A friend recently gave me Rodrigo Rey Rosa’s book “Severina.” The short gem of a read tells the love story between the owner of a book store and the woman who shoplifts books from him.
Although the book thief motif is a bit spent of late, this love story feels fresh because Rosa uses it to explore the relationship between the real and the imagined when it comes to love. In this story, what is in the bookshop owner’s mind is better than the real thing. Although he is keenly aware that he is living a lie, he doesn’t care. He owns the lie.
And, in the end, it’s his relaxed attitude toward truth that gets him the girl.