‘Éssers absurds’ by Joan Amorós, and ‘Eternament provisional’ by Emma Segura, winners of the brief narrative prize.

The best novels of the season, those which mark the path to follow, are ‘Nocilla dream’ by Agustín Fernandez Mallo and ‘Ketchup’ by Xavi Gual.  It’s not the mission of the Joan Castello narrative prizes to find the best text, but rather the most successful attempts to make literature.

Segura’s text is a long evocation, with no apparent thread of storyline, of a girl who walks her melancholy throughout forty pages.  For his part, Joan Amorós sharpens somewhat more his collection of stories and, as a sports journalist might see, “aims at the bullseye”.

 “They’re stories I had stored at home and one day I decided to publish them because they all had a common theme”.  The conducting thread is the vital frustration of his main characters, victims of their unrealised wishes.  “It narrates human behaviour, the everyday little disappointments”.

Joan was born in Xàtiva 32 years ago, and has been with us for six, working as a school teacher, from Valencia they come in winter to our schools, in summer to Bora-Bora. 

‘Éssers absurds’ is his first book.  It manifests the typical sins of the first time writer, the omniscient narrator who knows it all, a voice that teaches instead of suggesting, however it shows a readiness of style and an ingenuity in the resolution of the stories that demonstrate that Amorós, as well as writing, is most of all, a reader: “I love Quim Monzó.  He’s my model as a writer” he admits.

The book is easy to read and is amenable.  In my opinion, personal and humble of course, the best story is ‘Invisible’, a bitter-sweet fable about the sensation of being ignored by everybody.  “It’s happened to all of hasn’t it?  Sometimes it seems you don’t exist.  This happens to people who don’t like to make themselves noticed.  I call it ‘football referee syndrome’”.

I don’t know if this happens to Joan or whether he’s dating more since his book was published, which provokes a smile and can be read in a flash.  A first step.