An imperfect family, by Pepa Roma

An imperfect family
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This novel is officially presented to us as a novel for women. But I honestly disagree with that label. If it is considered that way because it speaks of that possible matriarchy that historically kept the secrets of any family and that hid the miseries of the outside doors, it makes little sense. There is nothing more interesting, in an intimate novel like this, than the ins and outs of that imperfect family, with the common imperfections of all other families.

If the consideration of a novel for women comes from the idea that what is presented as a story of female protagonists can only be understood by female readers, then I don't like the idea either. In the end I am sure that it is a commercial argument, a nod to so many female readers who support the publishing market. It must be that, nothing more.

Because the novel itself can captivate anyone, even a server. The way in which Pepa Roma, turned into Candida (or the other way around), takes the reader's hand and put it in the kitchen or in the bedrooms is worthy of the best intimacy. And I no longer say anything when you accompany Cándida among the secrets that that old house hides. Their feelings, setbacks and emotions become their own.

Of course, the role of women, represented by Candida and extrapolated to all women of any place and historical moment, has a specific weight. But beyond that circumstance, highlighted by the novel's post-war historical environment, a humanity emerges from the small, from the return to the original family from the perspective of adulthood, from the endings that await us all and of debts with those little or big secrets that perhaps deserve to be known.

You can now buy Una familia imperfecta, the latest novel by Pepa Roma, here:

An imperfect family
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