The Reef A Novel [Paperback]

Amidst stagingsof guerilla warfare, rumors of killer bees and encroaching cartel activity,recovering ex-rocker, Tony G?ngora, attempts to solve the mystery of anAmerican scuba-divers murder. As he tries to piece together the events of thecrime, Tony uncovers his own bizarre and illuminating memories: of a fatherlesschildhood spent in the high-risk company of his eccentric friend and thehotels manager; playing gigs with The Velvet Underground; joining a Japanesepop group. Against the backdrop of a deteriorating climate, a fast-erodingbeachfront, official corruption, cartel violence, and delusional Westernescapism, Tony and an international cast of hotel staffers make and breakalliances as the personal begins to echo the political, and artifice andreality start to blur. With his signature wit, originality, and dashes ofdazzling social theory, Villoro has created a biting satire of tourism and abrilliant analogy for Mexicos unique position in global politics.?I have admired Juan Villoro ever since reading his stories inVilloros sharp humor penetratesMexican author Juan Villoro is playfully cynical, and in?A satirical look at tourism and an analogy for Mexicos place in global politics,Villoros point, punctuated by each of the stories in this powerful book, is that modern Mexico is finished, finally, trying to conform to outside notions of its tragedies&.Villoro, a contemporary of Roberto Bola?o, offers a similar style and comic tone, and much to enjoy.Villoros writing, translated into English, is almost George?Saundersesque: disarming, critical, and hilarious all at the same time. His writing is fueled mainly by the absurdity of the interpersonal, which largely decenters some of the macro things that an American audience might fetishize (the war on drugs, immigration, etc.), though those things are there too.? The fact that?The Guilty?has been translated to English at all only adds to that decentering of the single story that American audiences have cl