The latest addition to my website is Margo Glantz‘s El rastro (The Wake). This is one of two of her novels that have been translated into English. This novel is narrated by Nora Garcia, a professional cellist, who is attending the funeral of her late ex-husband, Juan. He had been a famous composer and pianist. … Read more
The latest addition to my website is Guadalupe Nettel‘s Después del invierno (After the Winter). This novel tells the story of two very different people. Claudio is Cuban and lives in New York. He is ascetic and rigid in his ways. He works as a book editor and has a lover fifteen years his senior, … Read more
The latest addition to my website is Rosa Beltrán‘s Efectos secundarios [Secondary Effects]. This relatively short novel packs a lot in. It tells the story of a woman (though initially identified as male) who introduces authors and their new books at book launches open to the public. The books are self-help or similar second-rate works, … Read more
The latest addition to my website is Gustavo Sainz‘s La princesa del Palacio de Hierro (The Princess of the Iron Palace). Sainz was part of the Onda movement, a literary movement that rejected the formal and conservative writings of previous Mexican authors and adopted a colourful language, using lots of slang and vulgarities, and openly … Read more
The latest addition to my website is Ignacio Padilla‘s Si volviesen sus majestades [If Their Majesties Were to Return]. This is a wonderfully chaotic novel, nominally set in the 16th-17th century (and written in a variation of the language of that time) but a 16th-17th century that has cinema, computers and inflatable sex dolls. The … Read more
The latest addition to my website is Juan Pablo Villalobos‘ Fiesta en la madriguera (Down the Rabbit Hole). This is a Mexican drug novel (narcoliteratura) with a difference. It is narrated by a child, the son of a drug dealer. Tochtli, the child in question, lives with his father, Yolcaut, and various auxiliaries, including well-armed … Read more
The latest addition to my website is Hector Camín‘s El error de la luna [The Moon’s Mistake]. This tells the story of the nineteen year old Leonor Gonzalbo, whose parents have been killed in a car crash and who is now living with her grandparents. Leonor becomes obsessed with her late aunt, Mariana, whom she … Read more
The latest addition to my website is Valeria Luiselli‘s La historia de mis dientes (The Story of My Teeth). This is a superb post-modern novel about, well, teeth (amongst other things). Gustavo Sánchez Sánchez was born with four premature teeth. When his adult teeth grew, they were all pointing in different directions. After an uneventful … Read more
The latest addition to my website is José Agustín‘s De perfil [In Profile]. This novel, Agustín’s second, had considerable commercial and critical success in Mexico. It tells of four days in the life of the narrator, known only as X, a seventeen year old boy. We follow his relationship with his parents, particularly his father, … Read more
Every year at around this time, I focus on the literature of one particular country. Last year, it was Japan. 2015 it was Russia. 2014 it was Iceland. This year, as you can see from the title, it is Mexico. Three years ago, I wrote a blog post on contemporary Mexican literature. I intended to … Read more