The Diner
(El comensal)

In this autobiographical novel, Gabriela Ybarra tries to understand her relationship to death and family through the analysis of her grandfather’s 1977 murder at the hands of the armed group ETA, and her mother’s death from cancer in 2011. El comensal describes a historical conflict from a personal outlook, without taking the frequent role of the victim. The author acknowledges the importance of making death visible in order to accept it. El comensal deals with conflicts, symbols, traumas and inherited enemies. It does not attempt to theorize on terrorism, but rather to analyze the impact of death and violence in the author’s family microcosm.