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Personas en la sala
“This seemed to me a jewel of a book. As the plot summary shows, nothing much happens, but the writing brilliantly conveys the wild imaginings of a mind just on the verge of adulthood, when that world is still a mystery but is endlessly fascinating, even if there is no explanation.” (Nick Caistor)
From the window of her house, the woman speaking, the 'I' in 'Personas en la sala', observes three women sitting in the living rom of the house opposite, framed by their own window. She studies them and anxiously awaits the moment she can settle down again at her viewpoint. A voyeur obsessed with spying, the rest of her life gradually loses significance until what is unreal becomes the centre of her life. We have almost no information about the highly active spy. We suppose she is a young woman, perhaps because we know that Norah Lange was when she wrote 'Personas en la sala' and because of her dynamic, feverish approach to spying. If it weren't for these facts the snooper's attitude would lead us instead to imagine a mature, solitary woman, almost old, who has surrendered herself to the static pleasure of living through the lives of others.