Réquiem por un campesino español (Requiem for a Spanish peasant)

Author: Ramón J. Sender
Year: 1953
Language: Spanish
Country: Spain

This short novel by Ramón J. Sender was first published in Mexico in 1953, under the title "Mosén Millán" (Father Millán), and censored in Spain until 1960, when it was finally published as "Réquiem por un campesino español" (Requiem for a Spanish peasant).
The novel has two different storylines: in the present time, a priest (mosén Millán) is waiting for his audience to start the requiem mass for Paco the peasant, one year after his death; in the meanwhile, we learn about Paco's life -and death, eventually- through the priest's remembrances.

The story takes place in a village somewhere in Spain, right before the break of the Spanish Civil War. In case you don't know, the Spanish Civil War took place during 1936-1939, the contending bands were the "republicans" (legitimate government by that time) and the "nationals" (coup d'état), and it resulted in about 500.000 dead from both bands (source: wiki), victory of the "national" army and beginning of Franco's dictatorship, that would last until his death in 1975.

As a result of the war, many republican artists were killed and many others were exiled. Sender was exiled to Mexico, where he wrote the novel in question. And Paco, the peasant, is a republican.

The novel, quite short (about 40 pages), written in plain language, easy vocabulary..., was extremely boring to me. Maybe it is because I was annoyed by an altar boy intermittently singing a romance that was meant to be clever but I found quite silly and unnecessary, maybe I didn't care about the peasant's childhood and action seemed never to come, truth is it took about 25 pages to get me interested in the story. I picked the book at the library because it's one of the Spanish post-war literature masterpieces but, in my opinion, that's what it is. Post-war literature. Which is great, don't get me wrong, and I can absolutely see its value in the historical context where it was written, but I just didn't like it.

So, my recommendation on this novel... You totally have to read it if you are interested in Spanish contemporary history. Otherwise, there are better books in the world.