![]() ![]() ![]() Outside the doors of the Muriel household, Madrid is caught up in the wild years of La Movida, the period after Franco’s death when Spain’s ossified social conservatism began to dissolve in a hedonistic wave of creativity and experiment. He appears to be punishing Beatriz for some past transgression, though what it is, the young man does not know. Juan does not understand what lies behind Muriel’s behaviour. The novel takes place in 1980, shortly before divorce was legalised in Spain, and Beatriz appears to be stuck in a relationship that offers her no escape from her misery. Juan becomes an eavesdropper on scenes of discord and abjection, as Muriel torments his wife, Beatriz, verbally abusing her and refusing the slightest hint of affection. Juan (who has the un-Spanish surname De Vere, with its telling linguistic echo of verity, truth) is 23 years old and working as Muriel’s assistant, in which capacity he spends a lot of time at his employer’s home and has a ringside seat at a dreadfully unhappy marriage. The grubbiness in question is the taint of decades of rule by the fascist victors of the civil war, the franquistas who have revenged themselves upon their Republican colleagues and neighbours, leaving many of those not dead or in prison unable to pursue careers or support their families. “This is a grubby c ountry.” So says Eduardo Muriel, a producer of B-movies, to Juan, the narrator of Thus Bad Begins, the latest novel by the revered Spanish writer Javier Marías. ![]()
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