The Blind Rider by Juan Goytisolo

The Blind Rider

Juan Goytisolo

This a very difficult and complex book about the death of a wife and grief felt by the widower. However, it's worth persevering for the language and the descriptions alone and, if you bear it, a second reading will further enhance your appreciation.

Extract
She had passed over to the other side and he felt - first incredulously, then painfully - the raw harshness of her absence. The blow swept away the illusions created by his fervorous reading. He stopped meandering in the future in order to remember the past. His dreams had turned to nightmares. His inner universe had contracted, turned sourer.
Parallels
  • Last Orders by Graham Swift
  • The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway

A terrible beauty