A Light Comedy by Eduardo Mendoza

I just finished A Light Comedy by Eduardo Mendoza. This book follows Prullas, a formerly successful spanish playwright, during a post civil war summer. A quote on the cover of the book states that the author's style is evocative of this era. I realized while reading this that I have read painfully few examples of spanish literature that take place in Spain. I've read a few Marquez books and The Savage Detectives by Roberto Bolano but the majority of these books take place in Mexico and Central America. So the setting of A Light Comedy is not one that I am familiar with. According to what I've read online, poverty and paranoia were prevalent during this era, which were portrayed convincingly in this book. Prullas is an obviously well-off individual, having married into a wealthy family. His easy life contrasts with those surrounding him including the house keeper who serves him, a young girl who is acting in one of his plays, and individuals at a shady bar that he visits late one night.

The start of the book is slow. Prullas observes as a close friend of his tries to direct one of his thriller-comedies, which are slowly becoming outdated. He travels between Barcelona and a seaside resort town where his family is spending the warmer months. Prullas alternates between being a doting father and husband and a philanderer who attempts to seduce almost all the attractive women he meets during the novel.

About half way through the novel a minor character is murdered and the story seems to evolve into a plot reminiscent of one of Prullas's plays. A Kafkaesque drama ensues where Prullas is the main murder suspect despite the lack of evidence.

One of the themes of the novel seems to be Prullas's treatment of women. He uses every single female character in the novel in one way or another, from servant to mistress. He never find himself guilty for initiating an affair with a woman who subsequently becomes mentally unstable and at the end of the novel is about to undergo a lobotomy. At one point he abandons a woman who, in order to save his life, was grievously wounded. Despite the fact that most of the other characters are aware of this behavior none of them seem to find it contemptible. However, I do believe that the author was aware of this behavior and tried to draw attention to it.

Library loot

I've seen posts like this in other book blogs. And I, for some reason, get ridiculously excited at the site of a stack of books. So this is my current library loot stack. It is a little deceiving because these weren't gathered in one go at the library but in several different trips and a few of these have been on the pile for quite awhile (there have been a few generations of books that have made it to the pile, been read, and then returned). My library (and I recognize how lucky I am for this) is a university library which seems to have just about any book that I could ask for- it is so much fun just to go into the stacks and get lost looking for books. As a drawback though, most covers are not quite as attractive as those that I see in other blogs.

The majority of these are books from the 1001 list:

All Souls -Javier Marias

The Lonely Londoners -Samuel Selvon

Falling Man -Don Delillo I'm looking forward to reading this, White Noise is a book that has stuck with me for many years. A few years ago there was a chemical spill in a nearby town that was reminiscent of White No

ise.

Hawksmoor -Peter Ackroyd

Empire of the Sun -J.G. Ballard

And two non-list books:

Sputnik Sweetheart -Haruki Murakami I've read several of his books and really enjoy his reading. An author who was introduced to me via the list. (See, it's a good starting point).

O Caledonia -Elspeth Barker I think this book was a recommendation on NPR ages ago. Just getting around to it, maybe now.

Wouldn't it be great if there was a "1001 Nonfiction books to read before you Die"? Or maybe just 100 or 101. I should read more nonfiction.

A Light Comedy is going alright. So far it is about a playwrite in Spain during the post-war era (and post-civil war era). I thought I'd end with this gem spoken by one of the characters in the book, a doctor... Those were different times:

"Smoking is good for the health: it calms the nerves and helps control blood pressure. I even smoke in the operating theatre." -Dorctor Mercadal, A Light Comedy (Eduardo Mendoza)

Editing to add the official "Library Loot" tag. Library Loot is hosted at A Striped Armchair and Reading Adventures.