The story is narrated by Carlos , a university student in his early twenties from a well-off family. The novel chronicles a few weeks in his life during a sweltering Madrid summer. The "Kronen" of the title refers to a real bar (Kronen, at Calle de las Infantas) where Carlos and his friends—Pedro, Manu, and Roberto—gather to drink, plan their nights, and discuss their nihilistic worldview.
Overview: Historias del Kronen is a landmark of Spanish Generation X literature (often referred to as Generación X or Los NovÃsimos ). Published when Mañas was just 23, the novel offers a raw, visceral, and unflinching portrait of Madrid's urban youth in the early 1990s.
The plot is not linear but episodic, following the group’s descent into hedonism: endless nights of heavy drinking, drug use (cocaine, pills, alcohol), casual sex, and petty crime. The central, shocking event is the , a shy, insecure friend who is goaded by Carlos into a lethal drinking game (drinking an entire bottle of gin in one go). Sabino goes into a coma and dies in the hospital.