Today, losing is perceived as the worst and most despicable of defeats. The protagonist of this novel is a consummate loser. Predestined to profes- sional success and social “normalities,” an unexpected event—the woman he lives with leaves him—will begin a whirlwind of nonsense and diffi- culties that will lead him to the edge of the abyss. However, perhaps it is precisely in the fall where one finds the keys to survival. Guided by an old friend and lightened by reminiscences from the past, the protagonist will embark on a journey where losing will be revealed as his most loyal ally in a world where professional and social greed increasingly transforms the individual into a foreigner to himself. Losing Is What Matters presents a new voice in Spanish fiction, and is a first novel that is as symptomatic of our time as the title suggests.
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When his marriage and career fall apart, a young lawyer sets out on a desperate mission to recapture the promise of his youth. His attempt leaves him stranded between a past he no longer recognizes and a life that's no longer his—and he soon begins to suspect that the surest path to happiness lies in simply giving up. A moving, tragicomic novel about defeat, memory, and the seductive prospect of losing it all.
“Mature, free-flowing prose with Proustian comparisons and images—very rare for a first novel. An author endowed with a style in the tradition of the finest narrative, with a densely personal world.”
—Joaquín Arnáiz, La Razón
Manuel Pérez Subirana was born in 1971 in Barcelona and studied law. Losing Is What Matters, his literary debut, was enthusiastically received by critics in Spain. He is also the author of the novel Egipto, short-listed for the prestigious Herralde Prize in 2005.
Allen Young is a freelance translator. This is his first book-length translation.