A compelling novel by one of the masters of contemporary fiction.
A novel of substance about friendship, philosophy and politics set in the “thousand-headed hydra of Mexico City” from the prolific pen of distinguished man of letters Fuentes (The Death of Artemio Cruz, 2009, etc.).
The author immediately elevates the status of his characters—in fact almost to mythic proportions—in the sheer act of naming them. Narrator Josué Nadal recounts his close, almost inseparable, relationship with Jericó (part of whose mystery involves having no surname) but starts with an unexpected twist—Josué has been executed, his head severed from his body, so he begins his narration as literally a disembodied voice. As adolescents their lives become entangled with that of Errol Esparza, whose arrogant, distant and brutal father gives Errol something concrete to rebel against. Josué recounts the major events of his life, including his seduction by a beautiful nurse and his tutelage in philosophical inquiry, but most importantly his extraordinarily intense friendship with Jericó. They share an interest in profound philosophical questions and are particularly enamored by Nietzsche and Spinoza, and they also share sexual experiences with an infamous prostitute with a bee tattoo on her buttock. As they grow older, they drift apart—Josué becomes involved in law studies, and Jericó cryptically disappears for a while, presumably traveling abroad. In the meantime Josué becomes romantically involved with several women, the drug-addled Lucha Zapata and the stern but gorgeous Asunta Jordán, aide to Max Monroy, a mysterious and enormously rich businessman who is powerful, self-confident and presumptuous enough to treat with contempt Valentín Pedro Carrera, the president of Mexico. Josué’s erstwhile friend becomes an enemy of the state, so much so that Josué refers to him as “Jericó Iscariot,” and their friendship/brotherhood symbolically shifts from Castor and Pollux to Cain and Abel. Throughout the complex narration, Fuentes moves his characters from whorehouse to prison house to boardroom with ease and assuredness.
A compelling novel by one of the masters of contemporary fiction.Pub Date: Jan. 4, 2011
ISBN: 978-1-4000-6880-7
Page Count: 432
Publisher: Random House
Review Posted Online: Sept. 13, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 2010
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
An illuminating read for anyone interested in the inner workings of the Catholic Church; for prelate-fiction superfans, it...
Harris, creator of grand, symphonic thrillers from Fatherland (1992) to An Officer and a Spy (2014), scores with a chamber piece of a novel set in the Vatican in the days after a fictional pope dies.
Fictional, yes, but the nameless pontiff has a lot in common with our own Francis: he’s famously humble, shunning the lavish Apostolic Palace for a small apartment, and he is committed to leading a church that engages with the world and its problems. In the aftermath of his sudden death, rumors circulate about the pope’s intention to fire certain cardinals. At the center of the action is Cardinal Lomeli, Dean of the College of Cardinals, whose job it is to manage the conclave that will elect a new pope. He believes it is also his duty to uncover what the pope knew before he died because some of the cardinals in question are in the running to succeed him. “In the running” is an apt phrase because, as described by Harris, the papal conclave is the ultimate political backroom—albeit a room, the Sistine Chapel, covered with Michelangelo frescoes. Vying for the papal crown are an African cardinal whom many want to see as the first black pope, a press-savvy Canadian, an Italian arch-conservative (think Cardinal Scalia), and an Italian liberal who wants to continue the late pope’s campaign to modernize the church. The novel glories in the ancient rituals that constitute the election process while still grounding that process in the real world: the Sistine Chapel is fitted with jamming devices to thwart electronic eavesdropping, and the pressure to act quickly is increased because “rumours that the pope is dead are already trending on social media.”
An illuminating read for anyone interested in the inner workings of the Catholic Church; for prelate-fiction superfans, it is pure temptation.Pub Date: Nov. 22, 2016
ISBN: 978-0-451-49344-6
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Knopf
Review Posted Online: Sept. 6, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2016
The Brat Pack meets The Bacchae in this precious, way-too-long, and utterly unsuspenseful town-and-gown murder tale. A bunch of ever-so-mandarin college kids in a small Vermont school are the eager epigones of an aloof classics professor, and in their exclusivity and snobbishness and eagerness to please their teacher, they are moved to try to enact Dionysian frenzies in the woods. During the only one that actually comes off, a local farmer happens upon them—and they kill him. But the death isn't ruled a murder—and might never have been if one of the gang—a cadging sybarite named Bunny Corcoran—hadn't shown signs of cracking under the secret's weight. And so he too is dispatched. The narrator, a blank-slate Californian named Richard Pepen chronicles the coverup. But if you're thinking remorse-drama, conscience masque, or even semi-trashy who'll-break-first? page-turner, forget it: This is a straight gee-whiz, first-to-have-ever-noticed college novel—"Hampden College, as a body, was always strangely prone to hysteria. Whether from isolation, malice, or simple boredom, people there were far more credulous and excitable than educated people are generally thought to be, and this hermetic, overheated atmosphere made it a thriving black petri dish of melodrama and distortion." First-novelist Tartt goes muzzy when she has to describe human confrontations (the murder, or sex, or even the ping-ponging of fear), and is much more comfortable in transcribing aimless dorm-room paranoia or the TV shows that the malefactors anesthetize themselves with as fate ticks down. By telegraphing the murders, Tartt wants us to be continually horrified at these kids—while inviting us to semi-enjoy their manneristic fetishes and refined tastes. This ersatz-Fitzgerald mix of moralizing and mirror-looking (Jay McInerney shook and poured the shaker first) is very 80's—and in Tartt's strenuous version already seems dated, formulaic. Les Nerds du Mal—and about as deep (if not nearly as involving) as a TV movie.
Pub Date: Sept. 16, 1992
ISBN: 1400031702
Page Count: 592
Publisher: Knopf
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 1992
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
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