The publisher themselves notes, with regard to the book: “A secret needs little surface. Barely the space between a mouth and an ear. This book has been designed with that measure.”
Inside there are secrets. Some ridiculous. Others serious. Some childish. Others capable of ruining a life. To read some pages you will have to scratch. Literally. With a coin, with a key, or with a fingernail. With whatever you grab. Beneath there will appear something that someone decided to hide. But then, also, decided to share in this book that you hold in your hands.
For more than ten years, Violeta Niebla has collected anonymous confessions from hundreds of strangers. With that archive she builds a unique artifact about the desire to know, the strange intimacy between the confessor and the listener, and the unsettling responsibility of safeguarding what does not belong to you. Even when we lower our voices, this book is already a widely known secret.
As the secrets unfold, the anonymous voices gathered by Violeta Niebla become a collective rumor. The confessions repeat themselves and end up merging into a common magma. Imposture, loneliness, fear of desire, domestic violence, money, the body, and guilt appear again and again. The archive then ceases to speak of concrete individuals to reveal which concerns a society silences and what forms of shame take across different ages, classes, and relationships, and it keeps open several uncomfortable questions that traverse the entire work and prevent reading from turning into mere voyeurism.”
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Author: Violeta Niebla. Title: Scratch and Win. Publisher: Comisura. Retailer: All Your Books.