Spanish / Colombia
La gata sola
(The lonesome cat)
Sanín, Carolina
(text)
Guevara, Santiago
(illus.)
Bogotá: Loqueleo, 2018. – 45 p.
(Series: Nidos para la lectura)
ISBN 978-958-5403-19-2
Cat | Prejudice | Mistrust | Outsider | Identity
Reading age: 10+
White Ravens issue: 2018
One day the inhabitants of a village see an unidentified animal slink through the alleys. But “instead of asking where it comes from and finding out what kind of animal it is, they ask themselves what it will do to them and what it is capable of”. Even when they become aware that the animal is a cat, mistrust, fear, and hostility continue to develop, and people begin to accuse the cat of all kinds of possible and impossible things. The cat for her part heads off to look for a lioness who supposedly lives in the jungle. The cat fears the lioness but also feels drawn to her; on the one hand she doesn’t know her, on the other hand she recognizes herself in the wild animal. Carolina Sanín employs vivid, melodious language to weave this unusual story about the foreign and unfamiliar, which ultimately is always in us and which we ourselves are. Santiago Guevara presents powerful, partly abstract pictures to go along with the story. Aggression, violence, and strife are expressed with torn paper and photo fragments crossed over by lines and thick brush strokes.