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PRAISE FOR...
The Wrist Murderer
(1988):
"A
new narrative voice is born, mature and accomplished. With debuts such
as this one, now we can really start to believe in the boom of young
Spanish fiction." (Juanjo Fernández, Diari de Barcelona)
"The
ten short stories of The Wrist
Murderer,
first book of the Barcelona-born writer Laura Freixas , weave a
delightful plot –a happy combination of freedom and rigor- that ends by
becoming a monstrous spider's web." (Juan Antonio Masoliver
Ródenas, La
Vanguardia)
The
Last Sunday in London (1997):
"The
novel is a combination of texts that are irresistible because of the
transparency and freshness of a style in which what is seen is not the
prose but the poetry. Poetry of anxiety, of rage, of desolation."
(Pilar Castro, ABC)
"The
Last Sunday in London
is a novel written with an artistic prose and a deeply felt emotion
that expresses at the same time a searing pessimism and an exulting
jubilation. Apart from the different scenes and the various conflicts,
the voice we hear is the unmistakable voice of Laura Freixas, nourished
by a disquieting and fruitful solitude." ( Juan Antonio Masoliver
Ródenas, La
Vanguardia)
Just
Between Friends (1998):
"With
confidence, clarity and economy, Freixas goes into the nuances of a
story which is, to a large extent, the story of many of the Spaniards
who are now between thirty-five and fifty. Freixas brings up many
issues and leaves us, when all is said and done, with the suspicion
that the losses of both the characters are probably the same loss, and
that these two women who talk in Paris are debating, deep down, in the
conscience of all of us.” (Juan Carlos Suñén, ABC)
"Laura
Freixas reconstructs the evolution of two lives of the leftist
generation, unearths –with a gift for suspense- the inevitable secrets
of the past, and with a tone which is light but never frivolous, puts
forward some basic existential questions about love, friendship,
marriage, children, etc. A good reading.” ( Sergio
Vila-Sanjuán,
La
Vanguardia)
"The
author uses a very direct style, with simple structures and vocabulary,
for a detailed description of feelings, reminding us of the first works
by Soledad Puértolas or Carmen Martín Gaite.”
(Juan
Marín, El
País)
Literature
and women (2000):
"At
long last, here is a book [for general readers that confronts a subject
as reviled by some, as attractive for others, as is women and fiction.
Questions such as: is there a literature that can be called feminine?
Is it true that some critics see themselves as the bastion of literary
values and therefore, impose their canon? Will the canon change when
women enter the elite groups? Find an answer in this book. Laura
Freixas confesses that she did not want to write it, but she has hit a
raw nerve.” (Concha García, ABC)
"This
book was necessary, much more so than we thought. Literature and women
offers a lucid global vision of what is happening in our country around
that thorny little question posed to every woman who sticks her nose
into the literary world.” (María Ángeles
Cabré, La
Vanguardia)
" Laura
Freixas ' book is enlightening, and the passion that comes to the
surface in many pages does not detract from its clear-sightedness and
truthfulness.” (Ricardo Senabre, El
Cultural / El Mundo)
Tales
at the Age of Forty (2001):
"There
are some very good stories in this collection. Freixas has a direct
style, which combines quite naturally narration and dialogue. Her
stories display an attractive simplicity which will certainly attract
many readers.” (Germán Gullón , ABC)
Love
or Whatever It Is (2005):
"Laura
Freixas's is one of the most important voices in recent Spanish
fiction. (…) A voice which is tenacious, interesting, intelligent, true
to her creative principles, demanding, with the purpose of uniting
woman, life and literature. She has declared it in fiction, in essays,
and she now declares it in Love or whatever it is." (Pilar Castro, El Cultural / El Mundo)
"One
more piece in a long and polymeric trajectory -including essays, short
stories, novels and translations- in which the author confronts and
questions women’s sentimental education. … This is a polyphonic novel
in which different voices and experiences are linked through an
umbilical cord, at the same time as they are fragmented. Through quick
strokes, a diachronic portrait of women in distress* is created… A
novel with psychological dimensions - born with the key and tonality of
a sentimental chronicle - about the desire for knowledge and the
ability to choose the life that one desires." (Gemma
Casamajó, Avui)
A
Teenager in Barcelona around 1970 (2007):
"[Freixas’s
book has] an impeccable, pleasant and slightly ironic style, if not
outright fun.” (Vicente Araguas, Revista de Libros) "The information
regarding the last years of Francoism that the story includes about the
education received in a bourgeois Catalan family and the portrayal of
the customs of the time, make up an interesting frieze full of nuances.
But the best thing about it is the subtle and gradual perspective it
portrays (…) a lesser known text in the work of the author but great
for its honesty, force and life” (Pilar Castro, El Cultural / El Mundo)
"The
book presents us with the experience of a woman who grew up in
permanent divorce. And the book reflects lucidly about it. Perhaps
because of the relevance of her profession, Freixas values the written
word like she had never done before until now.” (Anna
Caballé, ABC)
Other
People Are Happier (2011): "
Without
fraudulence of any kind, with a frank and direct voice and blunt
resourcefulness (…) the writer Laura Freixas returns to the world of
fiction. (…) Interest in her continues to grow and grow (…) A true
pleasure.” (Pilar Castro, El
Cultural / El Mundo)
"An
account that shares many traits with the Bildungsroman or coming of age
tale (…). A novel that will help audiences discover (or remember) the
magnitude of the profound social and familial metamorphosis of
Spaniards from the times of the dictator to the present.” (J. M.
Pozuelo Yvancos, ABC)
"In
this work of searching, looking and choosing autonomously is the secret
line that animates a mature and careful tale, in which discovering the
other—this other that we typically assume is happier— in the end, is a
discovery of oneself.” (Rodrigo Pinto, El País)
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