A book a day: Pilar Quintana: the dog

Original Language: español

Year of publication: 2017

Valoración: Recommended

This is a short novel by Pilar Quintana, winning author of the Alfaguara novel Award for Abisms. The dog is the previous work, already written in full literary maturity.

Damaris lives in a coastal community in conditions of extreme poverty. He shares a small house with her husband and leads a life marked by continuous hardships that do not offer her any satisfaction or opportunity for significance. The subtle transformation that experiences his life after adopting a bitch is enough to begin to observe his current situation from a different angle, thus facing the experiences and memories that he has rumped for years.

In the brevity of the novel, Quintana covers a broad spectrum of vital situations, such as motherhood, abandonment, forgiveness or resignation. The bitch does not present itself as a kind of guards or unconditional friend who arrives to transform the life of the protagonist. Rather, it is the presence of a helpless and totally dependent being, which develops until it becomes autonomous while everything else remains caught in the most mundane routine, which generates interesting contrasts.

In addition to the main axis of the novel, there are brief eyes to other characters that, although fleeting, are essential to represent the context in which Damaris’s life passes: neighbors trapped in conflicting family dynamics, women who have had to resign themselves to live under the inertia of religious superstitions and beliefs, or male figures marked by frustration and violence. These characters complement and enrich the atmosphere, drawing with few strokes a rough but deeply human reality.

The novel also stands out for its concise and direct narrative style. Quintana does not need excessive ornaments to portray the crudeness and hardness of everyday life. Its language is necessary, which further intensifies the feeling of anguish and hopelessness that history crosses. Despite brevity, he manages to transmit deep emotions.

In conclusion, the dog is a brief, powerful and authentic novel.