La separación / The Separation
Novel , 2017
Galerna
Pages: 183
A moving reflection on marriage, love and heartbreak
“I’m watching him sleep, a man who will be my ex-husband starting tomorrow, and will probably never sleep next to me again.” La separación begins the very night Lucía resolves to split up with her husband and face the changes, some painful and others not devoid of humour, that this new life will bring.
Ever eclipsed by her older sister, a father hiding an important secret, and an absent, egotistical mother whose existence will take a dramatic turn toward the end of her life, Lucía tells an intimate tale. Her story is interspersed with memories and reminiscences of her childhood, gradually weaving the plot of her biography and revealing her as a daughter and a woman.
“Silvia Arazi manages to compose in this text the structure of love and indifference, seduction, pride, the remains of love, the reflection of our parents in us, the upbringing of children and the internal changes that occur after a hinge moment.” Revista Kundra
“The narrator, poet and singer Silvia Arazi, dives with exquisite sensitivity in the turbid waters of love wear, incomprehension, family ties, the search for individual paths. […] Arazi renews a song that resembles, but that is never the same, with her personal voice.” Perfil
“With a clear and engaging prose, Silvia Arazi invites us to be part of the protagonist's daily life, her emotions and her memories. It’s impossible to feel identified with the pain of loss. How to avoid empathy with someone who suffers for something that surely, today or in the future, can be part of our own life? We take Lucia in our heart, and we will remember her when the absence is part of our day to day life.” Tren Insomne
“The separation is a book of a bitter beauty that manages to draw that slow progression of routines that suddenly leave their daily invisibility to become thorny ghosts.” “If, as they say, the Devil's secret is to convince us of his non-existence, Silvia Arazi’s secret is to convince us that telling stories is very easy.” P. Martínez Burkett, Blog Solo Tempestad
“What is truly extraordinary is the simple way of traversing the pain of the loss that the narrator reveals. At times, her voice has the quality of a caress. In that sense, the epigraph of Katherine Mansfield works as a key, her prose shares with Arazi's an essential feature: the naturalness to speak of the deepest feelings through the moments of the trivial experience of everyday life.” Verónica Boix, La Agenda Revista
“The Separation is a brave book. Difficult, like processing grief, that no one knows what it truly means. You can turn to new age therapies and ontological coachs for easy answers, but not to writers like Silvia Arazi.” Adela Sánchez, Infobae