On Euphoria Days
What makes a happy life? In a slightly off-kilter Madrid of the near future, María, a data analyst, has devoted her career to answering that timeless question with computer programs and algorithms—until a recurring nightmare about worms throws her life into disarray. Others have sought happiness elsewhere: Blasco has turned to internet porn; his wife, Diana, to motherhood; Angélica to what she thinks might be love; and the hapless Carlos to substances and a spiritual guide who may or may not be a hack. But in a world increasingly governed by data, are anyone’s decisions really their own? Renowned Spanish writer Pilar Fraile’s first novel to be translated into English, EUPHORIA DAYS traces the intersecting paths of five workers edging toward middle age and grasping at the cheap thrills of optimization. A comedy of errors that shows what happens when we trade autonomy for the false promises of a data-driven existence, from one of the sharpest writers working in the Spanish language today.
pilar fraile 