Nobody recommended me this book, nor had I heard about it. Somehow came across this author and subsequently this book while surfing, thought will give it a shot. And a good one it was.
“The Wall” is an eponymous collection of short stories. Each of these short stories delves on grey shades of human mind and emotion.
“The Wall” was one of my favorite short stories amongst these and I actually re read it couple of times more. It is based on the time of Spanish Civil war, and is narrated from the point of view of one of the prisoners, Pablo Ibbieta. Pablo and couple of more prisoners are put into a dark small cold cell and are sentenced to be executed at dawn. The execution will take place by shooting bullets at the prisoners lined up against the Wall. The whole story is about how the human mind and body conflict with each other while awaiting death, about how different people perceive the looming death. How once the illusion of eternity disappears, life and everything in it loses all meaning.