Woodworm (Mother's love Ed., 2021) is a horror novel by Layla Martínez. Despite belonging to a genre literature, it has generated great expectations among the reading public, other authors and critics. All of them have applauded this Madrid writer who has given life to a horror story smeared with feminism. Really surprising.
The woodworm devours a house and its inhabitants. Few dare to approach this place, despite the strange fascination it causes. Not even the grandmother and granddaughter who live within its walls are aware of the presences that accompany them., as well as the history of his own home. Woodworm is the feminist terror of Layla Martínez.
Woodworm: the feminist terror of Layla Martínez
a rotten dwelling
Woodworm is a transgenerational women's story. A lady, the grandmother who lives in a house imbued with memories and family voices. A granddaughter who comes from experiencing an event with a wealthy family in the area. The prominence that they have, like his ancestors, is as crucial in the novel as the house itself, which makes him another being who somehow also lives with them. The atmosphere is rarefied because they don't understand the place where they live either. A house eaten away by a past that still weighs. We all know the strength of the houses in real life and in literature. These can keep, in addition to memorable moments, dark secrets and lives dragged by disastrous coexistence.
It is a horror story, yes: there are presences, uncertain moments, loneliness in a gloomy place, a disturbing past. Martínez gives a horror treatment to his book, but this is not just a story that entertains and keeps us on our toes. In addition to making the emotions that those of us who read terror enjoy so much, it contains a strong message and a warning against suffering. All this moves and displeases, like the narrative of the genre, but also as a note of attention.
Topics such as feminism and underlying sexist violence are discussed. But In addition to violence against women, Woodworm it is also a history of violence in general. A story of violence that goes beyond gender, although those who suffer it to a greater extent in this narrative are women.
feminist horror
Is this novel a mere fiction? To a large extent yes. But Layla Martínez recovers her family roots to tell everything she wants. It is based on her grandmother's house and the masculine role that flew over her ancestors. Yeah. Besides talking about feminism and violence, Woodworm it could be said that it is also a revenge story related to the class perspective, which is also an important part of the novel and that adds to all of the above. There is talk of winners and losers, of slavery.
The novel is narrated through two women who still have a voice for it. Although they are only a reflection of many other women who in their time were repressed and silenced. Those specters are swarming in the house full of woodworms and in the pages of the book that the author will know how to advance with enormous urgency., as if time was running out for all of them. Martínez shows with his book that he knows what he wants to tell and he does it in an outstanding way that leaves behind a legion of readers convinced that what they read has quality and enchantment.
A novel like this, which is easily defined as horror, and which includes an uncomfortable and deep theme, as well as being realistic, interested an independent publisher, Mother's Love. This house is dedicated to publishing stories whose protagonists are women or people from the LGTBI collective who to date continue to fight for their dignity on an equal footing with the rest of society. And despite that, Woodworm It has obtained enormous diffusion that has been translated into multiple reprints and the recognition of the public, critics and authors as important as Belén Gopegui, or Mariana Enríquez., one of the greatest authors of the contemporary horror genre in Spanish.
Conclusions
Woodworm It is a short novel, but with an enormous latent force that lasts throughout the narrative. It is a horror novel, but not to use. Because it treats with beautiful indignation the violence exerted by the powerful, either because of the economic situation, the position left by the end of a war, or the patriarchy. He is read with pleasure and the past is discovered together with some characters who leave their mark after achieving a well-deserved revenge. A haunted house that will make anyone who dares to explore its corners think.
About the author
Layla Martinez was born in Madrid in 1987.. She studied Political Science and Sexology in this same city and works as a sexologist, although she has also ventured into the fields of publishing and translation. She combines her multiple activities with the coordination and collaboration in cultural publications. As an author, she has written poetry and essays, as well as a short story.. In fact, his novel Woodworm It was born as a story to become the short novel that has aroused so much acceptance.