Lucie Rico (Perpignan, 1988) doesn’t mind betting everything on the red if she believes in something. When he decided that his life would revolve around literature, he did not look back and focused on creating new stories. His intention was not to become the voice of a generation, but to have fun and entertain the reader. Surely, without realizing it, he is achieving both, as indicated by the sales figures for his works in France. These days he is visiting Barcelona to present the new book, GPS, at the BCNegra festival.
The protagonist of her book is very lonely.
He feels this way even though he has a partner and a friend, Sandrine.
A friend who disappears.
The day after their engagement party. But Ariane keeps the location she sent him the day before.
And the red dot is moving.
Yes, it goes to the places that meant something to them in the past.
Is it a ghost novel?
Or vampires. I hadn’t stopped to think about it, but it’s true that both the dead and the missing make us up as people and live within us.
This is what happens to the protagonist.
It’s like this. In addition, he has become obsessed with finding her. And, beyond the loss, it is because he has little contact with the world and does not work.
Not working influences it, then.
Of couse. My generation has grown up with the fear of unemployment, and I, as a novelist, have taken advantage of this theme. When you tell people you’re unemployed, they look at you strangely, like you’re from another world. They think you are not looking for work and that you do nothing all day. Without a job it seems like you are nobody.
Have you ever been unemployed?
two years But I experienced it differently, because I took the opportunity to write, even though almost no one understood me.
Why does he say that?
I was told that many writers continued to work even as they wrote. They didn’t understand that writing was already a job. They wondered how he could live on this. Today, when I have already published books and they have been well received, I am still asked about it.
Are you worried about your future?
It makes me anxious, but at the same time I’m aware of how lucky I am. In France, my publisher gives me complete freedom to create and find new ways of saying things.
How, for example, does the reader feel like they are reading a telephone conversation instead of a book?
I want him to be stuck on a screen and feel that he is lost with Ariane.
Do you think the new generations no longer know how to navigate without GPS?
In general, no. I write from my experience, and the truth is I have no sense of direction, and neither do many of my friends. It’s sad, but I see that without GPS I can’t go anywhere. And, at the same time, if I use it, I’m afraid I’ll miss a lot of things.
Like for example?
When I travel to a new place, I feel like I’m very focused on following a red dot that takes me from a starting point to an ending point.
And what happens in the middle?
I don’t pay much attention to things because I’m looking at the screen. Before, with maps, you at least had to study the path beforehand and you learned something in the process. I think we would discover many more things if we understood the value of getting lost.
Is it better to put the phone aside?
Let there be a balance. Sometimes, I trust the GPS more than my eyes. Even if I have a friend who shared a location ahead of me, if the red dot tells me I haven’t reached my destination, I’ve kept walking. If you think about it, it’s pretty crazy.
