Tomorrow in the battle thinks of me

I have to confess that I arrived in this book years ago, in search of new authors to read; However, I got hooked from the first pages due to a family episode so unlikely that it surprises me how Marías managed to turn something like that into the starting point of this novel.

The respective couples of my mother’s sister and sister held extramarital relationships while my uncle was at work. One day, my uncle received a call from the hospital, notifying him that his wife was in critical condition (at that time he had already died, but I suppose that the protocol prevents such news from coup). At the same time, my aunt received another call, this time from her husband, who from the Public Ministry told her that she was detained as a suspect for femicide (the State of Mexico is one of the places with the highest index of femicide in the country, so that any violent death or in extraordinary circumstances of a woman is investigated as such). According to him, by hazards of fate, I had found my aunt at the bus stop and, while talking and updated, she collapsed. Then it was learned that everything was a farce: my aunt suffered a heart attack while I had sex with my uncle. A family drama was armed from which those involved have not yet recovered completely, although this happened more than 15 years ago.

As I pointed out before, such an episode seems unbelievable for fiction, but Marías manages to subtract that element of unlikely and use it as a pretext to explore how we face human beings certain vital crises: death, love, infidelity, betrayal, cowardice, guilt, etc. The epigraph that heads the text works as Leitmotiv throughout the novel, reminding us that these trances are atavistic and inescapable.

In this story, a woman dies while she has sex with the protagonist, who, when she is in an absurd situation (her husband is traveling and the baby sleeps in the next room), decides not to call the police or the ambulance; Knowing that the babysitter would arrive early in the morning, leave the place after leaving water and food to the baby, almost as if it were a dog. This fact triggers chaos of doubts, guilt, perplexity and questions. It is worth saying that Javier Marías was right -handed in his trade. I have read that for some it can be repetitive in certain ideas, but I consider that this insistence helps to focus on what really matters to the author. Likewise, the use of leitmotiv seems perfect, without being tired, functioning as a kind of Greek tragedy choir or Nō theater (compared, the similar use of leitmotiv by Almudena Grande in the icy heart seems less achieved to me).

This book is my favorite from Marias (maybe because he was the first one I read). I have reread it several times and, on each occasion, it manages to move me.