‘Learning to Lose’ by David Trueba

Maybe one of the lesser known names for the Anglophile audiences,  author/director David Trueba is one of the leading figures in Spanish culture of today. Especially his last two films, Madrid, 1987 and Living Is Easy with Eyes Closed gained widespread attention. And now he is novelist too. Actually, this book might even be better than his last two films. Learning to Lose is a touching coming of stage story about Sylvia, a 16-year old girl falling in love with a Argentinian soccer player, intersecting with a story of her father and grandfather who’ve just witnessed a bloody murder.