Spanish / Spain
De la boca de un león
(From the mouth of a lion)
Garland, Inés
(text)
[Zaragoza]: Edelvives, [2022]. – 219 p.
(Series: Colección Alandar; 173)
ISBN 978-84-140-3286-2
Family | Coping with trauma | Suicide attempt | First love | Coming of age
Reading age: 13+
White Ravens issue: 2023
Fourteen-year-old Tadeo is the youngest member of a family that is trying to keep up appearances, even though it is in danger of falling apart. At the core of their conflict-ridden family life there seems to be a taboo surrounding Jano, the oldest son. Since having an »accident«, he is severely handicapped; he lives with a care-taker in his own apartment, but the family hardly speaks about him. Tadeo tries to free himself from this cloud of silence, rigor, coldness, and violence – and to understand why things are the way they are. He describes how light is slowly shed on the family secrets and he speaks of Vera, his first love. From her he learns that family can be more than what he experiences day after day. In her impressive coming-of-age novel, Inés Garland creates a complex portrait of a family nearly succumbing to its own speechlessness. It is notable for the multilayered depiction of the quite different characters. The psychological tension will affect the readers and leave them pensive in the end. [JW]