Un espía llamado Sara

by Bernardo Atxaga

El antiguo marinero bilbaíno Martín Saldías se convierte en espía para servir los intereses de don Carlos durante la primera guerra carlista. Tiene que llevar un mensaje que contiene una información muy importante para el desarrollo de la guerra. En el camino, para unos días en un campo militar carlista.

244 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1996

About the author

Bernardo Atxaga (Joseba Irazu Garmendia, Asteasu, Guipúzcoa, 1951) belongs to the young group of Basque writers that began publishing in his mother language, Euskara, in the Seventies. Graduated in Economics for the Bilbao University, he later studied Philosophy at the University of Barcelona.

His first short story, Ziutateaz was published in 1976 and his first book of poetry Etiopia in 1978. Both works received the National Critics Prize for the best works in the Basque language.

He cultivates most genres: poetry, radio, cinema scriptwriting, theatre, children's books, articles, short stories... His national –and soon after international– recognition arrived with Obabakoak (1988) which, among other prizes, was awarded the National Literature Prize 1989 and that has been translated into more than twenty languages.

Many of his poems have also been translated into other languages and published by prestigious magazines such as Jahbuch der Lyrik, 1993, Die horen, 1995, Lichtungen, 1997 (Germany), Lyrikklubbss bibliotek, 1993 (Sweden), Vuelta, 1990 (Mexico), Linea d'ombra, 1992 (Italy) and others.

Reviews

[Tommy Hilfiger · Rating 3 out of 5]

A pesar de haberlo leído fue como volverlo a leer por primera vez.
Considero que faltó desarrollo de los personajes, pero también creo que para una novela de 134 páginas es difícil.
Tiene algunos giros inesperados, mientras más avanzas en la trama, más te engancha.
Me costó el tema de los nombres eso sí jajaja

Poema que más me gustó;

!Ay, desdichado! !Creía saber tanto
de amor, y se tan poco!,
pues no puedo abstenerme de amar
a aquella de la que no tendré beneficios.
Me ha quitado mi corazón y a mí
y a sí misma y a todo el mundo;
cuando se me fue, no me dejó nada,
sino deseo y corazón anhelante.

[Penelope Ausejo · Rating 3 out of 5]

Me ha gustado el formato. Cada capítulo termina con una hoja contando lo que pensó uno de los personajes.
La trama es interesante.
Está bien.

[Nicolas · Rating 3 out of 5]

Entrenido, pasajero. Una linda historia que mas que una novela podría ser un cuento largo.

[Evange · Rating 3 out of 5]

With a rather dynamic and light narrative the writer gives us the reality of this man, calm and simple ways that with the heart raised by the cause risks this difficult mission to deliver such an important message. The tricks and deceptions to which he was subjected due to a leak in what was supposed to be confidential information, make poor Martin is alert to any strange movement or word out of context. Between the shadows moves an antagonist who will exhaust all the resources to be able to achieve its mission that is in its opposite nature to Martin's.

I liked very much the fluidity and smoothness with which the book moved between my eyes, it did not handle a complex vocabulary, nor did it display military language. The vicissitudes through which our protagonist transits were simply met through an omnipresent narrator. It maintains from the beginning of history a kind of intrigue and question in which I was subconsciously submerged. You end up, without realizing it, looking for and analyzing all the attitudes of the characters close to the principal, hoping to detail anything that betrayed them. But although the initial suspicions were well covered, there always seems to be a piece of the puzzle without fitting, and a few pages before reaching the inevitable end reveals a surprise that, although I expected it in a certain way, surprised me pleasantly.

Light, harmonious, vibrant.