Nada, a book of madness, trauma and grotesqueness that encase its pages. Nada was a book full of drama, conflict and messiness from all characters. Like Bombal’s novel I found it so hard to like anyone, when I started to like someone or feel sorry for them I would quickly realize that they sucked as much as everyone else. Now I feel as though the characters did have a reason to suck.
This is the first of the books in which I went to pursue further research and opinions after I read it. One could say I actually really enjoyed this book compared to the others we have read so far. I for one appreciate Laforet’s descriptions of how disgusting Andrea’s whole environment was, I believe it really pushed the disparity that had followed the far. But man I had a very love hate relationship with all the characters.
I found probably Juan and Augustias to be my least favourites. I hated Juan anytime he showed up honestly, but I could also sort of sympathize with the very obvious trauma he has. I hate how he treated everyone though, and no amount of trauma could ever excuse that for me. Augustias I personally felt was very unlikable and she just blindly hated everyone around her. Roman and Gloria I feel as though I have about the same level of distain for. Roman I felt was weird and I always felt uncomfortable reading his parts. Gloria on the other hand I did feel sorry for but I felt like she was an instigator at times, prompting Roman and Juan to a bitter rage. I feel like it is so interesting though how in times of distress she would tell Andrea “I am a good girl, I am a pretty girl” or something along the lines. I feel as though she was severely abused in childhood and thats what causes her to stay with a man like Juan.
Andrea I feel as though I can mostly sympathize with. It was her unfortunate circumstances that lead her to be in such a place and I was so content when she found peace in Ena. I loved the whole Ena storyline and I feel as though it was a breath of fresh air among all the constant arguing. I feel fully for Andrea’s grandmother and Juan and Gloria’s son, they were purely innocent in my eyes but if you think other wise please do tell me!
My question for you today is who did you hate most in the book and why?
Maxene, I’m so glad to hear that you looked for more opinions after reading it. Abuse is definitely a theme that has also come up in a few other comments. The characters definitely inspire a lot of reactions in us!
Thanks for your comment!
Hi Maxene,
I enjoyed reading your blog post and had a lot of the same thoughts while reading the novel. To answer your question, I did not like Juan for multiple reasons that I think we can agree upon. The most obvious reason for me is the fact that he was abusive and toxic towards Gloria and her child. He seemed too possess so many harmful traits which made me believe he was truly awful.
“I feel fully for Andrea’s grandmother and Juan and Gloria’s son”
Juan and Gloria’s son (who doesn’t even have a name!) for sure. But the grandmother? At the end, the aunts blame her for preferring her sons over her daughters… do you think they have a point?
I was enticed by what the aunts were saying at the end for sure! But I don’t fully know. I can see the connotations that the grandmother favoured her sons, it is in front of the readers face and I believe this comes from very real notions of mothers tending to baby their sons. But when it comes to the context of the novel for the majority I do still feel really bad for the Grandmother. I feel like yes there is probably stuff that has happened in the past that attribute to the way that she lives like all the other characters but I feel as though she lives much like Andrea and the baby in a house of chaos that they don’t inherently cause. It may also be honestly that every time I read her portions I just pictured a sad old small granny and it broke my heart. I will admit my own biases haha but I can at least say I sympathize with her more than I could with any of the other adults.
Hi Maxene!
I completely agree with you regarding your least favourite characters. Angustias always tried to treat everyone with a projection of how she thought she was treated as a child and Juan was just horrible. You describe Andrea and Ena’s storyline so accurately, I truly felt myself keeping ahold of their story throughout the whole book.
– Ava