“She takes aggressive strides, as if kicking the air. She is oblivious to the fact that, crossing the street she now walks along, she will be hit by an oncoming car. And that while she is feeling the pain of just having turned sixteen, she will soon be feeling a different pain, in some ways a more accessible one: that of her right leg breaking in three places.”

Book Review:

Review by Bonnie Brody (JUN 22, 2010)

David Trueba has written an interesting intergenerational family saga translated from the Spanish by Mara Lethem. At nearly 600 pages, this book is truly a tome. Learning to Lose follows the adventures of 16-year-old Sylvia, a high school student, her father Lorenzo, and her paternal grandfather, Leandro. The book is also about a professional soccer player named Ariel. The story is told in chapters that alternate between the perspectives of these four characters.

As the book opens, Aurora, Sylvia’s grandmother, breaks her hip. Leandro takes her to the hospital for care. While he is waiting with her he peruses the sex pages in their daily newspaper. A particular advertisement about a “chalet” draws his attention. He has no formal intention of visiting this brothel but he ends up there anyway. Thus begins a sex addiction that escalates out of control. Leandro is obsessed with a particular Nigerian prostitute and is spending down his retirement in almost daily visits to her.

Leandro was once an aspiring pianist who tried to make it professionally but did not succeed. Instead, he ended up teaching piano at a prestigious Spanish school. The book talks about many conductors, pianists, and professionals in the music field.

Sylvia is sixteen and very insightful for her age. As she is crossing the street one evening, she is run over by 20-year-old Ariel, a professional soccer player who has recently immigrated to Spain from Argentina. Sylvia ends up with some contusions and a broken leg. Later on, Ariel and Sylvia begin a passionate affair. The book discusses a lot about soccer and this will appeal to soccer fans.

Lorenzo has just killed his cheating ex-business partner, Paco, when the book opens. Because of Paco, Lorenzo has been wiped out financially. Lorenzo is Sylvia’s primary parent, as his wife has left him for another man and Sylvia resides with him. We are privy to Lorenzo’s concerns about the police and his thoughts about the murder. We are voyeurs to his somewhat kinky sexual appetites. He worries about Sylvia but is not good at connecting with her. Lorenzo begins to date Daniela, a childcare worker in his building.

The novel raises interesting questions about morality, ethics, loss, love, and intimacy. The narrative is a bit blunted and not as fluid as I would have liked. I presume this is due to the translation. However, the reader will be kept turning pages, wondering whether Lorenzo will be caught by the police. Will Aurora find out about Leandro’s sex addiction? Will Sylvia and Ariel’s affair become public? If so, will they be harmed since Sylvia is a minor? There is a lot going on in this novel and I look forward to reading more of David Trueba’s work.

AMAZON READER RATING:	from 7 readers
PUBLISHER:	Other Press (June 22, 2010)
REVIEWER:	Bonnie Brody
AVAILABLE AS A KINDLE BOOK?	YES! Start Reading Now!
AUTHOR WEBSITE:	Wikipedia page on David Trueba
EXTRAS:	Reading Guide and Excerpt
MORE ON MOSTLYFICTION:	Another novel set in Madrid: Child’s Play by Carmen Posada

Bibliography:

• Learning to Lose (June 2010 in English)

“Stella’s e-mail was rich in metaphor, lacking in love. But Stella had never been rich in love.  Stella preferred lust. Good old-fashioned, I-want-you-in-the-worst-way lust.

Not hers naturally.

His.”

Book Review:

Review by Chuck Barksdale (SEP 25, 2009)

Elizabeth George has assembled a very enjoyable collection of new mystery short stories by twenty-three known and new authors, including one by the editor herself. The “Two” in Two of the Deadliest refers to two of the seven deadly sins, lust and greed. Each story includes one or both of these sins with varying degrees of success in incorporating these themes into the story.

At the end of introduction by Elizabeth George, she provides a good summary of the variety of stories included:

“Throughout Two of the Deadliest, all of the contributors have taken a different look at what constitutes lust and greed and at where submitting to the calls of these sins can lead a person. You’ll find good guys, bad guys, and in-between guys. You’ll find mystery, mistakes, misunderstandings, and murder, generated from the minds of terrific women writers. In all cases, I hope you enjoy.”

Many famous authors are included and “Your Turn” by Carolyn Hart is one of the best stories. This story seems to fall into the more traditional mystery formats when a man with cancer leaves messages behind to his young adulteress wife after she helps accelerate his death.

One author, more familiar for her science fiction writing, Kristine Kathryn Rusch, also wrote one of the best stories, “E-Male.” A former lover illegally reads his ex-girlfriend’s emails and discovers she may be in danger and needs to find a way to help without incriminating himself. Although she often writes under her Kris Nelscott pseudonym while writing mystery stories, this one is included under her real name.

Other famous writers include Allison Brennan with “A Capitol Obsession” one of the longer stories in the collection and one that I found interesting in parts but overall disappointing as a female senator investigates the murder of a lobbyist. Patricia Smiley’s “The Offer” was probably the best story to focus primarily on greed as an unemployed woman allows her greed to take over as she impersonates someone who is late for her interview. This is probably the one story in the collection that draws you in the most and although not the best written, is definitely the most memorable.

All of the stories by the five relatively unknown authors, some of whom are published for the first time in this collection, were certainly as well written as any by the more established writers’ stories. Of particular note were “Anything Helps” by Z. Kelly and “Back to School Essay” by Patricia Fogarty. In “Anything Helps” a woman that works in a casino store must deal with the “lust” of the odd and leering men that enter the special room to see the “erotica” within. This woman is just making enough money to get by but seems to have a strange beggar watch over and protect her while she works. In “Back to School Essay,” the well written story is presented from the perspective of a 16-year old boy as he returns to school and writes about his summer where he worked in a laundrymat and lusted after a female patron.

Although I read mostly mystery novels and short stories, I was not very familiar with many of the authors including some of the more well known ones, such as Nancy Pickard, Marcia Talley, and Linda Barnes. This is primarily since I have a tendency to read male readers so this collection was a good opportunity to read some new authors and decide who I’d like to read more. I have only recently begun reading Laura Lippman, and her entry, “Cougar” was certainly enjoyable and I will certainly continue to read her books. This was also certainly true of the authors I knew even better such as Marcia Muller (having read almost all of her books) and S. J. Rozan (who I need to read more). As mentioned above, I really enjoyed the Carolyn Hart and Kristine Kathryn Rusch stories and will look to read some of their novels. I was most disappointed by the story by Wendy Hornsby, “The Violinist” which seemed more of a non-fiction account of Jack London than a historical fiction story. I have a collection by Ms. Hornsby and was hoping this new story would be a good lead in to her other stories.

One of the nice features of the book is a short biography of each author. I found this particularly helpful since although I may have heard of most of the authors, I really didn’t know too much about many of them so I was able to gain some more background. Sometimes I read the biography before reading the story and sometimes after but usually both when the story was especially entertaining.

AMAZON READER RATING:	from 4 readers
PUBLISHER:	Harper; First Edition edition (July 21, 2009)
REVIEWER:	Chuck Barksdale
AMAZON PAGE:	Two of the Deadliest
AUTHOR WEBSITE:	Elizabeth George
EXTRAS:	“Browse Inside”  Excerpt
MORE ON MOSTLYFICTION:	More mystery collections: The Female of the Species by Joyce Carol Oates Dangerous Women by Otto Penzler New Orleans Noir by Julie Smith

Bibliography:

More short story collections edited by Elizabeth George:

• A Moment on the Edge: 100 Years of Crime Stories by Women (June 2005)
• Two of the Deadliest (July 2009)