Portero’s prose is visceral. She describes the smoke from factory chimneys and the smell of poverty in the stairwells with a tenderness that only someone who has escaped—but never stopped loving—that world could muster. For the protagonist, the neighborhood is a double-edged sword: it is the place that forges her resilience, but also the cage that tries to beat the femininity out of her.
La mala costumbre, de Alana S. Portero Narrada desde ... - VK La mala costumbre - Alana S. Portero.epub
Portero, a historian by training, uses classical myths and Catholic icons to describe her characters, elevating their struggles to a "mythic" status. Class and Gender: Portero’s prose is visceral
The narrative spans from the late 1980s to the early 2000s, a turbulent period for Spain. The country was transitioning out of the movida (the countercultural movement after Franco’s dictatorship) and into the neoliberal hangover of the early 21st century. The protagonist navigates a triple exile: from a hostile body, a neighborhood hardened by poverty and drugs, and a society that refuses to see her. La mala costumbre, de Alana S