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The Dinner Guest

Gabriela Ybarra,

Natasha Wimmer (Translator)

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Mar 26, 2021 Beverly rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: contemporary, historical-fiction, translation, subscription-book, grief, autofiction, politics, spain, newtome2021

My thoughts:
• This is an autobiographical novel as the author states in the Author’s Note at the beginning of the book – “This novel is a free reconstruction of the story of my family….”, which looks at two deaths in a her family.
• Part One is about the kidnapping and murder of her grandfather in 1977 in Basque Country, six years before the author is born, and which her family did not speak about and she learned about it from a classmate.
• I was intrigued by the opening paragraph: “ The story g My thoughts:
• This is an autobiographical novel as the author states in the Author’s Note at the beginning of the book – “This novel is a free reconstruction of the story of my family….”, which looks at two deaths in a her family.
• Part One is about the kidnapping and murder of her grandfather in 1977 in Basque Country, six years before the author is born, and which her family did not speak about and she learned about it from a classmate.
• I was intrigued by the opening paragraph: “ The story goes that in my family there’s an extra dinner guest at every meal. He’s invisible, but always there. He has a plate, glass, knife, and fork. Every so often he appears, casts his shadow over the table and erases one of those present.”
• This was a very public event as the Ybarra was a prominent political family , the grandfather was abducted in front of his family (which included the author’s father), and were filled with guilt when they could not meet the kidnappers’ ransom demands.
• In Part Two the author is writing about the six months between the her mothers cancer diagnosis and death and her grief period
• I found the writing to be elegant and very matter-of-fact and set the tone for a story exploring the private pain and grief the narrator and family experienced.
• The translation was well done.
• I did find the bridge between Part One and Part Two to be a little bumpy and it took me a minute to adjust to the second storyline.
• Though this is autobiographical fiction, not sure if it worked that well here as what is true and what is fiction, what I took away is that the emotions were true and maybe the fiction came in smaller details.
• The interesting connection between the two parts is the narrator’s father which was present at his father’s kidnapping and his wife’s demise from cancer. And has one of the best lines in the book – “I didn’t think about death, or not much. Now I believe that the standard is to die before one’s time.”
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2 likes · Like · see review

Mar 18, 2018 Alexis marked it as to-read

Jan 20, 2019 Sam marked it as to-read

Nov 01, 2023 Kevin rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: european-fiction, 2022-world-cup-book-challenge, 2023

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