Fernando Aramburu had been
toying with the idea of writing about Basque characters and scenarios for a
long time. He waited until he felt the necessary maturity as a writer in order
to give his particular literary take on the thorny subject of terrorist
violence and its collateral effects in the Basque Country.
A father clings to his mundane routines, such as taking care of his
aquarium, in order to deal with the misfortune of his hospitalised and disabled
daughter; a married couple is bothered by the constant harassment endured by
one of their neighbors, and they wish that he would go away; a man does
everything in his power to avoid being pointed out by everybody in town, as
they all turn their backs on him; a woman decides to leave with her children
without really knowing why she is being harassed. The stories in Los peces
de la amargura are written as chronicles or articles, as first-person
narrations, as letters or stories told to children. They are very much a
tribute and a denunciation, and they are told without apparent drama, so that
only emotion arises – indirectly, unexpectedly, but most efficiently.
It is easy to feel moved when reading the apparently modest, deceptively
simple stories that make up Los peces de la amargura, as they deal with
the painful subject of criminal violence based on a political excuse. It
takes an exceptional narrator such as Aramburu to tell it in a truthful and
believable way. The variety and originality of narrators and approaches, the
richness of characters and their different experiences make up an unforgettable
image of the years of bloodshed in Euskadi.
RIGHTS SOLD TO
Italy - Editorial La Nuova Frontiera
Portugal - Editorial Ediçoes 70, Lda/ Minotauro