Everyone needs Therapy or Jail- Nada by Carmen Laforet

This book made me sad, happy and at many points angry at the characters, especially the men. I found myself wanting to know how the events of the story would unfold. This novel was more of what I usually read in terms of structure and style. So far this is the book I have enjoyed reading the most.

The novel Nada by Carmen Laforet is set not long after the civil war in Spain, in the city of Barcelona. This context, I think, is very important to understanding the characters. It is evident that Roman and Juan have been affected by the war. I tried through the entire novel to make sense of their behaviour, but I felt like I needed more. Was Juan always this violent? Why does he take his anger out on Gloria?  I think the title of the book “Nada”, meaning nothing in Spanish, speaks to the desolate feelings of the characters after the civil war. The love Gloria has for Juan despite what he has and is doing to her is something that made me angry, but also makes me evaluate what makes a person stay with their abuser. At the end of the novel Gloria wants to put Juan into an institution as she fears for her life, but she also feels deep down he can get help and change back to the man she married. 

One thing about this novel is it felt very raw and realistic. The trauma the characters were facing was very evident in their behaviour and decisions they made, especially Roman and Juan. Roman was a very interesting character that was seen to be very manipulative and cunning, but also vulnerable and complex. Roman was a character that gave me an icky feeling while reading but I could not really find where that feeling came from at first. I could see the manipulation of Andrea at the beginning of the book before slowly showing his true colours. Roman at the end of the novel commits suicide, which was not totally suprising to me. I think Roman’s ending provided an explanation to his actions throughout the novel and how his behaviour can be seen as a mask or a symptom of his trauma, as he was said to be taken prisoner and tortured during the civil war.

Andrea, the main character, feels perpetual loneliness in the novel and feels that she has a lack of freedom. I found Andrea to be the glue of the novel. Her thoughts and emotions were very relatable as she was trying to figure out her life, feeling lost in the world and not being fully understood. It is not until she finds Ena, Andrea seems to find her family. Andrea’s happiest moments are with Ena and Ena’s family. At the end of the book it is Ena and her family who are able to give Andrea the freedom she has been craving. Andrea also faces trauma through the story as the other characters do, but hers is more silent. You can feel what she has faced through her walks at night through Barcelona, and her thoughts about Ena. Friendship is what brings Andrea back to life stating, “these torrents of light pouring into my life because of Ena were emitted by the dismal hues that coloured my spirit on the other days of the week” (134).

To conclude this long blog post, my favourite quote from the story is: “I thought that it’s useless to race if we always have to travel the same incomprehensible road of our personality. Some creatures are born to live, others to work, others to watch life. I had a small, miserable role as a spectator. Impossible to get out of it. Impossible to free myself. A dreadful grief was the only reality for me then” (219).

Discussion Questions: 

1. How would the lives of the characters be different if the civil war did not happen? Would Juan still be this aggressive and violent? Would Roman still have ultimately ended his life?
2. How does Ena influence the actions and thoughts of Andrea throughout the novel?