No word from Gurb by Sara Miró

No word from Gurb (Sin noticias de Gurb), by Eduardo Mendoza

If you know of a kid over 12 who doesn’t like reading, try this book. This is a hilarious story presented in the form of the diary of an alien landed on Earth.

The story is set in Barcelona right before the Olympic games of 1992 and Eduardo Mendoza, the author, makes a humorous and satiric description of the mess of a city that Barcelona is at that time, the lack of organization of humans as well as the many absurdities that define the human race. 

Two aliens have landed on planet Earth in order to explore, study and live the urban life of humans. The aliens have the ability to adopt human form, and so they set out to explore. The idea is to take turns, with one of the aliens staying in their alien ship, and the other one going out into the city. However, on the first day, Gurb goes out to explore the city and human life, and he loses contact with his alien friend. The narrator, whose name does not appear in the book is worried about his friend: (I couldn't find the English version)

07.23 Gurb es invitado por el ente a subir a su medio de transporte. Pide instrucciones. Le ordeno que acepte el ofrecimiento. Objetivo fundamental: no llamar la atención de la fauna autóctona (real y potencial).

07.30 Sin noticias de Gurb

08.00 Sin noticias de Gurb

09.00 Sin noticias de Gurb

12.30 Sin noticias de Gurb

20.30 Sin noticias de Gurb

The rest of the book is about the second alien looking for his friend Gurb. During his journey to find Gurb, the alien adopts human form and roams around Barcelona, analysing the behaviour of humans and comparing it to the alien life. A funny part of the story is that the alien adopts the form of any random human he sees, so we'll find him under the appearance of famous singers, or typical Spanish figures such as a matador, obviously calling the attention of everyone in the streets of Barcelona which was the total opposite of his intentions.