The first foray by David Trueba (Madrid, 50 years old) in the young adult novel, The river low dirty (Siruela), is addressed to a public that is in full betrayal of the literature. The survey of publishers shows that in the transition from childhood to youth, they lose large faithful: the 70.8% of frequent readers ages 10 to 14 back up to 44.7% from 15 to 18. “Coming into an age where the entertainments are very diverse and attractive. You may not have found in books the answers. There is a huge technology of the game to those ages and you are up against an enemy powerful, but do not throw in the towel,” reflected Trueba during an interview held on an autumn afternoon in Madrid.
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That was part of the appeal of this project, even if the writer, marked by his own education, does not believe in the literature compartmentalized by generations. The other hook was that, after the success of Tierra de campos (Anagram, 2017), to tread the unknown: “I like to get in a question myself and if you have any advantage in some site, give it up and be in the open”.
The result has no contraindications for adults. Everyone has had 14 years, as Tom and Martin, the protagonists of this adventure of initiation that runs in a village during a Holy Week, with its dose of betrayal, frustration, eroticism, and friendship. In loss of innocence there is always a holiday that marks the border. “Nothing is known at 14 or 15. They have a capacity of not to bring prejudices and are able to discuss with a purity that an adult does not have,” says Trueba.
these Are the last holidays you’ll have together and will be the most memorable, by his alignment of ethics, your environmental commitment, your discovery that the past hurts and that things can go wrong really. “Being young today is infinitely more difficult than 20 years ago. You are young before and he is young more time. There is a parallel world of media exposure at the time that the people do not have someone to talk to,” he says. Although the novel is glued to the sensitivity of youth more current —environmental degradation—, the author has a certain seem to be critical of the militant environmentalist of the generation Greta. “If the guys were so conscientious, they would be more aware of their consumption. Do not make the self-criticism necessary”, he says. “More than environmentalism radical, the guys looking for nature, you have lost”
Detects Trueba a “a certain frustration” among teenagers caused because the world is not as they would like. “I think that is because they have been placed in front of distractions that separate them from some of the answers that one seeks at 15 or 16 years. Have to do with the existential angst. It is a crossroads about 20 years ago has come a massive way in the trade and have been told I care a fuck about your anxiety, what I want is your money”.
