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Book Reviewed by:Set on the eve of the financial crash of 2008, this evocative novel is made up of three stories linked by time and place, and also by the moving, unexpected interactions of a rich cast of characters.
Barcelona Dreaming is narrated, in turn, by an English woman who runs a gift shop, an alcoholic jazz pianist, and a translator tormented by unrequited love, all of whose lives will be changed forever. Underpinning the novel, and casting a long shadow, is a crime committed against a young Moroccan immigrant.
Exploring themes of addiction, racism, celebrity, immigration, and self-delusion, and fueled by a longing for the unattainable and a nostalgia for what is about to be lost, Barcelona Dreaming is a love letter to one of the world's most beautiful cities and a powerful and poignant fable for our uncertain times.
While the broad themes of racism, sexual and family violence, undocumented migration and unrequited love swirl beneath the novellas, of greater concern are the thoughts and emotions of the three narrators. As in all Rupert Thomson's critically acclaimed books, there is a fluidity in his writing that takes the reader places they never expected to go. Dreams and illusions are explored and broken, and at the end, the reader feels replete. A marvelous book that evokes both the beauty and the shadows of Barcelona...continued
Full Review
(713 words)
(Reviewed by Rod McLary).
Readers of Barcelona Dreaming will notice that soccer player Ronaldinho is mentioned frequently throughout the novel. Although not one of the chief protagonists, his presence in Barcelona — and by extension in the lives of the book's characters — is a constant.
Who is Ronaldinho and why does he feature so significantly in this novel?
Ronaldinho was born Ronaldo de Assis Moreira on March 21, 1980. In a 2019 article, the international football magazine FourFourTwo placed him fifth on its list of "101 greatest football players of the last 25 years" in the sport called football or soccer, depending on where you live. Ronaldinho was born in Brazil where he first started playing football at age eight. Even then, he was ...
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Andrea Wulf, author of The Invention of Nature
Elegant and electrifying. Thomson's prose is sparse, yet so highly charged that I couldn't stop reading. I love all his novels—but this one is my new favorite.
