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The author, David Trueba has written an interesting family based story which was originally written in Spanish by Mara Lethem. The book runs to about six hundred pages and follows the adventures of Sylvia - a sixteen year old student, Lorenzo - her father, and Leandro - her paternal grandfather.
The story starts with rather a sad note, as Aurora, the grandmother of Sylvia, falls down and breaks her hips. Leandro takes her to a hospital for treatment and as he waits, he picks up the daily newspaper and starts perusing the sex pages. As he peruses the advertisements, he becomes keen on an ad about a “chalet” which is actually a brothel and decides to visit it. From this point onwards he loses all control over himself and his morals and become a sex addict. He becomes obsessed with a Nigerian prostitute and soon starts spending all his retirement benefits as well as his time by visiting her daily.
Sylvia stumbles into Ariel, a 20 year old Argentinean professional soccer player who had migrated to
Spain and soon they start to have a passionate affair.
Earlier, Lorenzo had murdered his ex-business partner; Paco who had cheated him and made him financially broke. Due to this, Lorenzo is too much concerned about the consequence of his crime and worries about Sylvia who has come to reside with him.
The rather long story raises some very interesting questions about relationship, love, loss, morality, intimacy and ethics. The author has not been able to encompass the different scenes in a natural flow, which might be due to the fact that it is a translation from the original work. But, the story keeps the readers on hold, many of whom wonder whether Lorenzo will be arrested by the police and his sex escapades made public. What will be the end result of the affair between Ariel and Sylvia, as she is a minor? These are the questions that make the novel an interesting read.