I Sit on the Shore

"Gallego is best known for the collection "White on Black"—field notes written hot on the heels of events: very documentary, where malice is heard somewhere and resentment somewhere else. But "I Sit on the Beach" is a well-crafted work of fiction. Lived experience, exhausted and turned into art. The main character’s drama—misunderstood and literally killed by the cruelty of life—is described from the outside. We don’t see his inner world directly; the author lets us see what’s happening only through the eyes of his alter ego or an impersonal external observer. That’s why so much has to be guessed at, imagined. This technique plunges the reader deeply into the text. And yet the book is cruel.

Because the reality that produced it is terrible. The author decided to put on public display what should not exist. But it does exist. There are people who cannot stand up for themselves. And there is a System that is such that it kills them. In our country it is sadly to be born weak—for instance, a severely disabled person like the heroes. Their spirit is strong, but the body is helpless, and socially they are nobody at all. And killing them is not difficult—just leaving them without help.

And the book also contains a fair share of psychodelia and very peculiar humor—fans of absurd literature will like it."