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El zoo sentimental

The Sentimental Zoo | Alfaguara, 2000

Nuria Barrios opts for originality and her particular Bestiary, nine tales amongst which we find Genesis´ Workshop, The Red Panties or The Dam, is a lucid and ironic way to twist eternal subjects into new thanks to powerful animal contributions.

In this way, a hamster that runs away between the legs of a couple of lovers knows, 2000 years later,  the reason why Christ resurrected Lazarus and later condemns him to the torment of death. Only a swallow knows the secret of a Chinese girl who goes from being a  nun to being a prostitute without leaving the convent and it´s interesting to find out the reason why an aquarium shark carries a Smith & Wesson caliber 38 around its waist.

PRESS

«Nuria Barrios has a very unnerving eye when it comes to describing the tangling of feelings, the racket and the fragility of the rational animal, which is sometimes irrational, trapped in the Gordian knot of the sex that governs and directs us.» El País

«Great dialogue, stylistic unity accomplished, poly-faceted descriptions that navigate from the interior of the human to the exterior and vice versa, and intelligent and original vicissitudes, animated with an exotic gallery of characters and highly personalized imagery.» Lola Beccaria

«Ingenious discoveries, audacious, humoristic associations and surprises in the development of the stories.» El Mundo

«A fresh and transparent prose.» El Periódico

«A singular voice, a unique point of view.» El Correo

«Profoundly realistic and at the same time, decidedly lyrical.» El Norte de Castilla

«An unusual book, reflexive, strange for these times.» Diario 16

«Its narrations flow potent, sure, full of a stoic calm and a beauty that’s almost derailing.» Canarias 7

«With an agile style, eroticism as the dominant note, and humour as her weapon, Nuria Barrios has written an excellent book.» Ideal

El zoo sentimental

The Sentimental Zoo | Alfaguara, 2000

Nuria Barrios opts for originality and her particular Bestiary, nine tales amongst which we find Genesis´ Workshop, The Red Panties or The Dam, is a lucid and ironic way to twist eternal subjects into new thanks to powerful animal contributions.

In this way, a hamster that runs away between the legs of a couple of lovers knows, 2000 years later,  the reason why Christ resurrected Lazarus and later condemns him to the torment of death. Only a swallow knows the secret of a Chinese girl who goes from being a  nun to being a prostitute without leaving the convent and it´s interesting to find out the reason why an aquarium shark carries a Smith & Wesson caliber 38 around its waist.

PRESS

«Nuria Barrios has a very unnerving eye when it comes to describing the tangling of feelings, the racket and the fragility of the rational animal, which is sometimes irrational, trapped in the Gordian knot of the sex that governs and directs us.» El País

«Great dialogue, stylistic unity accomplished, poly-faceted descriptions that navigate from the interior of the human to the exterior and vice versa, and intelligent and original vicissitudes, animated with an exotic gallery of characters and highly personalized imagery.» Lola Beccaria

«Ingenious discoveries, audacious, humoristic associations and surprises in the development of the stories.» El Mundo

«A fresh and transparent prose.» El Periódico

«A singular voice, a unique point of view.» El Correo

«Profoundly realistic and at the same time, decidedly lyrical.» El Norte de Castilla

«An unusual book, reflexive, strange for these times.» Diario 16

«Its narrations flow potent, sure, full of a stoic calm and a beauty that’s almost derailing.» Canarias 7

«With an agile style, eroticism as the dominant note, and humour as her weapon, Nuria Barrios has written an excellent book.» Ideal