No Ser No Duele - Fernando Aramburu [todolibros... — Top

While the subjects are often macabre—including a hospital where terminal patients organize a betting pool on their own deaths—Aramburu’s prose remains "fun" and "seductive," using irony to make the unbearable readable.

The title itself, which translates to "Not being doesn't hurt," sets a philosophical tone for stories that grapple with mortality, abandonment, and the absurdity of life. Aramburu uses what critics call "literary alchemy" to link seemingly disparate characters through a secret "Ariadne’s thread" of shared human vulnerability. No ser no duele - Fernando Aramburu [todolibros...

The collection features a cast of social outcasts and "nobodies," such as Avelino Armisén, whose private habits take on a lethal power, and Silas, a patient forgotten in a desert-like hospital. While the subjects are often macabre—including a hospital