The acclaimed writer Marta Jiménez Serrano presents Oxígeno (Alfaguara), an autobiographical novel that begins with a traumatic event she experienced in November 2020, when she nearly died from carbon monoxide poisoning in her own home. The accident, which she herself describes as a "silent death" on any given Saturday, has inspired a book that explores human fragility, death, love, and everyday life with a mix of narrative tension and personal reflection.
The author, a graduate in Hispanic Philology and a television contributor, took five years to be able to address and narrate this experience that profoundly transformed her perspective on life and mortality. In Oxígeno, Jiménez Serrano describes in words those few minutes in which life was slipping through her fingers and how her recovery went. She also narrates how she and her partner were building their life project without it ever crossing their minds that everything could end in an instant.
The novel goes beyond the accident and combines personal memories, intimate reflections, and important moments of her life, including her relationship with her partner, also a writer. Through a sensitive and sometimes humorous tone, the author explores how extreme experiences transform our perception of life and the passage of time
In addition to its narrative value, *Oxígeno* has sparked conversations on broader issues such as housing precarity, landlord oversight, and the importance of access to psychological care after traumatic experiences, issues that Jiménez Serrano addresses with an approach that goes beyond the autobiographical.
The novel, which the author defines as "the book she never wanted to write", arrives in bookstores at a time when reflection on death, vulnerability, and collective anxiety is increasingly occupying space in contemporary literature, connecting with readers who seek texts that speak of the intimate with honesty and depth.