This Too Shall Pass

May 23, 2016
This short, poignant work balances humor, intimacy, and loss in a way that captures the nuances of each, and manages to be light while staying true to its heroine's grief. Blanca is still reeling after the death of her mother. Approaching middle age, she's also struggling to take measure of her life. She leans on her friends, her married lover, and the fathers of her two children during a summer trip to Cadaques in northeast Spain; Cadaques is where she spent her childhood and she still thinks of it as her and her mother's home. But as the heat and close proximity to her past make insecurities stand out, Blanca is faced with the question of what she truly wants in life. Blanca's crisis feels authentic, due in large part to Busquets' stream-of-consciousness style, which breaks through some of the armor her main character clearly wears with other people. At times the plot can feel meandering, but the steady pacing gives Blanca space to work through her many emotions without unnecessary drama. Rather than infuse the story with heated exchanges, Busquets relies on her main character's rich interior life and longtime relationships to add depth and significance. The easy, sensual way Blanca relates to those around her is thoroughly enjoyable without feeling at odds with the grief she experiences in frequent bursts as she moves through the town her mother loved. Guilt, lust, love, and anger rise to the surface throughout the novel, creating a movingly human portrait of mid-adulthood.

Opening with a description of the death of her mother, a mourning woman ruminates on how to survive her loss. Mozhan Marno narrates this story of loss in a soft voice that murmurs like a brook, a gentle, soothing background to the noise of life. In an attempt to heal, Blanca leaves Barcelona with her two sons, both ex-husbands, two girlfriends, her married lover, and others and heads to Cadaqués, on the coast, to a house inherited from her mother. Marno smoothly and steadily delivers Blanca's struggle to come to grips with depression. The long descriptions of people and emotions are wrapped in Marno's warm tones, which drive this story about growing older and dealing with death and disease. M.B.K. © AudioFile 2016, Portland, Maine