Documenta Prize Winner
“In Lethem’s witty translation from Catalan, the 11 stories [of Come On Up] are heartbreaking and hilarious, tender and violent.” —New York Times Book Review
“Filled with caustic wit and pointed satire . . . [Come On Up] paints a sympathetic portrait of people trying to adapt to the instability that defines their ‘new normal’.” —World Literature Today
“[Nopca’s] stories skillfully traverse decadence and depravity, splendor and squalor, the tragic and the comic, the boring and the absurd.” —Cleaver Magazine
“Delightfully witty, insightful, and masterfully told.” —Booklist
“These short stories chronicle the romantic, intellectual, and economic frustrations of disparate characters. . . . From intellectual satire to slapstick comedy, [Come On Up] covers plenty of emotional terrain.” —Kirkus Reviews
“[Come On Up] movingly illustrate[s] the human shame of financial insecurity, with multidimensional characters that give life to sterile government jobless reports.” —Shelf Awareness
“All of the stories make noise, and some of them really take off.” —Publishers Weekly
“Read these stories for Nopca’s talent at consistently surprising with plots that march relentlessly in unforeseeable directions, and for his astuteness at charging situations with comic tension and leading readers into potent, perplexing spaces that explode unexpectedly.” —El País
“The interplay between immature thirty-somethings, their crazy parents, and their declining grandparents, is at the heart of the book. They each construct the reality that suits them best. Nopca’s portrait of a generation is appealing and well-written.” —La Vanguardia
“Wry yet tender, Jordi Nopca’s stories are a chronicle of the sentimental and existential doubts of Barcelona’s struggling younger generation—just trust me: read them.” —Jordi Puntí, author of Lost Luggage and This Is Not America
“Nopca’s stories, written with clarity and flair, are smart and modern, filled with sharply observed detail. They capture the unease of the times and the flux of contemporary life in Barcelona with wit, wisdom, moments of pure hilarity, and a mixture of sympathy and dark laughter.” —Colm Tóibín, author of Brooklyn and House of Names
“The day will come when there’ll be no need to keep repeating how Nopca’s talent and his corrosive humor have exploded and electrified the literature of Spain: it will be common knowledge.” —Enrique Vila-Matas, author of Bartleby & Co. and Mac’s Problem
2020-12-15
These short stories chronicle the romantic, intellectual, and economic frustrations of disparate characters in Barcelona.
The stories in Catalan writer Nopca’s English-language debut often take an intimate view of their characters. For some, that involves venturing in the minutiae of a relationship; for others, it’s about taking a deep dive into the characters' literary and artistic tastes. The first story, “An Intersectional Conservationist at Heart,” establishes the milieu very quickly; it focuses on a handful of meetings between a journalist and a poet and academic. Despite the story’s weighty title and the literary allusions found within—including mentions of V.S. Naipaul and Harold Pinter—Nopca is less focused on intellectual credibility than on the missed connections, petty rivalries, and ethical lapses his characters must contend with. These stories don’t focus only on intellectuals, however: “Àngels Quintana and Fèlix Palme Have Problems” tells the story of a couple working in bars and hotels who find themselves out of work after they hit 40 in youth-obsessed Barcelona. Bars also play a significant role in “The Neighbor Ladies,” whose immigrant protagonist, Jia, begins to question his chosen vocation as a bar owner after learning the tragic life story of a hard-drinking woman who regularly asks him for “gin tonic.” The highlight of the collection is “Swiss Army Knife,” about a middle-aged couple whose fondness for reading the literature of the countries they visit drives a rift between them. Gradually, the real-life Swiss writer Peter Stamm takes on a greater and greater significance for both of them, leading to a conclusion that’s both deadpan comedic and harrowingly bleak. These stories can occasionally feel a little too witty, but their moments of wry humor and human interaction are frequently rewarding.
From intellectual satire to slapstick comedy, this book covers plenty of emotional terrain.
