The Hive | 
pickA "novel" in the loosest sense, this book is structured as a series of vignettes comprising some 300 characters living in the center of Madrid. The story opens in the cafe of Dona Rosa, as the proprietress is berating her customers, and then - like a film director moving his camera in an ever-widening spiral - slowly expands to take in snippets of the other customers' conversations, then further to take in the street and the neighborhood beyond ?
The_Penniless_Author ...pulling new characters into its vortex, but always coming around to revisit characters we've already met. A blurb on the back compares Cela to a Spanish Celine, and I can certainly see similarities in his bleak view of life and human nature, peppered with caustic humor. I enjoyed this even more than I thought I would, and surprisingly was able to keep track of most of the names without going back to remind myself. 13mo
Aimeesue Nice review! 13mo