Nada importa. (Nothing Matters)

Together with three of his friends, the novel's unnamed protagonist—a young man who cleans bathrooms for a living and is tired of spending his life as if it were on autopilot—sets off in a '74 Ford Mustang on a quest to find a barn where the British rock group Jethro Tull once hung out and cure his desperate ennui. Inevitably, the friends realize that their trip's destination is irrelevant; what matters is that they keep pressing onward. While some may be tempted to compare the novel's protagonist with Salinger's Holden Caulfield, a more accurate comparison would be with Kerouac's Sal Paradise. This Colombian ex-pat living in England certainly admits to being depressive and even entertains suicidal thoughts, but never does one get the sense of hopelessness associated with Caulfield. Robledo, 1998 finalist for the prestigious Premio Herralde, here uses fluid, crisp, and accessible language, and run-on sentences with remarkable ease. He writes first-person narrative, but the protagonist is the king of digression, taking more and more tangents as the narrative progresses. Still, the reader never feels isolated or disconnected from the main character, no matter how often he retreats into the deep recesses of his mind. This excellent read hits hard and deep; highly recommended for public libraries and bookstores.—Vivian Gómez, New York, NY