Nada; 1945’s reality TV

This week I read Nada by Carmen Laforet and oh boy was that a journey of drama, pain, and chaos. I did find myself really enjoying Laforet’s writing style, it felt like I was reading Andrea’s diary so that made me feel like I was more connected to the character. I was so confused about what to feel about certain characters. I liked them on one page and then they would go do the most outrageous action completely changing my perspective on the character. I kind of liked it though, it kept me on my toes while reading and made me think about what necessarily makes a character ‘good’ and what makes them ‘bad’. Something I have been noticing as a common theme that brings me back to Swann’s Way is the love and admiration for architecture. Andrea is constantly talking about the beautiful cathedrals of Barcelona and they are always described in such detail it feels like taking a long breath after reading through such rich dialogue.

I think one of the main themes of this book was the idea of rebellion. At first, Andrea seems like such a people-pleaser, she always wanted to validate the opinions of her family around her. However, it was in those moments of rebellion that I found Andrea to be the most comfortable with herself. For example, she knew that sleeping in Angustias’ bed would definitely make her angry, yet she continued to sleep in her bed during the time Angustias was away. Similarly, I think her need for rebellion also made her more independent when she no longer ate food at home and rather discovered foods such as dried fruits and nuts. I think Andrea strived for this careless happiness that she could only find in rebellion.

“I was taking nothing from the house on Calle de Aribau. At least, that’s what I thought then.” (244)

This quote is so interesting to me because I interpret it as meaning how someone’s environment and circumstances can unconsciously change someone’s attitude. We see this throughout the whole book. How Román is always emphasized to have changed after the war, and how the whole family is not this romanticized image that Andrea had of them before arriving at the Calle de Aribau.

I think my favourite part of this whole book was Andrea’s relationship with Ena. That friendship (although questionable at moments) was something that I found myself hoping I could grasp on to throughout the whole book. When Andrea ultimately moves away to live near Ena and work for her father, I found myself really comforted by this show of genuine friendship, something that I think Andrea was only partially able to experience with Pons.

My question for this week would be: How do we see Andrea’s outlook and attitude shift over the span of the book as she spends more and more time with her family at Calle de Aribau?