Once again, I was wandering in a shopping centre during Christmas time and I could not help stepping into a bookshop to check the discounted books section.
Among many works on politics, economics, cooking and all genre of manuals, my attention was captured by "A 1ª vez" (in English, The first time), a book written by the unknown Magda Bandera.
The author is a spanish female journalist from Barcelona, actively collaborating with "La Vanguardia" - maybe the most important newspaper of Catalunya - who also seems to have written a bunch of other works mainly focused on matters of social and political interest. According to the research I performed on her production, she prefers, as a journalist, the anthological collection of people's opinions, by this means achieving an interesting level of closeness to the common public.
"A 1ª vez" deals with the first sexual experience of 39 random interviewed. They come from all over Spain, belonging to any social ladder and are never older than 30 years. I quickly found the idea on which the book is based as simply great in its originality; however, the translation is poor and more "Iberic" than Portuguese (this means that the vocabulary and syntax used reflect the lack of interest of linguistic coherence: the translator preferred in any case the use of common words in both Spanish and Portuguese, instead of the "most portuguese expression" for the target Spanish term).
The stories are reviewed from the author as they do not actually seem to be the result of a free speech: there are 2 or 3 stories that are completely non sense for the very way they are told: too short and confused, aiming to be closer to prose poetry than to short storytelling (I personally think these are the most manipulated stories).
The books reveals itself as funny and enjoyable: the events told are sometimes ridiculous, sometimes tragic... unforgettable or regrettable... indeed, like everyone's "first time" is. Willing or not, the reader compares itself to every situation depicted among the pages, realising what is real and what is fictional about the first sexual experience. And, most important, the reader remembers, evoking good and bad feelings, fears, shivers, worries and sillyness related with that special thing he/she did not know, until he/she got there. If the human is afraid of the unknown, sex is the most pleasurable thing we less imagine and are most curious about. Because sex is a myth when you are very young and the discover itself (the first time) is always disappointing. Short, painful, uncomfortable... a failure! Experience only comes with experience but when you do not know, you simply do not know.
No story is particularly remarkable but the one told from him and from her, each one giving the personal version of the event. It is especially interesting because you can get aware of the way girls and boys deals with the fact itself and the way they recall it after some time has passed: details which were important for her were not like that for him and viceversa.
For every storyteller the happening was different, but the truth was just one for everybody: must be better next time. For some of them, it just happened years later, for others that was the sign they could not help living without sex. Most of them saw it as the result of huge love feelings; all the rest pretended to be conscious about the swindle that romance could be, in matters of sex, especially when so young.
I do not personally believe the first time is always remarkable for everybody, apart from what really happened. In my opinion, is an important and mandatory step for every living being: may it not be the best experience to remember but... it is a memory and for that it must be preserved and brought to mind for the whole life, because it is worthy, for being the first time: the beginning of a path we will always keep on going onto.
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