As Difficult as it is Rare

A portrait of a generation of those born in the 70s, who witnessed the splendor of the 90s, and fell apart in the new century.
“How would it be possible, if salvation were ready to our hand, and could without great labor be found, that it should be by almost all men neglected? But all things excellent are as difficult as they are rare,” wrote Spinoza. The characters in this novel all meet in the Philosophy department in October of 1991. They’re young, have fun, hatch great plans or perhaps deliriums, they do a lot of stupid things. Until one commits suicide.

Why do some people break and others are saved? Tan difícil como raro doesn’t attempt to answer impossible questions. It does offer a generational portrait of those who were born in the seventies, witnessed the splendor of the nineties, and fell apart in the new century. This novel could even be seen as a ghost story where the dead don’t torment the living, but rather the opposite: the living aren’t willing to forget the dead. They chase after them, harass them, interrogate them, refuse to forgive them.
In Tan difícil como raro, Juan Vilá continues the autobiographical series started in 1980. Two books that can be read independently, but that share the same voice, sometimes rough and sometimes tender, a celebration of the past in reverse; a beautiful and damned chronicle of wasted youth, lost love, and dreams that could never be achieved. In other words, life and that strange desire that propels us forward despite everything.

«A brilliant generational story (…) This novel hypnotized me» (Manuel Vilas).