A book a day: Santi Pérez Isasi: The building

Language: español

Year of publication: 2023

Valuation: fatal More than recommended

Let’s go by parts…

It’s not Building:

–Building It is not an essay by Robert Venturi on postmodern architecture.

–Building It is not just another technical report on qualities presented for the construction of the Willis Tower (formerly Sears) in Chicago, for a time the tallest skyscraper in the world.

–Building It is not a chapter of the book Improbable territoriesby Pedro Torrijos (although it could very well be).

-Building It is not a compilation of the best comics of 13, Rue del Percebe (although it could also be).

–Building It is not the script of an episode of There is no one living here o The one that is coming.

–Building It is not a part of Genesis in which Yahweh destroys (again) a lot of people through a flood and for his brown balls.

–Building It is not a plagiarism The residence of the godsbut set in Babylon or Ancient Egypt, rather than Gaul dominated (or almost so) by the Romans.

–Building It is not a semiotic-literary analysis of Life instructions for useby Georges Perec.

–Building It is not a dystopian fable that serves as an answer to any question we may ask ourselves (or perhaps it does).

-Building It is not a dystopian fable that poses any questions that we can (or perhaps also) answer.

What is it? Building:

-So that, Building It is a dystopia that, although it does not raise questions or provide answers, is shockingly plausible and even probable.

–Building It is a collection of micro-stories that, oh surprise!, all together make up a macro-story that we can even call a novel… (Come on, yes, let’s call it a novel)

-Not only novel: Building It is also a science fiction novel. More fiction than science, I’m not going to fool you either… But the good kind.

–Building It is a metaphor for capitalism, for Western society stuck in its (our) ivory tower, for any civilization that has been or will be in the world and that is condemned to entropy until its disappearance.

(Of course chapter 27 explains: “The building is not a symbol or a metaphor either; reducing it to a symbol or a metaphor would be like saying that it does not exist, and the building, if it does anything, is to exist.“…But that is something that, after all, the author says and what does he know about this book).

–Building It is, therefore, an apocalyptic drama that represents and summarizes all the entropy to which our era is doomed.

–Building It is also an apocalyptic comedy that represents and summarizes all the entropy to which our time is doomed.

–Building It is a damned funny novel, despite having been written by a Most Excellent and Illustrious Professor of Literature at the Faculty of Letters of the University of Lisbon (if it sounds serious and important in Spanish, imagine it in Portuguese).

–Building It is a very well written book because, well, in some ways it must be noted that its author is a Most Excellent and Illustrious, etc., as well as a translator into Spanish of José Luís Peixoto and Hélia Correia and a founding father, as well as a reviewer. master & commander of the best literary review blog that exists, has existed or will ever exist. Amen.

–Building It is a thin book (150 chapters at one page per chapter) that can be read in a jiffy; That is to say, for a minimal investment in time and money, you will not only have a great time, but you will also be able to give a thumbs up to those hipster friends with glasses and culture who are always bragging about reading rare ex-Yugoslavian or well-known Argentine writers. at home at lunchtime. Because with Building They are going to blow it…

–Building is the book in which the fame and prestige as a writer of Santi Pérez Isasi will be discussed and which, without a doubt, in the perhaps not too distant future will lead him to win the Nobel Prize for Literature, snatching it away from veteran frauds like the Bad Murakami or the nefarious Houellebecq, in his last chance to achieve it. Take the opportunity to read it now and participate from the beginning in his legend.

About feedback: I can and do promise you (how old that sounds) that it is not because the author of the book is the founding father of this blog, payer of our succulent emoluments and a tyrant who whips us with his belt if we do not comply with each of his absurd whims creator of our dreams and hopes, in addition to being a very nice guy… the book is very good, really.