While Reig is known for his sharp satire and humor, this novel is described as his most emotional work to date, blending his characteristic irony with a "crepuscular" or twilight-year melancholy.
The narrator revisits his life through the lens of classic literature and everyday routines, trying to "settle accounts" with his past. El Rio De Cenizas Rafael Reig epub
The story follows a wealthy 75-year-old man who moves into Los Carrascales , a luxury nursing home in the Madrid mountains, after suffering a stroke. His quiet retirement is interrupted by a bizarre, parodic pandemic: a virus spread by sparrows through the ears. Faced with isolation and his own mortality, the protagonist begins writing a confession for his son to make sense of his past and find redemption. While Reig is known for his sharp satire