Reading the 20th Century discussion

Welcome to our August 2024 group read of....



In Diamond Square

by

Mercè Rodoreda


All are welcome

Feel free to comment at any time



Barcelona, early 1930s: Natalia, a pretty shop-girl from the working-class quarter of Gracia, is hesitant when a stranger asks her to dance at the fiesta in Diamond Square. But Joe is charming and forceful, and she takes his hand. They marry and soon have two children; for Natalia it is an awakening, both good and bad. When Joe decides to breed pigeons, the birds delight his son and daughter - and infuriate his wife. Then the Spanish Civil War erupts, and lays waste to the city and to their simple existence. Natalia remains in Barcelona, struggling to feed her family, while Joe goes to fight the fascists, and one by one his beloved birds fly away. A highly acclaimed classic that has been translated into more than twenty languages, In Diamond Square is the moving, vivid and powerful story of a woman caught up in a convulsive period of history.

I've had this on my TBR for so long, delighted to be reading it here with others.

A good follow-up would be In The Dark which was written more recently by a woman who wondered why so much of Spanish Civil War literature is written from the point of view of Republicans - she explores in her novel why her grandfather fought for Franco.

Absolutely wonderful! Great choice.

The most moving book I've read this year

Wow, that's whetted my appetite even more!

Right, I'm making a start... Seems it's shorter than I thought.

What a voice Pidgey has!

And a kind of problematic relationship with Joe - or is that our modern eyes?

It is an amazing, distinctive voice, human, real and full of life.

It certainly is and also captures who she was as a young woman.

But the book is very different from what I expected, far more problematic in a fascinating way. I read the preface in my edition where the author insists it's a love story.

Oh, it’s not that at all!

It's certainly not (view spoiler)[and so much domestic violence: husband to wife, parents to children, child to child... the pigeons who are suspicious of freedom then fly away only to come back are a clear symbols (hide spoiler)]

Interesting that other versions make the birds doves and Natalia's nickname is Columba (female dove) which is more elegant than Pidgey. Also plays into the associations of turtle doves as symbols of love, and the doves of peace so prominent in Picasso's Civil War work.

The Time of the Doves

That's very interesting about the nature of the birds.

I agree with your spoiler-hid observation about the link between the birds and the relationships. The pigeons play such rich role in the novel: fouling the apartment, robbing Natalia of her space and of her dominion in her apartment, as a symbol of the diversity and insistence of life, as a symbol of loss ....

You both make it sound remarkable

I'm about to make a start on this tonight

I think the mood changes somewhat about halfway through: the Civil War is now taking place but Natalia is still at home in Barcelona reporting on something at a distance. It's less about her interiority that I found so gripping in the first half.

This puts a conventional wife and mother at the heart of an unheroic narrative with an unromantic portrait of a working class carpenter/furniture maker fighting for the Republic. As such, it's an antidote to much of the writing about this period.

Yes, without any of the larger issues articulated in the abstract, it is the bare experience of a working class woman, with privations of watime and the class differences demonstrated through her relationship with the family she worked for and the dangers of being caught on the losing side.

I agree, there's something quite timeless about this - the Spanish Civil war could be any war that takes men away and leaves women in the home trying to keep children and themselves alive. Because of what the book is doing, it doesn't feel like a lack that there's no ideological politics, though power between genders and classes is demonstrated without being commented on explicitly.

It's a quick read, I'll probably finish tonight, but powerfully done and full of the sensuality of life.

I've finished. One of those books, I think, which is more than the sum of its parts and sort of quietly wise. Loved the ending!

I understand what you mean by "quietly wise", in that it doesn't flaunt any particular message, while celebrating the humble life Natalia leads, her simple pleasures, and her love of life. But there's nothing quiet about the vibrancy of the language or the intensity of her experiences and her emotions.

Just started this . These days we'd be waving a lot of red flags for Natalia to see ....how old is she at the start ?

Hester wrote: "Just started this . These days we'd be waving a lot of red flags for Natalia to see ....how old is she at the start ?"

I'm not sure her age is ever mentioned but clearly very young - and yes, positively awash with red flags!

I was guessing late teens. I just returned my copy to the library, so I can't dig into the text for clues, but she has already been working for awhile and is engaged.

I think she may be younger ...she is working but I think a the majority of working class girls more or less dropped out of education before 16 and were encouraged to work . (Natalia hands her wage over to her father) . The age of consent was 12 and marriage 14 and her tone for me is of a younger teenager .

I think that's very plausible. Wish I could turn my eye to the text and look for clues!

I was looking for clues while reading and didn't spot any. In any case, age expectations do vary with time period as Hester indicates. I was thinking about 16.

Are we all reading / have read the same translation ? I'm with Peter Bush but there have been others .

Hester wrote: "Are we all reading / have read the same translation ? I'm with Peter Bush but there have been others ."

That's the one I read too with this title as opposed to The Time of the Doves.

I read the Bush translation too.

Finished . So much id like to discuss but will hold off for now ..

Is anyone else reading this or planning to? If not, we can talk spoilers. We'll just wait a bit to allow people to reply.

I am hoping to get to it later this month, but am happy for spoilers to be discussed. Your comments always enhance my reading.

Thanks, Sonia - anyone else planning to read this?

I’m reading but only about 25% in. Please discuss freely. I will look away.

No problem, Stephen, we'll wait till you're done.

Finished tonight. Not at all what I was expecting. A good read nonetheless. Interested in the authors Prologue where she said initially it was going to be a Kafkaesque novel. I wonder about the novel that never was.

Great to hear you've finished Stephen . I'm not familiar with Kafka , for my sins , so I'm hoping others here can share anything that hinted at her ambition .

I was struck by the layered theme of language and voice . Written in Catalan about a woman who has no voice , being working class and born into a misogynistic society , I think it really made a statement about Natalia . She suffers so much and simply has to carry on but finds a liberation of a sort by marrying a man whose war injuries prevent any possible chance of further conception . Both her homes are plagued with animals ..what does this mean ?

I either had a different prologue or missed that but don't see anything Kafkaesque at all - quite the opposite.

Kafka writes strange tales of humans caught up in absurdist bureaucracies and enigmatic systems that show the futility of trying to fight against a surreal and nightmare system.

Diamond Square feels realist with lots of sensuality in the prose: the experience of dancing, cakes, drinking, cold and hunger, the smell of the pigeons, the sounds of the woodworking.

As Hester says, this deals with class and gender but the book itself gives Natalia a vibrant voice, so despite the way she suffers, I also felt that she's a survivor, whatever that takes.

RC. The author said initially she was setting out to write something Kafkaesque but in the end it was something different. Hence my comment. There was nothing Kafkaesque about it.

Ah thanks. Seems an enigmatic comment about a book not written. I do remember my introduction having Rodoreda insist this is a love story which is quite a teaser - a love story about life then?

I think a few of us have mentioned this was not what we expected: what did you think it would be?

I expected more of a romance/love story set against the war and so was shocked to see how that relationship with Joe began and developed. Which made the book more interesting. I also thought the voice was characterful and intimate.

The Prologue I read also had Rodoreda insisting this was a love story. I too thought there would be more of the war, but it was a great character study of Natalia, a survivor as you say.
Perhaps at the end when she returns to her second husband we see the depth of her love?

Thanks . I thought this was a very well written book with a deceptive simplicity; both in the prose with deliberately short chapters and in the depiction of Natalia. I agree she is a survivor and has made a conscious decision to manage her life with a practicality that demands little sentimentality or regret . I had a very strong sense that her district of Gracia provided her support and containment and there was something of the peasant existence in the way both her homes were dominated by other creatures ....something almost feudal in the way she had to live once she was married, in contrast to her job in the patisserie .The way she was able to kill the chicks then think about killing her own children ....and sending her son away was devastating to read but she didn't dwell on it . She grabbed pleasure from the smallest of opportunities , shop windows or tiny luxuries in the home .

As for the pigeons they transform from domestic to plague proportions , like the rats in the grocers house . I had the feeling in her first home there was no boundary between her body and the flat and the pigeons , necessary for survival , were also invading her very person . Her husband had no sense of this , one of life's idealists / enthusiasts , leaving her to deal with the fall out .

Finally I liked the way she had to navigate her way into and around the home of the middle-class family she worked for , emphasizing her " out of place " situation . Truly daunting but she had such a strong personality she wasn't intimidated .

I'm imagining a Kafkaesque book about survival in wartime or survival in a marriage with a man to whom nothing is real apart from his own wishes, but to be Kafkaesque it would have to be shorn of the sensory richness and personality of Natalia that makes the novel she actually wrote so unforgettable.