The author of this collection of short stories, Pol Estrada (Castellcir, 1998), has perfectly assimilated and digested the legacy of several Catalan short story writers: from the light, domestic delirium of Francesc Trabal—from whom he takes the quote that opens the book—to the irony of Calders, the darkness of Monzó, all while elegantly avoiding the burden that vulgar imitation could impose. He writes fluently and with a refined language, crafting stories with a tone somewhere between melancholic and angry, forcing the reader to decide whether it's better to laugh wholeheartedly or worry about the direction the world is taking.