First Impression Friday will be a meme where you talk about a book that you JUST STARTED! Maybe you’re only a chapter or two in, maybe a little farther. Based on this sampling of your current read, give a few impressions and predict what you’ll think by the end.

Synopsis:

Rife with political corruption, sex, jealousy and frustrated passion, The Skating Rink is a darkly atmospheric chronicle of one summer season in a seaside town on the Costa Brava, north of Barcelona.

The story revolves around the beautiful figure-skating champion Nuria Marti. When she is suddenly dropped from the Olympic team, a besotted admirer builds a secret ice rink for her in the ruins of an old mansion outside of town. What he doesn’t tell her is that he paid for it using embezzled public funds, but such a betrayal is only the beginning, and the skating rink soon becomes a crime scene.

Told in short, suspenseful chapters by three alternating male narrators – a corrupt and pompous civil servant, a beleaguered yet still romantic itinerant poet, and a duplicitous local entrepreneur – The Skating Rink is a wholly engrossing tale of murder and its motives.

It’s the end of the workweek—yay! Technically, it is already Saturday. Regardless, I hope the workweek has been kind to everyone. It has been two weeks since the new year started. How is everyone feeling? I hope we were all able to overcome the holiday-break fever and are getting our mojo back. I hope everyone is gradually regaining their motivation to work. Anyway, I hope everyone was able to finish the workweek on a high note. I hope you accomplished all your tasks—or at least made significant progress toward them—and are starting to build some momentum. It’s now time to dress down and let your hair down—to dive into the weekend! I hope you get to spend this brief reprieve wisely, whether by simply resting and taking a break from the rigors of a tedious career, pursuing your passions, completing household chores or other tasks you put on hold, or spending time with your family and loved ones. I hope you’re all doing well—physically, mentally, and emotionally.

My second full week with my new employer has come and gone. I am slowly learning the ropes, but at the same time, I am overwhelmed by my new responsibilities. From risk management, I am now back in finance. Regardless, I am trying to relish this new set of challenges and am looking forward to what the future has in store for me. Speaking of the future, with the new year comes new reading goals and journeys. With this in mind, I decided to commence my 2026 literary journey with the works of Latin American writers. I realized it has been some time since I dedicated a full month to reading literary works from this region—the last time was toward the end of 2023. This makes me look forward to dipping my fingers into familiar territory while also feeling excited about the prospect of exploring new ones. Among the familiar writers I am looking forward to revisiting is Roberto Bolaño, whose name is a constant presence on must-read lists.

The highly heralded Chilean writer is more renowned for 2666 and The Savage Detectives—both of which I have already read and loved—but I was also keen to explore his other works. In 2024, I read Amulet, and this year I am reading The Skating Rink. Originally published in 1993 in Spanish as La pista de hielo, it was eventually translated into English in 2009, following what seemed to be a surge in interest in his work. In 2008, he was posthumously awarded the National Book Critics Circle Award for Fiction for 2666. The Skating Rink transports readers to the fictional seaside resort town of Z on the Costa Brava, north of Barcelona. The story unfolds through a unique narrative structure, alternating among three unreliable narrators: Remo Morán, Gaspar Heredia, and Enric Rosquelles. Interestingly, each narrator embodies a different facet of society.

Remo Morán is a Chilean novelist and poet who immigrated to Spain and became a successful entrepreneur. He managed various businesses, but despite his success, he remained a solitary figure, haunted by his past. Gaspar Heredia, on the other hand, is also a poet. A Mexican and Morán’s friend, he lives on the fringes of society as an undocumented immigrant. He was hired by Morán to investigate the shadowy world of the homeless, and in the process, he became acquainted with other immigrants and even tourists. His life is intertwined with Carmen, an aging street singer, and her sickly friend Caridad, both of whom struggle to survive. The third primary narrator, Enric Rosquelles, is a Catalan bureaucrat who holds a position of power in the Socialist Party. The mayor’s assistant, he is, ironically, socially awkward and morally dubious. To be fair, all three characters have something to hide.

At the center of the story is its muse, Nuria Martí. A beautiful figure skater training for the Olympics, Nuria is the invisible thread that holds the three men together. Morán was her lover, while Rosquelles was enamored of her. Nuria’s life takes a sudden turn when she is dropped from the Olympic team. As I am halfway through the story, I have yet to discover the full significance of the titular skating rink, though it clearly plays an important role. Meanwhile, through Heredia, I learn more about the plight of immigrants in Spain. To the uninitiated, before gaining recognition as a writer, Bolaño settled on the Mediterranean coast near Barcelona, on the Costa Brava. There, he worked as a dishwasher, campground custodian, bellhop, and garbage collector, spending his spare time writing. It seems that Heredia serves as a conduit for examining the conditions Bolaño himself may have witnessed and experienced.

The book is quite slender, much like Amulet. I am, however, expecting an eventful story packed with action. After all, Bolaño’s works are anything but uneventful. I anticipate secrets slowly being unveiled as the story moves forward, and I find it especially interesting that all three male narrators are unreliable. It places a question mark on their intentions and even their moral compasses. Who is telling the truth? Whose truth is the real truth? I just might finish the book today. How about you, fellow reader? What book—or books—are you reading this weekend? I hope you’re enjoying your current read. Happy weekend!