Translations of the novel are available in English, French, German, Italian, Danish, Romanian, Polish, Esperanto and Bulgarian.

Mendoza again describes the disorganisation of the city as a parody. In reality, there was a lot of public criticism due to the reported lack of organisation when planning and preparing for the international event. Furthermore, he criticises the chaos regarding the upcoming Olympic Games at the time. For example, although he doesn't understand why, he notes that there are class divisions on Earth: there are rich and poor areas of Barcelona, like San Cosme and Pedralbes. Throughout his search for his friend Gurb, the alien criticises the behaviour of human beings and realises that there are many differences between his culture and that of humans.

Parody is a feature that is present throughout the book, an example of which is when the alien describes the composition of water as 'hydrogen, oxygen and poo.' The author focuses in particular on portraying the urban lifestyle of humans using Barcelona as a great example of a big city. As a parody, 'No Word from Gurb' depicts the day-to-day life of the city from the perspective of an alien. The atmosphere at that time, along with the chaos and absurdities of modern human life, are among the subjects that are focused on in this satirical novel. Through writing this book, Mendoza captures an image of Barcelona as it is preparing for the Olympics in 1992. The story begins with the narrator talking about his ideas and aims of travelling to Earth and adapting to the lifestyle there.

Sin noticias de Gurb by Eduardo Mendoza