mirafiori (Alfaguara, 2o23) is the third novel by the Galician narrator and journalist Manuel Jabois. after writing weed (2019) and Miss mars (2021) returns with this third work that continues to distill his literary style with great coherence. It is a book praised by critics within contemporary narrative.
It is a love story already worn by the passage of time. Despite the affection that this couple who met during adolescence had for each other, of all the years they have spent together, more than twenty, the deterioration is palpable and the small distances become abysses. A heartfelt novel that talks about ghosts and misunderstanding between the couple.
Mirafiori: ghosts and misunderstanding between couples
A ghostly story filled with reality
mirafiori It is the story of a man in love, eaten away by a past that he remembers with great longing, and who lives a lackluster present. His wife, Valentina, has accompanied him throughout his life. They knew each other since puberty and their love seemed unique, for sure. The years and a great shared secret have distanced them; They are no longer that pair of young people who fell hopelessly in love. Now there are still the remains of that love that was, but they are no longer the same. She is successful, she is an established actress. He's not having the best time of it. Among the many confidences that have been given is that she, Valentina, see ghosts. But dealing with this goes beyond believing or not believing.; to continue loving or to have lost hope and illusion definitively.
Jabois gives the novel an irrational, fabulous and ghostly meaning. which, far from spoiling the novel, turns it into an amazing story full of beauty. Even if it is a sad beauty. Somehow too It is a narrative in which logic and reasoning are seen within a sentimental chaos. and of avatars that are beyond one's control. What can be done to find a solution. Therefore, it is present in the novel to reflect on the impossibility of continuing with the known dynamics, having to move on to change, to transformation. Or simply the acceptance of letting go, which is the most difficult of all.
The decline of love
The novel explores various individual and couple themes. All of them extracting truths that help to know oneself, with weaknesses and virtues that make the characters humanized and can be understood by the reader. At the same time, the novel reflects the lack of understanding between the characters, giving the novel a bitter aftertaste.. The distancing, the incomprehension, the rupture and the unfeasibility of being able to save oneself are latent from the beginning in the pages of the book.
Fundamental is time, the passing of the years, love and its phases, the deterioration of love life, coexistence, the transformation to which human beings are condemned and how this can affect the other person. Life changes don't always happen consciously and this can have unimagined repercussions over time. Many times everything happens and ends, and people are not able to notice when the decline began. That happens with the characters. Everything happens. Love does it too.
mirafiori It is an introspective novel with stylistic similarities to its predecessors. Jabois knows how to use her narrative voice like few current writers to tell everything she sees. She conveys in detail the feelings of her characters, their looks and gestures, their tribulations and illusions. He is a good observer and the reader can learn to see through the eyes of the narrator.. Although apparently melancholic, mirafiori shows a certain vigor that is shown thanks to its characters and the situation in which they find themselves. This situation should be understood as everyday and at the same time fantastic.
Conclusions
mirafiori is a novel that observes the decline of a couple and describes it with great attention. There are ghosts, but it is not a fantasy novel. It is a text ghostly that exudes reality and points out human situations through a narrator character who is dejected by impossibility. There are things that cannot be, one of them is recovering primal love no matter how much you want it. Time passes, people change and ghosts weigh heavy. Manuel Jabois surprises with an introspective novel where incomprehension can be an insurmountable barrier.
About the Author
Manuel Jabois was born in Sanxenxo (Pontevedra) in 1978. He has a long career as a journalist, having worked in various written and broadcast media. He started in Journal of Pontevedra and continued on El Mundo. He currently writes for El País and is also part of the team Hour 25 en SER chain. On the other hand, he has stood out as a writer with various journalistic works of compilations of articles and chronicles, such as To violent season (2008) Go to Madrid (2011) Manu (2013) o See you in this life or the next (2016). Jabois continues to surprise and for a few years has been delighting lovers of his fiction with his novels weed (2019) Miss mars (2021) and mirafiori (2023)