Published 2025 (2022 in Spanish). Finished January 26th, 2026.
I initially picked up this slim little thing because it had been shoved to the back of the new book display at my usual library and I wanted to rescue it from falling into obscurity. I ended up checking it out because I was thrilled by the prospect of a such a short book (201 pages) containing eighteen short stories, as the back of the book claimed. I'm an avid fan of capital-S Short stories. I love how tight they must be and how odd they often are.
There are some excellent stories in here. "The Nail in the Wall," "The Grass at Airports," and "Extras" are the highlights for me. I find many of the others forgettable, but I don't hold that too harshly against Morábito. I doubt there's a short story collection in this world composed only of short stories that click for me. However, there are some overarching features of the collection that are displeasing. It's difficult to forgive that the only character with a Middle Eastern name is a religious fanatic, and as one proceeds through the stories, it's impossible to ignore the constant theme of women being or being feared of being unfaithful to their boyfriends or husbands. Also, every single main character is a man, and in the one story where you could argue that there are two progatonists and one is a woman, the story is about her capricious nature. I found myself less and less willing to enjoy the stories as I went on, since I became more and more annoyed with the way women were written. You may find yourself in a similar predicament.
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