Essay Questions

The plot of this novel is an example of what romantic storytelling trope that exploded in popularity and use in the 21st century?

Stories featuring subplots involving two characters who agree to pretend they are involved romantically only to wind up actually falling in love can be found throughout much of literature. The movement from minor trope to the entire focus of the plot is a relatively recent phenomenon in literature and cinema. Novels and films that revolve entirely around the evolution of an agreed-upon fake relationship blossoming over time into a full-fledged real romance have become the basis for great commercial success.

What is ironic about the novel’s lack of dependence upon social media technology to tell its story of a fake relationship becoming a real romance?

The lack of necessity of an internet connection to bring about the meeting of the two characters at the center of the story is not just surprisingly old-fashioned in concept and execution, it is wildly ironic. The description of the story as a romance that develops under relatively tech-free circumstances is not meant to imply there is absolutely no use of it. The single longest scene in the story that is inextricably connected to 21st century information processing is about a Google search raising questions for Catalina about Aaron’s curious failure to fulfill his early promise of a professional football career. Overall, in comparison to what is now the standard in literature, this novel is actually rather amazingly light on references to social media for any type of story, much less a love story, much less a love story that starts out as fake. The irony of this situation is that while the content is tech-light, its marketing was famously tech-heavy. The story of how the novel became a sensation on the TikTok platform is now firmly ensconced in social media legend. In fact, it is practically impossible to find an official media blurb advertising The Spanish Love Deception that does not prominently mention how social media was instrumental in its reaching bestseller lists of mainstream media companies from the New York Times to the Irish Times.

What does Aaron confess about his love for animated films that seems like it should have been a red flag for Catalina?

The entire conversation on the subject of Disney/Pixar animated movies stems from Catalina summarizing Mufasa’s death scene in The Lion King as a metaphor for her current emotional state. When Aaron immediately recognizes the reference, she is moved to ask if he is a fan of that movie. The implication is that her experience with young men who like—or at least who actually admit to liking—the animated tale has been less than extensive. Upon discovering that his favorite animated film is exactly the same as hers, she describes her reaction as nearly causing a heart attack. However, Aaron goes on to provide context for his appreciation by saying his love for them is based on the fact that “They take my mind off things.” For a young woman who describes her emotional state as one comparable to being “run over by a stampede of very angry and very heavy antelopes that were in a rush to get somewhere” and whose heart flutters at the revelation of a finding a guy who gets Up, this rationale seems out of sync. She is putting forth a portrait of someone who finds deep connections to animated movies while Aaron suggests he is someone whose mind goes into sleep mode while watching them.