“My novel is called I should be dead“Julieta Prandi began by saying in dialogue with Intruders about his new book, inspired by his terrible life story.
The model was a victim of gender violence and sexual abuse by Claudio Contardi, her then husband and father of her two children, Mateo and Rocco.
“If my work had not made me a public person, the outcome would have been different,” added Julieta, explaining the reason why she gave her novel that name.
“The novel is not autobiographical, it is based on real events. It is the story of Lucía Caballero, a journalist from Pergamino, very successful who is at the best of her career, but who is very alone in Buenos Aires,” she commented on the protagonist of her story and clarified: “The victim has to have certain condiments to be chosen by a psychopath too.”
The journalist who was interviewing her pointed out that the character seemed to be her alter ego, and that they had many points of contact between them, to which Prandi responded: “If you want to say it that way… it’s fiction. Surely (there are points of contact). There are many chapters that cost me a lot to write and there are many that I wrote with my eyes closed because I know what it is like to be there.” Additionally, she described the process as “cathartic.”
“Did you cry a lot when you wrote it?” the chronicler wanted to know, and Prandi not only agreed, but delved into the question: “I got blocked, I got anxious, there were days where I couldn’t write, others where I got frustrated. Whether you like it or not, whether what you had to live is exact or not, it is reliving. When I finished the book I felt a release, a liberation and, when I handed it in to be edited, I felt that it no longer belonged to me. Now, it belongs to the reader.”
As for what Emanuel Ortega, her partner, thinks about the novel, Julieta commented that he is very mobilized because, in addition, he composed and performed Prey, the song that will accompany the trailer of the book that will be screened next Sunday the 28th at the Book Fair in Buenos Aires. “There will be a trailer because the idea is for it to become a series, and it will be presented with the song written and composed by him, sung by him. Temón,” explained Prandi.
Finally, when talking about his situation in Justice, he said: “In criminal matters we are waiting for the date but a court has already been assigned, which is number 2 in Campana, in a jury trial. On the civil side, at the end of May I have a hearing, but the division of assets has not yet been done, I have not been able to pay all the maintenance debt, I have a lot of pending issues. But hey, we have to finish, we have to close chapters.”
