Carmen Laforet | Author

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Common Knowledge

Legal name: Laforet Díaz, Carmen
Other names: Laforet i Díaz, Carme
Laforet Diaz, Carmen
Birthdate: 1921-09-06
Date of death: 2004-02-28
Burial location: Cementerio de la Almudena, Madrid, Spain
Gender: female
Nationality: Spain
Birthplace: Barcelona, Spain
Place of death: Madrid, Spain
Places of residence: Barcelona, Spain
Canary Islands, Spain
Madrid, Spain
Education: University of Barcelona
Universidad Complutense
Occupations: short-story writer
novelist
Relationships: Sender, Ramon J. (correspondent)
Awards and honors: Premi Nadal (1944)

Members

Reviews

Nada by Carmen Laforet

‘Nada’ is an interesting counterpoint to [b:Call Me By Your Name|36336078|Call Me By Your Name (Call Me By Your Name, #1)|André Aciman|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1519203520l/36336078._SY75_.jpg|1363157], the novel I read before it. Both are told in the first person by independent-minded young people aged 17-18. The narration is highly involving and deeply atmospheric in both. Yet otherwise they are utter opposites: in [b:Call Me By Your Name|36336078|Call Me By Your Name (Call Me By Your Name, #1)|André Aciman|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1519203520l/36336078._SY75_.jpg|1363157] Elio has an intense love affair in a beautiful sunny rural environment. In ‘Nada’, Andrea has an intense friendship in a grim, dark, and squalid urban environment. Undoubtedly this makes ‘Nada’ the less pleasant read, but both are beautifully written and Andrea and Elio feel like potential kindred spirits, both protective of their emotions, studious, and much moved by music. It could just be that I instinctively seek linkages between books I’ve read adjacent to one another, regardless of how tenuous they might seem.

‘Nada’ begins with Andrea’s arrival in Barcelona to stay with her relatives in their crumbling flat. Her initial impression of the place is frightening and oppressive, which unfortunately turns out to be accurate. She begins her university studies and makes friends, whose privileged homes form a stark contrast to hers. The decomposing flat is shared with her grandmother, aunt, two uncles, the wife of one of the uncles, their baby, a cook, a dog, and cat. Violent arguments and upheavals occur constantly and no-one ever has any money. Andrea is always hungry and struggles to keep herself clean. The decay, chaos, and insularity of the apartment reminded me of [b:Gormenghast|258392|Gormenghast (Gormenghast, #2)|Mervyn Peake|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1480786154l/258392._SY75_.jpg|3599885] in microcosm. Laforet evokes Andrea’s experience like an all-enveloping bad dream:

I remember one night when there was a moon. My nerves were on edge after a day that had been too turbulent. When I got out of bed I saw in Augustias’ mirror my entire room was filled with the colour of grey silk, and in the middle of it, a long white shadow. I approached and the phantom approached with with me. At last I saw my own face in a blur above my linen nightgown. An old linen nightgown - made soft by the touch of time - weighed down with heavy lace, which my mother had worn many years before. It was unusual for me to stand looking at myself this way, almost without seeing myself, my eyes open. I raised my hand to touch my features, which seemed to run away from me, and what appeared were long fingers, paler than my face, tracing the line of eyebrows, nose cheeks conforming to my bone structure. In any case there I was, Andrea, living among the shadows and passions that surrounded me. Sometimes I doubted it.

The family is literally and figuratively haunted by the legacy of the Spanish Civil War, a detail commented upon by Mario Vargas Llosa in his introduction. The reader hopes that Andrea’s horrible life will improve and she will break free of her profoundly dysfunctional family, yet before she can escape the doomed apartment there is a tragic and violent climax, as one of her uncles suddenly commits suicide. At the very end, however, her dear friend Ena rescues her. I found their reunion in the rain very moving and appreciated the importance of their friendship in the narrative. Despite the separation of social class, the two care very much for each other. ‘Nada’ is an unhappy yet beguiling little novel, with a claustrophobic setting that is hard to forget. (I often find myself using the word ‘beguiling’ to describe fiction, so am perhaps easily beguiled. Particularly by first person narratives with vividly described settings.)… (more)

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annarchism | 47 other reviews | Aug 4, 2024 |

Nada by Carmen Laforet

Laforet's novel of post-Civil War Spain is as fresh and as compelling as it was when it won the Premio Nadal in 1944. Her main character, 18-year-old Andrea, exemplifies the romance, optimism and utter despair of being a teenager, starting off in college, housed with a half-crazed, impoverished family on the Calle de Aribau. Analogies to the economic and desperation in Spain after the war are inevitable, but the story rings with the truth of "having not" amongst classmates who have plenty and the agonies of youth as Andrea observes, weeps, roams through the memorable streets of Barcelona.… (more)

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featherbooks | 47 other reviews | May 7, 2024 |

Nada: A Novel (Modern Library Torchbearers) by Carmen Laforet

Mixed feelings about this one. I enjoyed the writing and overall coming of age story in post-civil war Spain but the numerous scenes of family members just yelling at one another were tiresome.

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mmcrawford | 47 other reviews | Dec 5, 2023 |