The disgusting (2018) is a book published by Blackie books. It is the fourth novel by Santiago Lorenzo, an author who leaves a lot of himself in this book. The novel tells the foolish adventure of Manuel, a man who, because he finds himself in the least opportune place and moment, needs to flee from the city to the countryside. And it is that Lorenzo also moved to a village with a handful of inhabitants (of course not in the same way as the protagonist).
In the novel, some events are narrated, which, however unfortunate or excessive they may seem, may interest the reader to the point of feeling identified with the protagonist. The disgusting It is not, therefore, an escape, but an exercise to rethink our needs and that which is so much on television emptied Spain.
The disgusting
The escape
Manuel has a run-in with a policeman in the vicinity of a demonstration that gets out of control. The character has the worst luck in the world when, when facing the agent who wants to hit and reduce him, he stabs him without knowing if he is alive or dead. She runs away in a tangle of frenzy because of what is happening around her in the heart of Madrid and what is going through his head at the same time. When he arrives home, without any kind of plan, he comes to the conclusion that nothing that has happened that afternoon will be of any benefit to him. So choose to leave. He doesn't know where or how long it will be enough, nor what he is going to do from that moment on.
With few things and a car with a dwindling gas tank, he reaches a field where his vehicle stops.. A few apparently abandoned houses make up the rugged landscape. After making sure no one has seen him, he hides the car and seeks shelter. Manuel thinks that it is best to use his mobile phone very little, also because he does not know when he will have the opportunity to charge it.
However, no one can survive alone. With the help of his uncle, Manuel will begin a new life far removed from the bucolic, living in unthinkable conditions and, with the help of ingenuity, taking advantage of everything around them, no matter how useless it may seem. Time will pass between page and page of an old collection Austral. This is how the first pages and chapters of The disgusting ones.
Needs in the consumer society
Despite having everything against Manuel he tries to get ahead carrying the biggest mistake of his life. Santiago Lorenzo composes everything so that the reader empathizes with him and reconsiders his own life. And he uses a style, a vocabulary and a humor full of bittersweet jocularity with talent and grace.
The novel extols rural life in an original cry against the city and excessive consumerism. Besides politics, The disgusting it sounds like an economics treatise when Manuel begins to distribute his resources. Lawrence tries to seduce the reader to try the tranquility and liberation that the countryside and discreet life give.
The book already warns that Manuel is a kind of shipwrecked person who tries to find refuge for the act he has committed, and also without realizing it at first, from the society of which he had been a part until very recently. Surrounded by shortcomings Manuel will begin to wonder if what he has left behind was worth so much effort.. In his new life he discovers that little is better than nothing and even his frugal life begins to amaze him. It will be up to the reader to decide if the character causes grief or envy.
Conclusions
The filthy is a thriller that promises a dizzying action and then plunges us into the most absolute solitude, although always with that feeling of nervousness due to uncertainty in the shadow of a crime. It is a fairly static novel tailored to a political-literary discourse on the material, depopulation and the needs that we humans share.
It is also a reflection of reality and of society taken to the extreme so that we can reflect on what we have, what we need and what we are. The book also It has a witty character who fills the novel with humor despite the discomfort that projects history and circumstances.
About the Author
Santiago Lorenzo was born in Portugalete (Vizcaya) in 1964. She studied Image and Screenwriting at the Complutense University, and later at RESAD she did stage direction. After dedicating himself to cinematography, he made the leap to literature. In any case, writing is his passion and he is a born storyteller who needs his time and space to develop a text. He is one of those old-fashioned writers who need contemplation and calm to work. Perhaps that is why he moved to a Segovian village, although for work he must go to Madrid frequently.
At 2010 he published his first novel, The millions. Santiago Lorenzo likes to mix humor with the ups and downs of life which is why his books are full of a certain sly irony. He is also concerned with real problems and current affairs, for which he always proposes to see the world consciously and directly. tostonazo (2022) is his latest novel.
I just read it... (they lent it to me, luckily)
It's a simple story told in a twisted way that makes it seem interesting until the plot goes into a boring and meaningless loop. The story goes up and down, I got lost and got hooked again at some point. But for more INRI, (for me) it has 3 chapters left over.
The conclusion: a "disgusting" book...