While Reig is known for his sharp satire and humor, this novel is described as his most emotional work to date, blending his characteristic irony with a "crepuscular" or twilight-year melancholy.
It is ultimately a story of a man facing death "body to body" and trying to grant his life a final meaning before the end. Book Details El río de cenizas: 9788411071406: Books - Amazon.ca El Rio De Cenizas Rafael Reig epub
(The River of Ashes) is a poignant yet satirical novel by Spanish author Rafael Reig , published in 2022 by Tusquets Editores. The Premise While Reig is known for his sharp satire
Book details * Language. Spanish. * Dimensions. 14.8 x 1.8 x 22.5 cm. * ISBN-10. 8411071405. * ISBN-13. 978-8411071406. El río de cenizas por Rafael Reig - Flys Libros The Premise Book details * Language
The story follows a wealthy 75-year-old man who moves into Los Carrascales , a luxury nursing home in the Madrid mountains, after suffering a stroke. His quiet retirement is interrupted by a bizarre, parodic pandemic: a virus spread by sparrows through the ears. Faced with isolation and his own mortality, the protagonist begins writing a confession for his son to make sense of his past and find redemption.
Reig uses the absurd pandemic subplot—where some infected even die from spontaneous combustion—to lampoon political responses and media spectacle.