Nada: Carmen Laforet (Vintage Editions)

There are some nice mood setters re aspects of Barcelona after the civil war but the character of Ena just didn't register - she evidently finds out about her mother's youthful love for the rogue Ramon, the uncle of the main character Andrea. Andrea is told of this obsessive love by Ena's mother who wants to keep it from Ena unsurprisingly - and we are told that she got over Ramon when she marries Luis and she had Ena - although she knew that her father paid Ramon off. Still with this! So Ena finishes with her boyfriend and unfriends Andrea to humiliate Ramon (after we are led to believe that Ena has fallen in love with Ramon) but then tells Andrea that she really loves her and her boyfriend after she has evidently 'humiliated' Ramon - who really isn't the type to care less! This is the main story line, although there are some interesting other characters whose behaviour one can understand, I have about 15 pages to read yet! I am wondering how Ena found out about her mother's infatuation with Ramon. I am not over-confident that I will rectify my opinion on the novel, I see Carlos Luis Zafon thinks highly of the book - an author I like very much so maybe I miss something, or else something is lost in translation. But only three stars from me!

I don't understand how the poor girl survived without food! The story described some pretty weird and hugely depressing people. Liked the fact it was set in Barcelona as it evoked the atmosphere of the city, but so much time was spent in this prison like atmosphere of the home which nobody cared for. I was compelled to read on to find out what happened in the end, the only shining light.

First read this wonderful novel in Spanish some years ago. It is set in Barcelona just after the civil war. It is a very moving powerful story abouta young girl who comes from the country to stay with her disfunctional extended family while attending university. I hope to find moreEnglish translations of books by this wonderful author.

The book is in good condition but I was confused by the website details. I wanted the book in Spanish not an English translation so was disappointed. The fact that the book is a translation was not obvious on the website.

all good

This is in English which I did not pick up on

I had to buy this book for my spanish course at uni and accidentally bought the english version. But this way I was able to compare this version to the original. The book is good and well written but the translation in parts is not very good. It's good enough but doesn't represent perfectly what the spanish version says.

enjoyed reading it but it did not say that is in english although the title on the cover is in spanish. made it difficult for me to get my quotes.