Dear reader, How many times have we sighed for the fairy tale, that eternal “I do”, only to crash into reality? The ideal of romantic love, with its impossible expectations, is the starting point that the writer and journalist José Mola dissects in his debut novel with the Suma de Letras label. His work, titled with delicious irony, ““The curse of yes I want” , is much more than a novel with a queer perspective: it is an emotional mirror for everyone.
Mola, recognized as one of the main LGTBIQ+ voices in Spain and specialized in diversity, offers us a reading that moves between laughter and deep reflection, demonstrating that the search for affection, in all its forms and colors, is a universal theme that affects us all. Are we really prepared to desire what we ask for? Or is it that obsession with perfection that condemns us?
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A Divine and (Un)Romantic Mission
The novel begins with a premise as irreverent as it is memorable: Beto, the protagonist, flees from Madrid to Mexico City to escape a stagnant life and an ex-boyfriend, Manuel Petulante, a musical actor with grandiloquent airs. However, in the middle of the transatlantic flight back to Spain, the Virgin of Guadalupe herself appears to him. It is not just any apparition: the ‘Little Virgin’ winks at him and whispers that he must win back his ex. Faced with such a mystical revelation, Beto makes a promise to himself: “This time, ‘yes, I want'”, embarking on a journey that, of course, will not turn out as he expects.
This beginning sets the tone of the work: a (de)romantic, irreverent and deeply human novel, which uses humor and satire to explore crucial themes.
The Mosaic of Identities in Times of Immediacy
Throughout its 368 pages, the story unfolds like a choral tapestry between Madrid and the vibrant Mexico City, uniting five plots that address identity, motherhood, trauma, addictions, fame and, of course, the search for real love.
The cast of characters that accompany Beto is as diverse as it is endearing:
- Josemari: A politician obsessed with getting a starting position, willing to publicly recognize himself as “homosexual” to achieve it.
- Prada: An independent woman in the midst of a mid-life crisis, who faces the challenge of motherhood through artificial insemination, battling against the will of her powerful conservative mother.
- Alex/Doña Buchona: A Mexican drag queen of Spanish origin who returns home after more than ten years to settle pending accounts with her past and redefine her future.
- Sisi: A non-binary activist with devastating candor. His fight against addictions and an uninhibited view of sex will put the group in serious trouble.
These profiles make up a generational portrait that reflects on the fragility of emotional ties in an era marked by immediacy, hyperconnection and identity crises. To what extent do labels and external expectations define our happiness?
An Altar of Liberation: From Madrid to Malaga
For Mola, the title, The Curse of Yes I Want, is a popular warning: be careful what you wish for. The author invites us to strip ties of that veil of idealization, reminding us that things “rarely… go as planned, since the only constant thing in life is change.”
Precisely, this concept has served as the central axis for an original promotional campaign. The “Little Virgin of Guadalupe” (that stellar and divine figure from the prologue) stars in a literary pilgrimage called “The path of liberation from the curse of yes I want”, which aims to visit more than 100 bookstores throughout Spain.
Recently, this pilgrimage has made a special stop to celebrate the diverse culture: the IV LGTBIQ+ Book Fair in Malaga. Organized by the Andalucía Diversidad association and the City Council, the writer installed a Mexican altar of the dead to Guadalupana on the Paseo del Parque. On these altars, readers and “devotees” can leave their personal requests to the Virgin, seeking liberation from their own romantic “curses.”
This experience not only approaches the work from a literary level, but also from affection, everyday faith and shared irony. The most symbolic thing is that Mola has committed to taking all these requests to the Basilica of Guadalupe in Mexico City, masterfully closing this literary and emotional circle.
The curse of yes I want, with a cover designed by the Malaga studio Santa Rita. Do you dare to face yours?
