Voices en Español

Today’s podcast is with my friend Juan Manuel Villalobos from Mexico City. Juan Manuel is a writer and journalist and we met almost three years ago in Madrid when he was on the verge of publishing his first novel, “La vida frágil de Annette Blanche.”

In the novel, Juan Rodríguez, a writer from Mexico, leaves his country behind to move to Europe, first landing in London and then eventually winding up in Madrid working in the media. Complicating his life is a relationship he has with Annette Blanche, a woman from Belgium. Although there may be some commonalities between his life and the story of his protagonist, Juan Manuel says the novel is not autobiographical, although he can see why some people might view it that way.

The novel was well received by Spanish media. One reviewer wrote:

Esta excelente novela nos permite conocer de cerca la vida de un par de jóvenes enamorados que no son capaces de realizar sus sueños y defenderse de la cruda sociedad en la que vivimos.

Esta novela es una interesante radiografía del mundo que nos rodea. Muchos lectores se sentirán identificados con el vacío de las vidas de sus dos personajes: las relaciones personales, los amigos que perdimos, la encrucijada padre-hijo, los fantasmas del pasado, el amor de tu vida, la autocompasión, la precariedad laboral, etc. Vidas malditas y amargas, vidas que duelen mucho.

También hay momentos que provocan grandes carcajadas. La experiencia personal del propio autor de este libro le ha servido para recrear unas divertidísimas situaciones que dan vida a la novela. El protagonista nos adentra con brillantez e ironía en el submundo del periodismo y la literatura, con ácidas críticas hacia periodistas, críticos literarios, escritores y editores. En la novela, el narrador nos hará sonreír a través de ajustes de cuentas, actitudes de directores de revistas y editoriales, publicación de reportajes pagados, viajes inútiles de periodistas, estúpidos responsables de prensa, etc.

You can read the complete review here and a different review here. There’s also an in-depth, well-done Q&A with Juan Manuel about the book and the writing process here.

The book isn’t available for sale on Amazon and unfortunately the publisher Editorial Losada didn’t respond to a request for promotional copies of the novel. But you can order the book via Casa del Libro and hear Juan Manuel read an excerpt here. Happy listening!