Review of the book "The Survivors", by Alex Schulman

Benjamin, Pierre and Nils are about to embark on what will undoubtedly be the most important journey of their lives, a journey that will take them back in time, to their childhood, to the farm where the cabin by the lake is located, where twenty years ago something happened to which none of the three has put a voice or a name but that irrevocably changed them, just as it changed the course of their lives. Now they come back again, they come back to mom in an urn, willing to fulfill her last wish and seek an answer to that question that has been haunting them for decades: what happened that summer day when everything fell to pieces?

The Survivors , is a Swedish novel, but here you will not find a police novel or an overwhelming thriller, no, there is suspense, there is a very well managed mystery and there are three brothers and a family, with experiences that will mark them all in one way or another. Another way. It is a costumbrista novel that delves into the fraternal bond, in family relationships and in the way in which we build ourselves.

Alex Schulman tells us the story of these three brothers through two narrative lines; past and present, sailing from the present; the moment in which as adults they meet again to fulfill the last wishes of their mother and the past; his childhood, his summers on the farm and the entry into puberty, in this way, the reader rebuilds each piece of those lives that were broken at some point to put them in their place and understand what happened.

in the survivors, Alex Schulman makes a portrait full of emotion, feeling and an incisive truth about childhood, because, although many times we like to idealize that time of our life as a happy and full passing of days, the truth is that in many Sometimes it tends to be erected as a violent and cruel stage, in which many of the shortcomings, fears and difficulties with which we have to deal as adults are forged. The author delves into family relationships and creates characters endowed with an overwhelming psychological dimension and perspective. Benjamin, the middle brother, always taking third place, observing all the members of his family, feeling responsible for them, that they get along, that they love each other, attentive to any sign that alerts him to a change in mood in their parents or siblings, a spark that makes everything blow up, a being endowed with incredible sensitivity and with whom the reader soon empathizes. Nils, the older brother, the one who always evades, as if things don't concern him, don't belong to him and stays out of it, since, after all, we all have our own ways of surviving and Pierre, the little brother, hungry for affection and attention, which triggers an anger and a rage that begins to manifest itself in adolescence. The three brothers, united during their childhood and who, with the passing of the years and the different directions their lives take, become almost strangers, without knowing very well how to relate to each other. the older brother, the one who always evades, as if things don't concern him, don't belong to him and stays on the sidelines, since, after all, we all have our own ways of surviving and Pierre, the little brother , hungry for affection and attention, which triggers an anger and a rage that already begins to manifest itself in adolescence. The three brothers, united during their childhood and who, with the passing of the years and the different directions their lives take, become almost strangers, without knowing very well how to relate to each other. the older brother, the one who always evades, as if things don't concern him, don't belong to him and stays on the sidelines, since, after all, we all have our own ways of surviving and Pierre, the little brother , hungry for affection and attention, which triggers an anger and a rage that already begins to manifest itself in adolescence. The three brothers, united during their childhood and who, with the passing of the years and the different directions their lives take, become almost strangers, without knowing very well how to relate to each other. which triggers an anger and a rage that already in adolescence begins to manifest itself. The three brothers, united during their childhood and who, with the passing of the years and the different directions their lives take, become almost strangers, without knowing very well how to relate to each other. which triggers an anger and a rage that already in adolescence begins to manifest itself. The three brothers, united during their childhood and who, with the passing of the years and the different directions their lives take, become almost strangers, without knowing very well how to relate to each other.

Alex Schulman narrates family dynamics with beautiful prose. Some parents given to drink, who neglect their children in many aspects, a mother with a bipolar character and a moment that dynamited everything. The author's pen is brilliant, beautiful, concise, poignant, and devoid of frills. There are certain scenes in the novel that, due to their intense, ominous and disturbing nature, I will take time to forget. Los Survivientes , has reminded me in some aspects of Subsuelo , by Marcelo Luján ,in the sense that what really grabs you from this reading is not the plot itself, but what is perceived through it, through the details, the thoughts of the brothers, the way of behaving of the fathers.

The author's style combined with fascinating characters, an atmosphere charged with emotion, a crescendo rhythm , an amazing ability to dose information and gradually guide the reader to a cathartic ending in which surprise and feelings overflow in intensity. They make this book one of the best I've read so far this year. The Survivors is an overwhelming novel in many ways that you cannot stop reading.