Wiki:
Amor, curiosidad, prozac y dudas, es la primera novela de la escritora española Lucía Etxebarria, publicada en 1997.
Como en otras novelas de esta autora que se define como feminista, se exploran aquí distintos modelos de mujer contemporánea: la perfecta ama de casa, la chica que vive la noche y la gran ejecutiva, tres hermanas y sus conflictos.
Por el gran éxito que obtuvo, se considera una de las novelas clave de la llamada Generación X en España, junto a Historias del Kronen de José Ángel Mañas o Caídos del cielo, de Ray Loriga.
Brief, but probably useful, reseña available here.
My notes
A de atípica
First polvo in a month with a guy with small equipment who took too
long.
Flashback to childhood-went to Catholic school, disappointed to find out
that God was a man and a father (since her father was no good). Also,
recognized breach between blonde statue of Mary and real, morena Mary,
personaje secundario. Remembers learning about virginity….algo que todos los
varones intentarían arrrebatarse a toda costa.
Now she’s a waitress, also a student. Sisters: one is executive, one is
maruja (housewife). She has endometriosis, which can cause sterility..then
finds out she has an excess of testosterone. And her sister Rosa (exec.) has a
lack of serotonin, so she has prozac.
B de bajón
In life, everything accumulates. Recounts her friendship as a girl with
a 13 y.o boy.
C de curro
“Por eso nos gustan tanto los paraísos artificiales: nostalgia de
tiempos mejores.” Mentions working
overtime for crappy pay. Starts to devalue herself and her life (drinking +
drugs). So one day, she hits “delete all” and leaves that job. And now she’s a
waitress.
D de deseo y destierro
(Note: very contemporary and sometimes vulgar language) . Keeps
partying, doing drugs, hooking up.
“Generation X. Hay que joderse.”
E de enclaustrada, enamorada, empleada y encadenada
Notes how her sisters have a pretty negative opinion of the fact that
she works in a bar. Mentions to
her sister than men her age have been living with their moms for 20 odd years,
moms who didn’t work and just lived to pamper then and schools that told them
to look for mujeres dulces, calladitas y sumisas. Yet, she is a feminista. YET,
even though her sister Rosa gives her a hard time, Rosa stands up for her.
F de frustrada
Mentions university study about the low chances women with degrees have
to get married after the age of thirty. Again, mentions how many hours she
works and how she has to wear a suit to be taken seriously. Mentions eating
low-cal processed food and watching TV.
As a child, ‘tenía mis libros, mis discos y mi universo propio, y no me
importaba aquel de los demás’. Always mentions how she was at the top of her
class.
Sees her childhood friend Gonzalo at her sister Ana’s wedding. feels
sexually attracted to him.
G de gastada y gris
Mentions that men catcall her on the street, even though she’s no
knockout. Mentions the key difference bt she and Ana: Putón vs. maruja.
Iain, her boyfriend, had dumped her.
And, a half an hour after her visit with her sister started, she
goes…”habré cumplido con mis deberes de hermana.”
H de hastío
Tells story of her parents…Mamá era niña de familia bien de San
Sebastían, studied to be a pharmacist, quite conservative university life. Met
her dad at a party. Dad studied economics and made her laugh a lot. She’s
closer to her mom’s family than her dad’s family. But then, he drank too much.
Her dad left when she was 12 years old. He got physically abusive.
I de intolerancia
In her purse (microcosm of her world)- tampons, book, kleenex, condoms,
undies, lipstick…
Lots of talk of sex, orgasms, etc. Conclusion: ellos lo tienen más
fácil.
J de jeringuilla
“El cielo muestra un aspecto tan gris como mi propia vida” Passes a
group of politoxicómanos in the street.
“¿Qué sentido tiene la vida de una mujer de treinta años brillante,
professional, bien pagada y sola?”
K de kool
First time with Iain, she was really drunk. Yet, since she has an
impression of Brits as kinda nutty in the head, she worries about her safety.
But, turns out, he’s not a psychokiller.
L de lágrimas.
Says she feels like a puzzle piece in the wrong puzzle box (this book
shows a person’s existential crisis… Is this postmodernism?)
La vida es como la cola de un supermercado: lenta, incómoda y llena
de gente insoportable
Now she’s with Borja. Mentions impatience of everyone in the
supermarket. She screams when she forgets her wallet, then cries from the
embarrassment of it all.
LL de llanto y llaga
We don’t miss the people we loved. We miss the part of us that they take
with them. “He crecido entre discos”. Gonzalo showed her lots of other
musicians...Dylan and Hendrix. mentions that the group she loved the most were
the kinks….
M de melancolía y mustia
Information from her life is in her brain, floppy disks, computers, etc
(technology and the modern human) Leads you through chain of consciousness…saw
a girl who reminded me of a girl I went to school with. Remembers gradeschool
crushes. Divides her class into girls that are ratitas grises and listas
gatitas. Feels more empathy for the black sheep. Mentions her first kiss and how
unaware she was of the whole show.
N de neurótica, naufragio, y nostalgia
No one talked about sex in her family. Mentions how her COUSIN was not
good at “it”. Mentions renting porn to see how people had sex- “atípica
educación sexual”. Her bf Iain was a jealous type, didn’t talk to her friends.
She starts living with him, poco a poco. Finds a letter from one of his
ex-gfs. Wonders why he never
mentions her. Ends up breaking up with him because he’s a jealous guy and she
fancies herself a modern woman.
Ñ for ñoñería
Mentions being encerrada with some frequency. Chapter seems to be written in
Ana’s perspective of Cristina. Mentions a drunk, wreckless teenager, goes to
the hospital for drug use, how she cut her legs and made the bathroom all
bloody. Really, there were two Cristinas-the hysterical one and the super
enchanting lovely one.
O de obsessón
Speaks of depression. Suicidal. Cuts herself in front of Iain. Yet she’s
obsessed with him…unhealthy relationship to say the least.
P de poder
Palabras que me definen: E-mail, proyectos, equipos, multimedia,
liderazgo…My rise was meteoric. Graduated at 22, directora financiera by 28
(Ana again?) Had an anonymous caller. Lost her virginity at 21 to a professor.
But, then, never had a good relationship because of her role in the business
world.
Q de querer, queja, y quiebra.
List of desperate lovers who never love again once their true love is
gone.
R de rota, rancor y rendida
My marriage is ending (ana’s perspeetive) and Borja has made it this
long for the child. She’s given up on going to the market every day, keeping
the house clean, etc. Doubts her belief in God. Doesn’t forgive her father for
going with another woman. Mentions two guys who kinda take advantage of her.
Then, she met Borja, who was a nice boy. Wanted to get married in the church to
show that “yo valía la pena.” She tells him about the time she lost her
virginity (which was not quite true)…yet he didn’t recall (modern
relationships b/t men and women). Has her first child and loves it more than Borja.
In the end, “no ha merecido la pena demostrar que soy una buena chica.”
S de susto
Only two ways to live life-with or without drugs. Police detain her and
her friends for drugs; they’re interrogated at the station. They’re released
and the policeman even said they were the sweetest girls he’d seen pass
through.
T de truinfadores
Rosa’s perspective. Still single. 30 y.o. working and taking prozac (“O
paz”). Notes how women must act like men to achieve in the workplace.
U de underground
more sex.
V de vulnerable
Keeps a medication for everything…because then I know nothing can happen
while they’re around. And when you mix them with alcohol…todo te da igual. Nada
es bueno o malo.
W de whisky
What happens on the 17 of May for all three sisters. More desperation
for Cristina.
X, la incognita
My family thinks I’m crazy. “El gran Porqué es ese hecho particular de
la vida que te hacer ser como eres” (Post-modernism?) Bad childhood à destructive adulthood.
My Gran Porqué is Gonzalo (he would do touchy things-she was only 9, he
was 20 + a few years later, her virginity… later notes that girls who were
sexually abused tend to be more promiscuous as adults), her father (absent),
her mother (crying all the time),
Y de yerma y yugo
Friends start doing more and more drugs. Guy names Santi dies shooting
heroin, but she realizes it
could’ve been her. Realizes life is a gift and that she has screwed up many
relationships. More personal psychoanalysis.
Z de zenit.
“una mujer fuerte siempre puede conseguir lo que se propone…fortaleza
significa, sobre todo, aguantar, no romperse. Es una virtud femenina.) Is
bitter towards perfect families when she had been through so much.
Ana, her sister, is dying (overdose of amphetamines)…each sister had
their drug of choice.
Final line. My mother is Eve. But we are daughters of Lilith.
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