Editorial Caballo de Troya, 2022.
I bought this book, Gente que Ríe, by Laura Chivite (Pamplona 1995), recently, at the Palacio del Libro, Paseo de Gracia, Barcelona.
More glamorous impossible.
She is a young writer who “draws a panorama in the reverse direction of the course of life: from 2060 to 1995.”
I chose it to share in this edition of Atril, not only because of the title, which I love, People who laugh, but because I found it to be a disturbing book, which questions the time we live in, and at the same time makes you laugh.
A nervous laugh perhaps.
For example, she mentions a microchip to be inserted in people, which will consist of manipulating the thermoreceptors so that the person always has the same temperature, maintaining the metabolic rate at maximum comfort. The way of the future to save energy.
In short, the subject is quite dshivering, but treated in a light and fun way.
From books, I always catch certain phrases.
Of this one, I highlighted some with which I felt identified, so many times in my professional life as an engineer:
“Have a job interview in which you describe yourself as a proactive, innovative, effective, creative,and strategic person. Say you don’t know laziness. Get hired and for survival… feel fulfilled, feel empty.”
The story of my life.
I also marked with my highlighter one that said:
“There came a time when we had learned so much that all we wanted was to unlearn…find a path to simplicity.”
Just brilliant.
All in all, a fun and comforting book. I recommend it.
And I confess that I also chose it for this edition because of the title: People Who Laugh.
As I always say and excuse me if I repeat myself: the shortest distance between two people is not a straight line, it is a sense of humor.
Leonor Henríquez (Caracas, Venezuela) Civil Engineer by training (UCAB 1985), writer and apprentice poet by vocation. From her time in engineering emerged her Office Stories (1997), another way of seeing the corporate world. Her latest publications include reflections on grief, Hopecrumbs (2020) (www.hopecrumbs.com) and “The Adventures of Chispita” (2021) (www.chispita.ca) an allegory of life inside Mom’s belly.
Today she shares her “impulsive meditations” from Calgary, Canada, where she lives.
leonorcanada@gmail.com