The Book Review: ‘The Yellow Rain’ and a Time that Will Never Return

When you finish reading The Yellow Rain, a novel by Julio Llamazares (Vegamián, 1955), you need to reflect at length to fully understand what has just entered your mind through the words. Perhaps a second or even a third reading is required; few precautions need to be taken if one wishes to pass judgment on one of the most underrated and unknown works by the general public, which undoubtedly deserves a much more prominent place in the Spanish narrative landscape. For example, it is worthy of being read in high school studies. This is no exaggeration, as the novel is pure life, a profound reflection on loneliness from the most destructive point of view, perhaps an excellent way to teach new generations how to manage loneliness — a much more important issue than one might imagine — and to dispel the negative aura it has by delving into a book that talks about this dark side.

To briefly summarize, the story takes place during the last days of Andrés, the last inhabitant of a village, Ainielle, in the Aragonese…