Description
This body of mine and ours
Book Summary
A novel that won the XXXIV Vila d'Ascó Narrative Prize in 2022, exploring desire, death, and grief through Cèlia's physical and emotional journey. After seeking solitude in Siberia, the protagonist returns to Barcelona to find a reality that does not stop. This work is an intimate portrait of the restlessness of broken and aching bodies seeking a respite, and a reflection on motherhood, love, family, and roots.
What is it about?
The novel follows Cèlia, a woman who leaves for Siberia in search of solitude and silence. Upon returning to Barcelona, she discovers that life and death have continued their course, imperturbable, where she left off. From this point on, the narrative moves between desire—violent and inopportune like the summer sun—and death, equally violent and cruel. The story focuses on the grief that women in a family carry like burdens, and on the long lethargy of bodies attempting to awaken and find rest. Everything unfolds amidst contrasts: heat and cold, rurality and urbanity, the present and the past, as Cèlia questions the unwritten rules she has followed by inertia.
Main themes
- Desire in its most violent and inopportune form.
- Death and the grieving process, especially in the female and family spheres.
- Solitude and the search for oneself through travel and isolation.
- Motherhood, love, and roots as the axes of a conflicting identity.
- Breaking away from unwritten social norms and the struggle to find personal respite.
Who is it recommended for?
This book is recommended for readers interested in contemporary fiction that addresses human emotions from a raw and poetic perspective. It is ideal for those seeking stories centered on introspection, the inner journey, and family dynamics, with a narrative style that plays with the contrasts between spaces and times.
What this book offers
- A deep and sensitive exploration of grief and desire as transformative forces.
- An honest look at the pressure of family and social norms on women's lives.
- A narrative that combines the cold of Siberia with the heat of the Mediterranean summer as a metaphor for internal conflict.
- A reflection on how solitude can be a path toward self-understanding.
Technical specifications
- Author: CLAUDIA PALLISE PERELLO
- Publisher: Cossetània Edicions
- Language: cat
- Topic: MODERN AND CONTEMPORARY FICTION
- Collection: NOTES DE COLOR
- Binding: Paperback
- Publication date: January 2023
- Number of pages: 176
- Weight: 277 g
Editorial review
A debut novel that stands out for its ability to weave a story that is both intimate and universal. Clàudia Pallisé constructs a protagonist who moves between two worlds, physical and emotional, doing so with a language that does not shy away from the violence of emotions or the tenderness of memories. For lovers of narrative that explores the body and the psyche, this work offers a fresh and award-winning voice within the contemporary Catalan literary scene.