El padre de Blancanieves. (Snow White’s Father)

Reviewed by Carmen Cusido, Union City, NJ -- Críticas, 2/15/2008

Gopegui, Belén.
Spain: Anagrama, dist by LD Books. 2007. 337p. ISBN 978-84-339-7157-9. pap. $44.90. FICTION

After high school teacher Manuela complains about poor service, a supermarket distributor known as “el ecuatoriano” (the Ecuadorian) is fired. Though she tries to get him rehired, the supermarket will not take him back. The Ecuadorian, whom Manuela learns is named Carlos Javier, blames her for losing his job and harasses her until Manuela’s husband, Enrique, finds him a job elsewhere. Still affected by the event, Manuela spies on the Ecuadorian at his new job, even taking a leave of absence from her school, with the hopes of better understanding the hardships of the working class. Most of the characters are involved in left-wing environmental groups, and readers might empathize with several of them, including Goyo, a Ph.D. student and militant revolutionary obsessed with normales and no normales (normal and not normal people). With these characters, Gopegui suggests that we all have social democratic tendencies, if often unacknowledged. As Goyo writes to a friend, Snow White’s father lives with the stepmother, but no one mentions him. As the stepmother plots against Snow White, why does the father stay silent? Such are the questions the middle class should ask itself. This page-turner is recommended for bookstores and environmental studies and political science library collections.