The Rooftop (Available in Spanish) La Azotea
‘The world is this house’, says Clara while she is trying to protect her beloved ones from the world – yes, that one outside their house walls – which seems to threaten them more and more. Clara entrenches herself with her father and her daughter Flor in a dark apartment that inevitably crumbles on them. The roof becomes their last recess of freedom. A caged bird is the only witness of Clara’s fear and resistance against those she thinks are trying to destroy her.
‘Are threats and pain external or inside our own bodies? Where is violence’s root? What are we afraid of? Is there a possibility to find a roof to finally be able to breathe? What are our umbilical cords?’. Fernanda Trías does not answer these questions – impossible for anyone – about instinct, civilization and taboos, instead, she gives them shape and dives deep into them with a grotesque and forceful history written with agility and a Kafkaesque sense of humour.
The Rooftop is a claustrophobic novel about freedom, and also about fear, violence, motherhood and loss.
‘Exceptional.’ Inés Martín Diego, ABC (Spain)
Spanish
En un apartamento en ruinas, en una ciudad uruguaya sin nombre, un padre y su hija se encierran y se aíslan del mundo exterior. “El mundo es esta casa”, dice Clara. La azotea se vuelve su último y único acceso a la libertad. Hay un solo testigo: el canario.
A medida que los vínculos de Clara con el afuera se van extinguiendo -la vecina que deja de venir, el novio cuya existencia es aparente solo a través de un embarazo-, la desesperación y la paranoia van tomando protagonismo. Es un abrazo que asfixia, y nosotros estamos aquí con ella, nuestra narradora, aterrados ante lo que trae el devenir.
‘The world is this house’, says Clara while she is trying to protect her beloved ones from the world – yes, that one outside their house walls – which seems to threaten them more and more. Clara entrenches herself with her father and her daughter Flor in a dark apartment that inevitably crumbles on them. The roof becomes their last recess of freedom. A caged bird is the only witness of Clara’s fear and resistance against those she thinks are trying to destroy her.
‘Are threats and pain external or inside our own bodies? Where is violence’s root? What are we afraid of? Is there a possibility to find a roof to finally be able to breathe? What are our umbilical cords?’. Fernanda Trías does not answer these questions – impossible for anyone – about instinct, civilization and taboos, instead, she gives them shape and dives deep into them with a grotesque and forceful history written with agility and a Kafkaesque sense of humour.
The Rooftop is a claustrophobic novel about freedom, and also about fear, violence, motherhood and loss.
‘Exceptional.’ Inés Martín Diego, ABC (Spain)
Spanish
En un apartamento en ruinas, en una ciudad uruguaya sin nombre, un padre y su hija se encierran y se aíslan del mundo exterior. “El mundo es esta casa”, dice Clara. La azotea se vuelve su último y único acceso a la libertad. Hay un solo testigo: el canario.
A medida que los vínculos de Clara con el afuera se van extinguiendo -la vecina que deja de venir, el novio cuya existencia es aparente solo a través de un embarazo-, la desesperación y la paranoia van tomando protagonismo. Es un abrazo que asfixia, y nosotros estamos aquí con ella, nuestra narradora, aterrados ante lo que trae el devenir.
‘The world is this house’, says Clara while she is trying to protect her beloved ones from the world – yes, that one outside their house walls – which seems to threaten them more and more. Clara entrenches herself with her father and her daughter Flor in a dark apartment that inevitably crumbles on them. The roof becomes their last recess of freedom. A caged bird is the only witness of Clara’s fear and resistance against those she thinks are trying to destroy her.
‘Are threats and pain external or inside our own bodies? Where is violence’s root? What are we afraid of? Is there a possibility to find a roof to finally be able to breathe? What are our umbilical cords?’. Fernanda Trías does not answer these questions – impossible for anyone – about instinct, civilization and taboos, instead, she gives them shape and dives deep into them with a grotesque and forceful history written with agility and a Kafkaesque sense of humour.
The Rooftop is a claustrophobic novel about freedom, and also about fear, violence, motherhood and loss.
‘Exceptional.’ Inés Martín Diego, ABC (Spain)
Spanish
En un apartamento en ruinas, en una ciudad uruguaya sin nombre, un padre y su hija se encierran y se aíslan del mundo exterior. “El mundo es esta casa”, dice Clara. La azotea se vuelve su último y único acceso a la libertad. Hay un solo testigo: el canario.
A medida que los vínculos de Clara con el afuera se van extinguiendo -la vecina que deja de venir, el novio cuya existencia es aparente solo a través de un embarazo-, la desesperación y la paranoia van tomando protagonismo. Es un abrazo que asfixia, y nosotros estamos aquí con ella, nuestra narradora, aterrados ante lo que trae el devenir.
Author: Fernanda Trías translated by Annie McDermott
Language: English
Pages: 112
Type of binding: Soft Cover
