Customer Reviews

Learning to Lose

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

A very thoughtful, touching and painful exploration of the lives of 4 people, fighting their way through difficult adjustments. Even the worst of the four, the father and son of two other central characters, was sympathetically drawn. These people can be foolish, and sometimes selfish, but through it all their relationships with each other and others rendered them three dimensional and painfully real. I was sorry to see them go. The writing, by the way, is very understated, so much so that this book takes some patience, which is very well rewarded.

David Trueba has written an interesting intergenerational family saga translated from the Spanish by Mara Lethem. At nearly 600 pages, this book is truly a tome. It follows the adventures of 16 year old Sylvia, a high school student, her father Lorenzo, and her paternal grandfather, Leandro. The book is also about a professional soccer player named Ariel. The story is told in chapters that alternate between the perspectives of these four characters.

As the book opens, Aurora, Sylvia's grandmother, breaks her hip. Leandro takes her to the hospital for care. While he is waiting with her he peruses the sex pages in their daily newspaper. A particular advertisement about a `chalet' draws his attention. He has no formal intention of visiting this brothel but he ends up there anyway. Thus begins a sex addiction that escalates out of control. Leandro is obsessed with a particular Nigerian prostitute and is spending down his retirement in almost daily visits to her.

Leandro was once an aspiring pianist who tried to make it professionally but did not succeed. Instead, he ended up teaching piano at a prestigious Spanish school. The book talks about many conductors, pianists, and professionals in the music field.

Sylvia is 16 years old and very insightful for her age. As she is crossing the street one evening, she is run over by 20 year old Ariel, a professional soccer player who has recently immigrated to Spain from Argentina. Sylvia ends up with some contusions and a broken leg. Later on, Ariel and Sylvia begin a passionate affair. The book discusses a lot about soccer and this will appeal to soccer fans.

Lorenzo has just killed his cheating ex-business partner, Paco, when the book opens. Because of Paco, Lorenzo has been wiped out financially. Lorenzo is Sylvia's primary parent, as his wife has left him for another man and Sylvia resides with him. We are privy to Lorenzo's concerns about the police and his thoughts about the murder. We are voyeurs to his somewhat kinky sexual appetites. He worries about Sylvia but is not good at connecting with her. Lorenzo begins to date Daniela, a childcare worker in his building.

The novel raises interesting questions about morality, ethics, loss, love, and intimacy. The narrative is a bit blunted and not as fluid as I would have liked. I presume this is due to the translation. However, the reader will be kept turning pages, wondering whether Lorenzo will be caught by the police. Will Aurora find out about Leandro's sex addiction? Will Sylvia and Ariel's affair become public? If so, will they be harmed since Sylvia is a minor? There is a lot going on in this novel and I look forward to reading more of David Trueba's work.

This is a fascinating tale set in Madrid. Its more the story telling that is likely to capture your imagination than the story itself. Treuba invests his characters with flesh, blood and so many frailities that you can't but care for each of them.

When I was reading the book, I thought this was one that was waiting to be made into a movie because of the visuals it can evoke in a reader. That said, it will need someone very accomplished to make a movie of the book , because while the story is more about characters than plot, the larger lessons on life linger around it.

I read this book because I wanted to understand more about Spain after visiting Barcelona. If the characters represent the heart of the Spanish people, I'm convinced that I want to go back there. I was won over by the four main characters, and the minor ones as well. I was affected by their fears and cheered their bravery.

Finishing this book gave me the feeling I have after enjoying a nice glass of wine. Thank you Mr. Treuba for the wonderful experience of reading your book.

David Trueba has certainly displayed his patience and talent as a writer in this beautiful novel. Over the course of the nearly 600 pages we follow four characters, watching them interact with each other and live their often secretive and flawed lives.

The novel centers around a 16 year old student, her Argentinean soccer playing boyfriend, her father and grandfather. One the novel's greatest strengths is how each character willingly plunges into their own self-inflicted downfall only to have to figure out to climb back up. So many novels are afraid to show truly flawed characters. Trueba embraces them. And let's be clear. These characters make bad decisions. As do we all at times. I wish more novels so boldly explored such difficult topics. Looking forward to reading more from Trueba and Other Press.

I suppose I'm disappointed by "Learning to Lose" because it could have easily been that much better. This isn't the case of a book that goes bad somewhere in the middle, or that ends on a weak note. No, "Learning to Lose" does not lose steam throughout its pages, it very simply starts out uneven and ends that way.

David Trueba has written a curious book. Really. On the one hand, I have to commend the excellent characterization and the way that I really fell into the book. But I have to start with the bad. "Learning to Lose" is much, much too long. And not in the sense of length, exactly, but rather that it's a book divided into 4 stories, where 2 stories are... less suited for this novel. The 4 stories tell of Sylvia, Ariel, Lorenzo, and Leandro but the fact is that a month down the road, I couldn't remember Leandro's name and Lorenzo's plotline has almost entirely faded from memory.

A point for Trueba: Leandro's story, while perhaps not suited for this particular novel, is good. I'd have enjoyed it immensely had it been a separate novella. It's a strange, somewhat disturbing story that certainly catches the interest of those reading it. The problem is that it doesn't really fit into "Learning to Lose" and feels somewhat unbalanced alongside the "young love" story that takes up most of the book.

It's the Sylvia/Ariel story that caught my interest and kept me reading. Despite not being too big a fan of love stories, Trueba writes his characters in such a way that I couldn't help but keep reading, eager to know how the relationship develops, to know more about Ariel's soccer-star future and to just enjoy the characters for who they are (and their occasional/periodic human stupidities). Their story, officially told from two points of view but almost always continuing the others' without pause or overlap is what holds the book together. I found myself wanting to breeze through chapters between their consecutive stories - especially Lorenzo's story.

This is a complex and interesting book, but as much as I enjoyed reading it (and I did), I can't help but wonder why it wasn't edited a little more and why Trueba insisted on having 4 stories. 3 out of 4 stories are truly great - Ariel and Sylvia's together while Leandro's on its own is a great story of aging and affairs. Lorenzo's story fits in nowhere - the woes of an unsympathetic man who does not grow at all throughout the book and whines a lot really didn't do much for me. On the whole "Learning to Lose" is an uneven book, and a shame. Trueba is a great writer of characters and drama, even if the writing is a bit flat at times. An okay book in its current form but also disappointing - if split properly, it can be so much better.