Simpata / Simpatia

«As nos marchamos los que nos quedamos --pens.

Ulises Kan es hurfano y cinfilo. Paulina, su mujer, como tantas personas que huyen del pas en ruinas en que viven, ha decidido irse. Sin l. Dos sucesos ms terminan de trastocar su vida: el regreso de Nadine, un amor inconcluso del pasado, y la muerte de su suegro, el general Martn Ayala. Gracias al testamento de este, Ulises descubre que se le ha encomendado una misin: transformar Los Argonautas, la gran casa familiar, en un hogar para perros abandonados. Si logra hacerlo antes del tiempo indicado, heredar el lujoso apartamento que haba compartido con Paulina.

El polmico testamento desencadenar una trama que envolver a Ulises entre las intrigas de Paulina y la sombra de Nadine, que no alcanza a descifrar. Mientras, los otros habitantes de la casa proyectarn sobre la extraa arquitectura sus propias historias y fantasmas.

En una sociedad en bancarrota, donde todos los lazos humanos parecen haberse disuelto, Ulises es como un perro callejero que va recogiendo las migajas de la simpata. Se puede conocer de verdad a quien se ama? Qu es, en el fondo, una familia? Son los perros abandonados una prueba de la existencia o de la inexistencia de Dios? Ulises encarna sin saberlo estas preguntas, como un peregrino del afecto en una poca posterior al amor.

ENGLISH DESCRIPTION

The new novel by the winner of the Mario Vargas Llosa's Biennial Novel Prize for The Night.

That's how we who stay leave, he thought.

Ulysses Kan is an orphan and a movie buff. Paulina, his wife, like so many people fleeing the ruined country in which they live, has decided to leave. Without him. Two more events end up disrupting his life: the return of Nadine, an unfinished love from the past, and the death of his father-in-law, General Martn Ayala. Thanks to his testament, Ulysses discovers that he has been entrusted with a mission: to transform Los Argonautas, the great family home, into a home for abandoned dogs. If he manages to do it before the indicated time, he will inherit the luxurious apartment that he had shared with Paulina.

The controversial will unleashes a plot that entwines Ulysses between the intrigues of Paulina and the shadow of Nadine, which he cannot figure out. Meanwhile, the other inhabitants of the house will project theirown stories and ghosts onto the strange architecture.

In a morally bankrupt society, where all human ties seem to have dissolved, Ulysses is like a stray dog picking up scraps of sympathy. Can you really know who you love? What is, in essence, a family?Are abandoned dogs proof of the existence or non-existence of God? Ulysses unknowingly embodies these questions, as a pilgrim of affection in a post-love era.