Zaragoza (EFE).- The journalist Laura Latorre makes her debut on the literary scene with “Any Any Tuesday” (Pregunta Ediciones), a book in which she displays the genre with which she has handled herself since she was a child, the story, which “well worked is fresh, powerful and impressive”.
In an interview with Efe, Latorre (Zaragoza, 1993) acknowledges that, as some of his stories show, “life is full of harshness” and, precisely for this reason, he invites us to “appreciate the breaths of fresh air.”
Question: Could the stories you tell happen on any given Tuesday? Other than that, what do your characters have in common?
Answer: There is a lot of variety in the stories, but I think that in common they are characters who suffer and who feel very much the life process they are going through, they live it with great intensity. Many of them share with each other that they are characters with many doubts; They are not people who have things clear and go for everything, but rather doubt a lot about what to feel, how to feel, what to do and to what extent society influences what they feel.
The pressure of being a mother
Q: Many of the stories are about women facing what is expected of them, those expectations. Are they too many?
A: I think so. It is true that progress is being made and the feminist agenda is more in the day to day, more and more different ways of life are normalized or the fact that you do not have to meet expectations to be a woman. In one of the stories, “Utero”, I try to explore a bit how social pressure influences you when deciding whether or not you want to be a mother.
And I found it interesting because, although I think that lately it is easier for a woman to say that she does not want children and not be looked at as if she were a stranger, there is still that social pressure. And it is a subject in which everyone feels entitled to an opinion. That is why I was interested in seeing to what extent your decisions are really yours or are they highly conditioned by what is expected of you.
Q: Sexual violence is also present in some of the stories.
A: It is an issue that worries me a lot, like a large part of society. Above all, I wanted to emphasize the fact that in the collective imagination we tend to associate sexual assault with unknown people who will come up to you when you return from a party, for example. Of course, that also happens, but we are not so internalized that this sexual violence can perfectly come from a friend, a partner or a relative, and I think that the fact of not being so aware means that we do not know how to name it. or how to deal with it.
Even that there may be people who are not aware of what they are experiencing. I believe that everything that is not named does not exist or is very difficult to see and, therefore, to approach.
The beauty and rawness of life
Q: Beauty and crudeness are intermingled in “An ordinary Tuesday”. Is life a bit like that?
A: I think so, although I don’t think this is a pessimistic book, it is realistic. I believe that life is very harsh and that is precisely why you have to know how to appreciate the moments of hope, the breaths of fresh air, the joys that come your way. I am interested in seeing reality as a whole, always leaving room for small joys, for what keeps you alive on a day-to-day basis: love, friendship, music.
Q: Speaking of music, what role does it play in the book?
A: It’s a bit like that soundtrack that accompanies us on a day-to-day basis, that lifeboat that gets you out of a situation that seems too big for you. I am very interested in music as well as that union between people; It can be the spark with which a friendship is born, a relationship or even helps you strengthen a relationship with a family member or friend.
Analyzing my life after writing the book, I have realized the role that music has played in all kinds of relationships throughout my life and that is something that many people who are reading the book share.
women’s hour
Q: Why did you opt for stories?
A: Since I was little, I have always moved in the stories. It is a genre that I really like because of its immediacy, I think that well worked it can be fresh, it can be powerful and impressive; and that’s why I decided there.
Q: By the way, what should a good story have?
A: As a reader, being so condensed, I think it has more impact. At the time of writing, its difficulty lies in the fact that nothing can be left over and there cannot be a piece of plot or a character that is left hanging because it does not contribute anything and is distracting.
Q: We see more and more names of women writers on the shelves of bookstores. How do you see the outlook for women?
A: I think it was about time that women published more and more. It is important, we all have to be represented; We all have to accommodate.