Mexico City Noir
-
- $13.99
-
- $13.99
Publisher Description
Latin American noir at its finest. "[A] diverse collection of stories which reflect the harshness and also the brittle brilliance of life in Mexico City."—MostlyFiction Book Reviews
Akashic Books's acclaimed series of original noir anthologies has set a high standard for portraying cities and their neighborhoods in all their dark and violent splendor. Now, "Mexico City Noir surpasses that standard with phantasmagorical tales of double-dealing, corruption, violence and self-delusion . . . This collection is such a varied literary feast. Fans of Jorge Luis Borges will find surprises galore in the story 'Violeta Isn't Here Anymore.' The noir-ish maze that Myriam Laurini constructs with her flair for the shifting realities of 'magical realism' is dazzling enough, and then up pops Borges . . .
"Peel back one layer and find something totally unexpected, these tales tell us again and again. As Eduardo Monteverde writes, 'the heart of Mexico City is made of mud and green rocks, and the God of Rain continues to cry over the whole country.' And standing on that ground, the 12 writers here find inspiration to die for" (Shelf Awareness).
This anthology includes brand-new stories by Paco Ignacio Taibo II, Eugenio Aguirre, Eduardo Antonio Parra, Bernardo Fernández Bef, Óscar de la Borbolla, Rolo Díez, Victor Luiz González, F.G. Haghenbeck, Juan Hernández Luna, Myriam Laurini, Eduardo Monteverde, and Julia Rodríguez.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Taibo's introduction, evocatively titled "Snow White vs. Dr. Frankenstein," is more compelling than any of the 12 stories in this slim anthology in Akashic's celebrated noir series. The real-life examples of corruption Taibo cites, including a drug kingpin serving as head of an anti-narcotics police force, are almost beyond belief, but few of the contributors, including Taibo himself, do justice to Mexico City's rampant violence and cynicism. Eduardo Antonio Parra's "I'm Nobody" convincingly presents the perspective of a street person, who may or may not know the truth behind a murder. scar de la Borbolla's "Outside the Door," which depicts how well-meaning neighbors become paralyzed despite suspecting that a rape or murder has been committed in a nearby apartment, comes closest to enabling the reader to understand the insidious effects on the soul of living in a society where those charged with keeping the public safe can't be trusted.
