Branislav is currently reading

Spring Torrents

by Ivan Turgenev

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Mar 24, 2026 12:58PM

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Branislav’s Quotes

“It's always the same story. Naturally one doesn't get the woman one should have had; but if by some damned freak of reason and justice it ever does happen, then of course she dies immediately after.”
― Knut Hamsun, Victoria

tags: death, love

6 likes

“Paris, viewed from the towers of Notre Dame in the cool dawn of a summer morning, is a delectable and a magnificent sight; and the Paris of that period must have been eminently so.”
― Victor Hugo, The Hunchback of Notre-Dame

tags: dawn, paris

14 likes

“It is extremely beautiful to belong to a woman, to give yourself. Don’t laugh if I sound foolish. But to love a woman, you see, to abandon yourself to her, to absorb her completely and feel absorbed by her, that is not what you call ‘being in love,’ which you mock a little. For me it is the road to life, the way toward the meaning of life.”
― Hermann Hesse, Narcissus and Goldmund

17 likes

“But men live because they’re born, not by truth or by intelligence, and while the heart goes on beating it scatters and spreads their despair and finally destroys itself, losing its substance in patience and in work.”
― Andrei Platonov, Soul

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“He began to pace the room, muttering terrible things to himself, till I was inclined to believe, as he said Joseph did, that conscience had turned his heart to an earthly hell.”
― Emily Brontë

tags: heatcliff, hell, obsession

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