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Mala Costumbre - Alana S. Portero.epub — La

Title: La mala costumbre by Alana S. Portero: The Sacred Wound of Growing Up Trans in a Hostile World

There are books that inform you, and then there are books that inhabit you. Alana S. Portero’s debut novel, La mala costumbre (Bad Habit), falls squarely into the second category. Published originally in Spanish and now gaining international acclaim (with a keen eye on the upcoming English translation), this is not a tidy, trauma-porn memoir dressed as fiction. It is a raw, poetic, and unflinching x-ray of a specific kind of pain: growing up poor, working-class, and trans in the San Blas neighborhood of 1980s and 90s Madrid.

If you are looking for a story about overcoming adversity with a neat bow on top, look elsewhere. Portero is interested in something more complicated—the habit of self-destruction, the beauty found in the margins, and the radical act of surviving when the world wants you to disappear.

Warning: Piracy vs. Legitimate Access

Because of the high demand, searches for "La mala costumbre - Alana S. Portero.epub" often lead to piracy websites (like epublibre or lectulandia). We must address this ethically.

Alana S. Portero is an independent writer who has spoken openly about the economic precarity of trans artists. Piracy directly impacts her royalties. Furthermore, buying the official EPUB ensures you get a proofread, correctly formatted file without missing pages or malware.

Where to download the official EPUB legally: La mala costumbre - Alana S. Portero.epub

  • Amazon Kindle Store (usually priced between €9.99 and €12.99)
  • Apple Books
  • Kobo
  • Google Play Books
  • Casa del Libro (Digital)

Many public libraries (including the Network of Madrid Libraries and the Catalonia Reading Consortium) offer free digital lending of the EPUB via platforms like eBiblio. If you have a library card, you can read it for free legally.

If you cannot afford it, consider a gift card or waiting for a sale. Supporting Portero means supporting more literature like this.

Is La mala costumbre suitable for everyone?

No. And that is its strength.

The novel contains explicit descriptions of:

  • Self-mutilation and suicidality
  • Sexual work and violence
  • Drug consumption (specifically caballo – heroin)
  • Transphobic aggression

It is recommended for mature readers (18+). However, for trans readers, especially those from working-class backgrounds, many have reported the book as cathartic. As one Goodreads review states: "Portero wrote the diary I was too afraid to keep." Title: La mala costumbre by Alana S

For cisgender readers, it is a masterclass in empathy. It does not ask for pity; it demands action.

The Literary Kinship

If you love the melancholic grit of Pedro Almodóvar’s Law of Desire or the raw confessionals of Jean Genet, you will find a home here. Portero cites Pedro Lemebel (the Chilean queer writer) as a massive influence, and you can feel that. Like Lemebel, Portero uses the gutter as a pulpit. There is a deep Catholic iconography running through the novel—Virgins, wounds, martyrs—but Portero subverts it. The protagonist’s suffering is not redemptive for society; it is simply hers.

One of the most devastating chapters involves the "literature of the fallen," where the protagonist is forced to read sensationalist crime novels about murdered trans women as a form of entertainment for the masses. Portero’s meta-commentary on how society consumes trans suffering is sharp, angry, and desperately necessary.

5. Critical Reception

The novel was a critical and commercial success in Spain.

  • It won the XXVI Premio Málaga de Novela.
  • It has been praised for its "necessary" voice and its ability to humanize the trans experience without falling into tragedy tropes or victimization.
  • Critics have highlighted its contribution to "narrativas disidentes" (dissident narratives), offering a perspective that is often marginalized in mainstream literature.

Final Verdict: Should You Download It?

Unquestionably yes.

La mala costumbre is not a beach read. It is a mirror held up to a Spain that many want to forget—the Spain of la heroína, of the polígono industrial, of the children who ran away from home because their parents could not understand them.

If you are looking for La mala costumbre - Alana S. Portero.epub, you are looking for more than a file. You are looking for a companion in darkness. You are looking for the confirmation that, even in the worst habits, there is a seed of survival.

Do not pirate it. Buy it. Borrow it. Read it. And then pass it on.

2. Plot Summary

The novel is set in the working-class neighborhood of San Blas in Madrid during the late 1980s and 1990s. It follows the protagonist, a child assigned male at birth, who early on realizes she is a girl. The narrative traces her life through three distinct stages:

  1. Childhood: The confusion and awareness of being "different" in a cis-normative and Catholic environment. The protagonist escapes into fantasy and literature to survive the reality of a body she does not recognize.
  2. Adolescence: The painful process of puberty, school bullying, and the feeling of being trapped. This section explores the "bad habit" of the title—referring to the enforced performance of masculinity that trans girls are often forced to adopt to survive.
  3. Adulthood: The transition and the ultimate reclamation of her identity. It depicts the process of unlearning the "bad habits" forced by society and finding a chosen family within the queer community of Madrid.