Re: RARA-AVIS: Paco Taibo

From: Joy Matkowski ( jmatkowski1@comcast.net)
Date: 13 Jul 2003


I read one of his with Hector the detective. Its title escapes me at the moment, but it centered on Pancho Villa and forced me to remember what I learned in Latin American history way back when.
    It was "literary" in the sense that it didn't quite follow the form we USians expect of a PI story, but I liked it. Of course, a proletariat emphasis is generally a plus for me.

Joy

Michael Robison reviewed:
> I don't know what led me to Taibo. Did Mark Sullivan mention him recently
> when there was a discussion of off-beat hardboiled writers? That's where
I
> got Behm from, I know.
>
> Anyway, I was a little unsure about this book because I, for some reason
or
> other, had the impression that it had a reputation for being "literary,"
but
> it was
> a decent book. Not avant garde or weird at all. I guess it does have a
> strong
> Proletariat side to it, and he does grind on it pretty heavy, but I still
> liked it.
>
> Hector is a Mexico City private detective. Taibo works hard on evoking
the
> city but I think his Proletariat-colored glasses hinders him. Instead of
> feeling
> the city, you feel his politics. The characters are eccentric, funny,
> touching,
> interesting, and believable.

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