A note about the work "The Easy Part" from Ismael Ramos for the Michigan Quarterly Review's Fall 2024 Translation Issue:

Who would want to marry a secondary character?” I found myself wondering one day, as I walked along the river near my parent’s house. The truth is, there were other questions lurking beneath that one. In the era of social media, are we able to generate endless expectations beyond failure? In times of economic precarity, what is a home? Is sharing an apartment really a remedy against solitude? Is it possible to have your own name and personality when your life doesn’t square with the story you’ve created for yourself? Can you write a novel with a squashed identity? Do you have to write to be a writer?

Marcos, the protagonist of 'The Easy Part,' is simultaneously odious and tender. He embodies the sort of secondary character no one would want to be. Far from moving along the main storyline, of being solid and attractive (but not in excess), Marcos is a constant reminder that the possibility that nothing will go the way we want is the substance our days are made of. The true heartbeat of his unwritten novel is the disenchantment of the working class in a historical moment when the internet provides daily reminds of what we could be and aren’t. This story is that rock in the shoe.