Writer Carles Pellicer has handed over a good number of copies of his first novel, “Mira què fa el veí” (Look What the Neighbour's Doing), to Clínica Girona. The work explores the human relationships that take place in a particular neighbourhood community in Girona and becomes a real rollercoaster of emotions told with a touch of humour. Pellicer wanted to give signed copies to the centre's staff in gratitude for their daily efforts in caregiving tasks aimed at patient well-being. Clínica Girona is committed to strengthening relationships with its surroundings and to culture, which is why it supports authors from the Girona region.
During his visit to Girona Clinic, the author explained that “the book came about in a very rocambolesque way. I worked for 17 years at a real estate company in Girona and we had the office in a block of flats owned by the company. Most of the flats were leased to a company that handled their management, but the tenants who rented them, since our office was in the same block, when they had a problem, instead of going to that third company, for convenience came to speak to us. There they would tell us countless outlandish and hilarious stories – some of them even seemed to have come straight out of an Almodóvar film – and that made me think I could turn them into a book.” In any case, Pellicer clarified that “before I made up my mind, as I was also telling these stories to family and friends, a friend of mine one day told me that I could make a film out of them, and I thought that perhaps not a film, but a book, yes.”.
Regarding the characters in the novel, many of them quite peculiar and a little surprising, the author has pointed out that “I prefer that the reader determine what part of these characters comes from the reality I experienced as an employee in an estate agency office and what part comes from my imagination, but I must say that there are fully true stories to which I have simply added some touch of humour or some original element, because if I hadn't done so, perhaps they wouldn't be so interesting. In any case, I talk a lot about the human relationships of Girona society, and therefore of Catalan society. It's a book where there is humour, a bit of spice, tenderness, sweetness... what I have experienced.”.
It's worth noting that the novel has a very interesting structure, as almost every chapter is dedicated to one of the flats in the building, which, along with one of the characters, acts as a common thread throughout the work. Regarding this, Pellicer explains that “as a good accountant, I'm a bit methodical, and since I already knew most of the characters, when writing the novel, I was clear that I wanted to organise the chapters well, just as I wanted to reference the characters in the index so that readers wouldn't get lost.” “In any case, the real common thread of the novel is a saleswoman from the real estate agency who I hold in high regard; she is one of the main characters and at the same time helps us get to know the other characters.” In parallel, Pellicer has three songs that are related to the novel.
In a new reference to the different neighbours and their stories, the author makes it very clear that “we all have a nosy side, but I consider there to be two types of busybodies: the bad and the good. The bad one is the one who exaggerates a story, twists it, or tells lies, often to harm a person; whereas the good one is the one who passes it on, but does so with a bit of humour so that we can all laugh, and it’s with this kind of busybody that I identify.” “In any case,” Pellicer adds, “both the building and certain locations in the Girona regions become characters in the novel, such as my favourite coastal path on the Costa Brava, where a very funny episode of the work takes place.”.
“Mira què fa el veí” can be purchased by contacting the author directly for a personalised dedication related to a character from the novel via the website https://www.miraquefaelvei.com/ or a message to the book's Instagram accountI'll be back).
