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Review: The strange place

The strange place.

Domingo Santos.

Review: Santiago G ª Solans.

SWAT Group. Albemuth Col. # 37. Granada, 2010. 156 pages.

Among the intrigue, the metaphysical drama, mystery and suspense, Santos places the action of this short novel in a paragraph and disturbing sanatorium entrance gate which provides a next phrase brings to mind the inscription Dante located on the door of Hell, yes giving an entirely opposite not abandon ALL HOPE .

Jorge Herralde and his wife Berta , held in Madrid after their golden wedding with most of their children and grandchildren, returning by road to Galicia, Vigo will use to see the only one that was not present at the celebration. Despite his age, traveling at night, as George has worked his entire driving life as a traveling salesman and is used to driving in any circumstances, but on this occasion, and without knowing how, at dawn are enveloped in a dense fog that blurred the landscape, moving, rather than the highway, for a monotonous and long road with no curve ends abruptly at the gate of a strange place, a kind of sanatorium for the position of the enigmatic Dr. Moira , which arrive when the sun rises. Addressing the Victorian-looking building to ask help, guidance or at least get back on track, will be admitted there without being aware of suffering any illness, even though they say they are sick of "life, despite all their misgivings.

With the passing of the hours the peculiarities of the place will be piling in the form of a whole bunch of unanswered questions. The place can be reached in many different ways, but it seems no one does so knowingly and voluntarily, but it is impossible to leave it by choice, and that once inside the gate seems to have disappeared without a trace. Some of the inmates die, others are cured and go from place-or so they say to those left behind, "and yet the high wall surrounding the property appears to have no way out.

Faced inexplicable situations and submerged in a sea of \u200b\u200bdoubt, the protagonist is not resigned to their fate and seek understanding by all means at its disposal which it really is and where is that strange place , and, above all, how can they get out his wife and himself. Contact with the rest of "sick" will give way to different theories and hypotheses in succession, unable to accept or discard any of them permanently. The narrative is flowing in a parsimonious, slow but not dull, with leisurely pace and without fanfare until the very end, where they face the revelations that give meaning to all "lived" by Mr. Herralde. And we can say that there is a final, closed and consistent, with a clear explanation for what happened, leaving the reader hanging as in other cases of similar stories accumulate mysteries and a general closure or a satisfactory resolution.

This is a short novel intimate, claustrophobic, surrounded by a halo of mystery that invites us to reflect on many things we take for granted, the life and death over all, the very meaning of life, personality ... Intriguing at all times, with a detailed narrative characterized by long moments of thoughtful digressions and descriptions, and dialogues full of meaning to the true nature of the place and the "patients" remain There, equipped with powerful images-that farm surrounded by high walls just fog, that endless corridor ...- and a final is coming almost from the beginning, since the clock strikes 3:35 repeatedly, but does not detract one iota of emotion to the story.

The action is based on a good portrayal of the characters, both protagonists and secondary, despite the low participation of these. All of them are ordinary people with ordinary lives, nothing extraordinary. Given the brevity of the text characterization is necessarily limited, but the author manages to imbue them with short strokes, life and depth, giving them autonomy and humanity. The narrative is based primarily on Jorge is holding talks with other inmates, where each will offer theories that have developed during their stay there to answer to the mystery in which they are involved, some will not give importance, leaving to circumstances, others fall into despair or apathy. There is no single answer, there is a common attitude to what they are experiencing. The author portrays them all a lot of feeling, pass it on to George, and with it the reader: frustration, anger, acceptance, resignation, rebellion, apathy, curiosity, fear, illusion, deception ... to take you to the door behind which lies the answer to the mystery for those who dare to cross.

The strange place is just a diversion around a story, an idea that ends just at the moment that threatened to become too long. Original screenplay, it seems, the transfer to the novel format does not affect its atmosphere, very visual, despite minimalist character of the proposal of many of the scenes. Writing is enjoyable at the same time effectively without great fanfare stylistic directly, and although hampered by a failure of repetition of words or a sentence less cared for, is very suitable for the story being told. It is appreciated the brevity of the proposal, not trying to fatten a story acquires its required length, without more pages that had just devalued the content. It reads in a flash and although the end is coming, while reading is always the question of whether it is wrong one, if not there will be a further twist to end the certezas.Quien want to find out, have to go into this strange place and walk its halls and gardens, collect data, talk to patients ... ultimately have to read the book.