Overview
Un libro que rompe el silencio. Una voz narrativa única que describe desde dentro y con ironía las dinámicas de poder de esta organización.
Marina tiene un papel asignado desde la Eternidad: hacerse santa según las directrices del Opus Dei y entregarse totalmente a la institución. Sin embargo, para esta joven no es fácil compatibilizar el celibato y las estrictas exigencias de su vocación divina con los problemas de cualquier otra milenial: la crisis de la adolescencia, la precariedad laboral y una necesidad imperiosa de conseguir el corte de pelo exacto de Meg Ryan.
Nacida en una familia vinculada a la organización, la protagonista de La Obra descubre el mundo que la rodea desde una mirada inocente, pero, a medida que crece y se intensifican los choques entre el mundo exterior y sus creencias, su personalidad va disociándose entre su yo real y su yo Opus, obligándola a vivir entre dos mundos irreconciliables.
En este relato iniciático de no ficción narrativa la autora retrata en primera persona cómo funciona el Opus Dei desde dentro a través de episodios cotidianos y muestra con ironía la manipulación, el abuso psicológico y las consecuencias de su experiencia de veinticinco años inmersa en el ecosistema de este grupo ultracatólico.
«La numeraria te anima a que animes a que tus amigas vayan al club y te anima a rezar más, luchar más, esforzarte más y apuntar tus pecados de niña en una libreta. (...)
Mi agendita de los diez u once años tiene a Winnie The Pooh con su famoso tarro de miel en la portada. (...) Cuando papá trae miel de Ahedo del Butrón, el pueblo de Burgos donde pasamos los veranos, me relamo como Winnie. Luego, hago el examen de conciencia de la noche sentada en mi cama y anoto que "he tenido gula" porque me he comido tres panes con miel para merendar, en lugar de los dos que había prometido a Jesús. No solo me voy a poner gorda, que no es tan importante (al fin y al cabo, eso sería vanidad), sino que he fallado a Dios en esa pequeña, tan pequeña mortificación que podría hacer a mis diez años para colaborar con la redención.
Las numerarias del club no eran terroríficas, ni mucho menos. Eran chicas de entre veinte y treinta años, célibes y pizpiretas, que dedicaban sus tardes a hacer planes para nosotras: eran lo que yo aspiraba a ser, eran lo que Dios les había pedido que fueran, y aunque habían entregado su vida a Dios no se parecían a las monjas, sino que su estilo era más parecido al de María Pombo».
ENGLISH DESCRIPTION
A book that breaks the silence. A unique narrative voice that describes the power dynamics of this organization from within and with irony.
Marina has a role assigned to her from Eternity: to become a saint according to the guidelines of Opus Dei and to devote herself totally to the institution. However, it is not easy for this young woman to reconcile celibacy and the strict demands of her divine vocation with the problems of any other millennial: the crisis of adolescence, job insecurity, and an urgent need to get the exact Meg Ryan haircut.
Born into a family linked to the organization, the protagonist of The Work discovers the world around her with an innocent gaze, but as she grows up and the clashes between the outside world and her beliefs intensify, her personality becomes dissociated between her real self and her Opus self, forcing her to live between two irreconcilable worlds.
In this non-fiction coming-of-age story, the author portrays in first person how Opus Dei works from the inside through everyday episodes and ironically shows the manipulation, psychological abuse, and consequences of her twenty-five-year experience immersed in the ecosystem of this ultra-Catholic group.
“The numerary encourages you to encourage your friends to join the club and encourages you to pray more, fight more, try harder, and write down your sins as a child in a notebook...
My little diary from when I was ten or eleven has Winnie the Pooh with his famous honey pot on the cover... When Dad brings honey from Ahedo del Butrón, the village in Burgos where we spend our summers, I lick my lips like Winnie. Then, I examine my conscience at night sitting on my bed and write down that ‘I have been gluttonous’ because I ate three pieces of bread with honey for my snack, instead of the two I had promised Jesus. Not only am I going to get fat, which is not so important (after all, that would be vanity), but I have failed God in that small, very small mortification that I could do at the age of ten to collaborate with redemption.
The numeraries of the club were not terrifying, far from it. They were girls between twenty and thirty years old, celibate, and lively, who spent their afternoons making plans for us: they were what I aspired to be, they were what God had asked them to be, and although they had given their lives to God, they did not resemble nuns, but rather their style was more like that of Maria Pombo.”
Marina tiene un papel asignado desde la Eternidad: hacerse santa según las directrices del Opus Dei y entregarse totalmente a la institución. Sin embargo, para esta joven no es fácil compatibilizar el celibato y las estrictas exigencias de su vocación divina con los problemas de cualquier otra milenial: la crisis de la adolescencia, la precariedad laboral y una necesidad imperiosa de conseguir el corte de pelo exacto de Meg Ryan.
Nacida en una familia vinculada a la organización, la protagonista de La Obra descubre el mundo que la rodea desde una mirada inocente, pero, a medida que crece y se intensifican los choques entre el mundo exterior y sus creencias, su personalidad va disociándose entre su yo real y su yo Opus, obligándola a vivir entre dos mundos irreconciliables.
En este relato iniciático de no ficción narrativa la autora retrata en primera persona cómo funciona el Opus Dei desde dentro a través de episodios cotidianos y muestra con ironía la manipulación, el abuso psicológico y las consecuencias de su experiencia de veinticinco años inmersa en el ecosistema de este grupo ultracatólico.
«La numeraria te anima a que animes a que tus amigas vayan al club y te anima a rezar más, luchar más, esforzarte más y apuntar tus pecados de niña en una libreta. (...)
Mi agendita de los diez u once años tiene a Winnie The Pooh con su famoso tarro de miel en la portada. (...) Cuando papá trae miel de Ahedo del Butrón, el pueblo de Burgos donde pasamos los veranos, me relamo como Winnie. Luego, hago el examen de conciencia de la noche sentada en mi cama y anoto que "he tenido gula" porque me he comido tres panes con miel para merendar, en lugar de los dos que había prometido a Jesús. No solo me voy a poner gorda, que no es tan importante (al fin y al cabo, eso sería vanidad), sino que he fallado a Dios en esa pequeña, tan pequeña mortificación que podría hacer a mis diez años para colaborar con la redención.
Las numerarias del club no eran terroríficas, ni mucho menos. Eran chicas de entre veinte y treinta años, célibes y pizpiretas, que dedicaban sus tardes a hacer planes para nosotras: eran lo que yo aspiraba a ser, eran lo que Dios les había pedido que fueran, y aunque habían entregado su vida a Dios no se parecían a las monjas, sino que su estilo era más parecido al de María Pombo».
ENGLISH DESCRIPTION
A book that breaks the silence. A unique narrative voice that describes the power dynamics of this organization from within and with irony.
Marina has a role assigned to her from Eternity: to become a saint according to the guidelines of Opus Dei and to devote herself totally to the institution. However, it is not easy for this young woman to reconcile celibacy and the strict demands of her divine vocation with the problems of any other millennial: the crisis of adolescence, job insecurity, and an urgent need to get the exact Meg Ryan haircut.
Born into a family linked to the organization, the protagonist of The Work discovers the world around her with an innocent gaze, but as she grows up and the clashes between the outside world and her beliefs intensify, her personality becomes dissociated between her real self and her Opus self, forcing her to live between two irreconcilable worlds.
In this non-fiction coming-of-age story, the author portrays in first person how Opus Dei works from the inside through everyday episodes and ironically shows the manipulation, psychological abuse, and consequences of her twenty-five-year experience immersed in the ecosystem of this ultra-Catholic group.
“The numerary encourages you to encourage your friends to join the club and encourages you to pray more, fight more, try harder, and write down your sins as a child in a notebook...
My little diary from when I was ten or eleven has Winnie the Pooh with his famous honey pot on the cover... When Dad brings honey from Ahedo del Butrón, the village in Burgos where we spend our summers, I lick my lips like Winnie. Then, I examine my conscience at night sitting on my bed and write down that ‘I have been gluttonous’ because I ate three pieces of bread with honey for my snack, instead of the two I had promised Jesus. Not only am I going to get fat, which is not so important (after all, that would be vanity), but I have failed God in that small, very small mortification that I could do at the age of ten to collaborate with redemption.
The numeraries of the club were not terrifying, far from it. They were girls between twenty and thirty years old, celibate, and lively, who spent their afternoons making plans for us: they were what I aspired to be, they were what God had asked them to be, and although they had given their lives to God, they did not resemble nuns, but rather their style was more like that of Maria Pombo.”
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