There are so many ways to write about sports, but the French philosopher Tristan Garcia explored that adjacent meanings of them. In En l´absence de classement final - in my translation, In the absence of a final classification; I have no information about a possible English translation of the book - the sports are just the context for various human manifestations and encounters, from childhood abuse to political prejudice.
The stories are short, set in countries from all over the world like Brasil, Cuba, Romania, Australia and many more. The original approach is to study and imagine the consequences and influences of life within a sport framework.
There are no recipes for healthy life or professional achievement. In exchange, there are destinies broken or growing up around sports - a large variety of it. Garcia is a philosopher but his writing does not meditate philosophically about life and its encumbrances. His writing is precise, analytic, with accurate geographical and historical references - at least in the cases that are familiar to me.
What I deeply appreciated in this book is how the story weaved around a classical topic - of social and even political interest - while sliding to the directly related subcategories, in this case fear, social pressure, discipline, belonging. An excellent approach that can be used in the case of other topics as well.
Rating: 4 stars
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