El forat

Documenta 2016 Award

(The Hole) A novel that narrates the trials and tribulations that an anonymous young man from the Barcelona suburbs faces in his day to day—the existential angst and galling insatisfaction that he desperately tries to placate.

The story begins with the separation of the main character’s parents, and from here we see him enter into a downward spiral, with no escape in sight: he fights with his best friend, the only job he can find is a dead end one as a night guard, and he meets k, with whom he begins a relationship that clearly has no future.

Summer comes and, while he settles in a friend's house to take care of the cats,  he bears witness, quite astonished, to his parents irremediable collapse. After having decided to split, they realize that they are just as miserable apart.

The style of the novel, with no capital letters and abundant parenthesis, accentuates this precipitous feeling of free fall, and gives the novel an interesting originality.