A vindication of goodness

Barcelona"It's embarrassing, sometimes, to say the name of the opposite of evil, because it's a word that's... perhaps too overused, somewhat worn out." The word that The writer Joan-Lluís Lluís felt some regret in pronouncing It was, of course, goodnessHe mentioned it to me in an interview I did with him about his latest novel. A rain song (Club Editor). It is a moving book that tells the story of Ella-Calla, an orangutan who is kidnapped from the forest where she lives in Borneo and suffers a series of "calamities," to put it mildly, inflicted by humankind. The light in this story is provided by an elderly woman who, the writer explains, allowed him to breathe while writing; A rain song It's a short book, but it's the one that has been hardest for him to write, surely because it's based on a real event: everything that happens to the orangutan, Luis read about in a news article. We won't give away any spoilers; it's impossible to explain more of the book, but the moment when this character appears is important—that old woman who also gives readers a breath of fresh air, because she represents kindness. Luis considers it very necessary; he told me about kindness: "It's a very powerful weapon, because it can really change so many things. When we do an act of kindness toward someone, we fix the world a little, in a humble way, but, moreover, we do ourselves good." And yet, the regret he mentioned at the beginning: "I've seen it with this novel, saying goodness "It seems a little strange to me."

I remembered these words of Joan-Lluís Lluís on Thursday night, in conversation with the Núria Cadenes, who had just won the seventh edition of the Proa Novel Award by Who saves a lifeThe story begins with her great-uncle, Joan Domènech, a priest with a parish in Puigcerdà, who during World War II organized escape networks that saved the lives of many people persecuted by the Nazis. While talking with her, another writer, Carlos Zanón, came up in the conversation. Cadenas explained that he had also been important to her when she decided to write this novel: "One day while we were chatting, he said that it's very difficult to write about good people without doing so in a vulgar way." Cadenas thought about it, and I thought at first I might agree, but then, an impulse: why not? Why, she said to me, if her ancestor's story is one of people who did good things, shouldn't it be told? In fact, the novel includes the story of Joan Domènech, but also that of many other real people who were connected to him and who were also brave and helped people they didn't even know, during some very dark years for our country. "Just like what happened now with the DANA storm. It's the same outstretched hand of those who stretched out their arms to try and pull people to their balconies, people about to drown."

Talking about kind people might not have a good reputation and might sound boring, but I think there are important stories to tell. Even if they're fiction: the book that has moved and comforted me the most, and that I've given as a gift most often lately, is Little things like theseBy Claire Keegan (translated by Marta Hernández Pibernat and Zahara Méndez Hernández; Minúscula). Don't miss it: it's haunting and beautiful; I don't consider myself a sentimental person, but I would say it warms your heart. We celebrate good people, we speak out without shame. We give meaning to the word goodnessNúria Cadenes's novel, which is full of (and you'll love!), is far from vulgar; it can be. Perhaps the time has come to champion it, and not just half-heartedly.