Nada

Item: Nada
Author: WhichBook

Carmen Laforet

Eighteen-year-old Andrea has come to Barcelona in 1943 to attend university and 'learn about life'. She moves uneasily between rich classmates, would-be artists, slum dwellers and the human wrecks who are her own family, aware always of her own hunger - not just for food. Would be a great reading group choice but also recommended for anyone who loves Spain or has ever been young and unsure of themself.

Extract

'It's as if you'd lived on your own in a Red zone and not in a convent of nuns during the war. Even Gloria has more excuses than you in her yearning for emancipation and disorder. She's a little street slut, while you've received an education ... and don't excuse yourself with your curiosity to see Barcelona. I've shown you Barcelona.'
Instinctively I looked at my watch.
'You listen to me like a person listening to the rain, I can see that ... you wretch! Life will batter you, crush you, flatten you! Then you'll think of me...'

Parallels