ralentina reviewed Preguntas Frecuentes by Nona Fernández
Preguntas Frequentes / FAQ
4 stars
In this tiny book, two friends 'exchange monologues' about the pandemic. Both angry, frustrated, alienated by the lockdown. One is a journalist, writing piercing opinion pieces about government abuses and injustice. The other works, we assume, in a call centre, doing night shifts. As a kid, she survived the accident that took the lives of her mum and sister. The trauma has made her memory unreliable, causing her to confound the past, her dreams, and her present thoughts - in a daze that is brought to the extreme by her isolation and, finally, by Covid.
The two threads (the incident of the past, the pandemic today) don't really connect at a logical level, except perhaps through the notion of trauma and the loss of lucidity that often accompanies. It's angry, in a very relatable, painful, satisfying sort of way. How can a country be so fucked up? How can they …
In this tiny book, two friends 'exchange monologues' about the pandemic. Both angry, frustrated, alienated by the lockdown. One is a journalist, writing piercing opinion pieces about government abuses and injustice. The other works, we assume, in a call centre, doing night shifts. As a kid, she survived the accident that took the lives of her mum and sister. The trauma has made her memory unreliable, causing her to confound the past, her dreams, and her present thoughts - in a daze that is brought to the extreme by her isolation and, finally, by Covid.
The two threads (the incident of the past, the pandemic today) don't really connect at a logical level, except perhaps through the notion of trauma and the loss of lucidity that often accompanies. It's angry, in a very relatable, painful, satisfying sort of way. How can a country be so fucked up? How can they be so greedy and cynical? (rarely have I thought of a they with such force before moving to Chile).