Casi nada que ponerte
Hardly Anything To Wear | Anagrama, 2023; Los libros del lince, 2016
Casi nada que ponerte is based on a true story: that of two people who grew up in dusty towns and closed-minded environments, and decided to leave everything behind to conquer the big city.
Jorge and Simón seduced the Buenos Aires of the early 1970s and stumbled upon a gold mine as they created a world of fashion and luxury based on the picaresque. Their rise and fall is a miniature portrait of a country always in crisis, always a victim of its fascination with itself.
But this book also tells the story of the narrator herself, LucÃa Lijtmaer, a Barcelonian woman born in Argentina with a Polish last name and the mix of identities that conform her peculiar reality.
This book started as an investigation piece and became something else entirely. Throughout the pages, a heterogeneous group made up of dressmakers, shopkeepers, models, designers, B-series actresses, and millionaire clients talk with the author. In some way, they revive or represent a glorious past that was or perhaps could have been.
First published in 2016, this book was LucÃa Lijtmaer’s breakthrough, singling her out as a unique writer who occupies a prominent position among the most brilliant storytellers in Spain and Latin America.
«Casi nada que ponerte is what happened when Lijtmaer and her passion for Tom Wolfe’s new journalism returned from a trip [to Argentina] and she began to organize her notes; a travel book, a biographical novel, the history of an empire, and a country that in the late 70s and early 80s, wanted nothing more than to flee from itself.» Laura Fernández, El Mundo
«An entire exercise in style, with its unfurling of the ways of life as a theatre. It is a rollercoaster ride to match the hectic Argentine pace of life. A personal journey too, one of self-discovery that testifies to a courageous journalist. In its soul-searching, first and foremost, but also in terms of style.» MarÃa Angulo, El Periódico
«Lijtmaer’s lucidity is not offensive or dogmatic, because she only recommends observing (oneself) and not deceiving (oneself).» Paloma Bravo, Zenda
«One of this year’s breakout stars, a book without parallel, written in dazzling prose, flitting from one genre, one location and one identity to the next.» Marta Peirano, El Diario
«One of the most relevant and versatile voices on our cultural scene.» Jacobo de Arce, El Periódico de España
«LucÃa is one of those voices that speaks from the place where everything booms, yet she continues to listen to the echoes from the south, seeing it as a root that now contains all worlds.» Luciana Peker, Infobae
«An investigation into how an identity is built out of fragments of diverse cultures and divergent narratives.» Diario Popular
«A vibrant blend of a novel.» Silvina Friera, Cultura & Espectáculos
«A hybrid novel for a hybrid and exciting story.» Radio Nacional (Argentina)
