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leerazer's review against another edition
3.0
What's it really like to grow up the child of a Mexican drug lord? Heck if I know, but Villalobos here creates a somewhat surreal portrait of it through the voice of young Tochtli in this bite-sized novella. The things we learn about are:
*)The isolation. "There aren't really that many people who say I'm precocious. The problem is I don't know that many people. I know maybe thirteen or fourteen people, and four of them say I'm precocious."
*)The unusual parent-child conversations. "I know all this from a game Yolcaut and I play. It's a question-and-answer game. One person says a number of bullets in a part of the body and the other one answers: alive, corpse, or too early to tell. 'One bullet in the heart.' 'Corpse.' 'Thirty bullets in the little toenail of the left foot.' 'Alive.' 'Three bullets in the pancreas.' 'Too early to tell.'"
*)Politics. "The Governor is a man who thinks he governs the people who live in a state. Yolcaut says the Governor doesn't govern anyone, not even his fucking mother. In any case the Governor is a nice man, although he has a tuft of white hair in the middle of his head that he doesn't shave off. I had fun listening to Yolcaut and the Governor talking. But the Governor didn't. His face was all red, as if it were going to explode, because I was eating some quesadillas while they had green pozole and talked about their cocaine business."
*)Suspicion. "Yolcaut watched the news with me and when it was over he said some enigmatic things to me. First he said: 'Ah, they suicided her.' And then, when he'd stopped laughing: 'Think the worst and you'll be right.'
*)Expensive trips. "A Monrovian guide is good for three things: so you don't get lost in Monrovia, so you don't get killed in Monrovia, and for finding Liberian pygmy hippopotamuses. That's why he's charging us a lot of money, millions of dollars I think. Because it turns out that finding Liberian pygmy hippopotamuses isn't easy, even in Liberia."
*)The isolation. "There aren't really that many people who say I'm precocious. The problem is I don't know that many people. I know maybe thirteen or fourteen people, and four of them say I'm precocious."
*)The unusual parent-child conversations. "I know all this from a game Yolcaut and I play. It's a question-and-answer game. One person says a number of bullets in a part of the body and the other one answers: alive, corpse, or too early to tell. 'One bullet in the heart.' 'Corpse.' 'Thirty bullets in the little toenail of the left foot.' 'Alive.' 'Three bullets in the pancreas.' 'Too early to tell.'"
*)Politics. "The Governor is a man who thinks he governs the people who live in a state. Yolcaut says the Governor doesn't govern anyone, not even his fucking mother. In any case the Governor is a nice man, although he has a tuft of white hair in the middle of his head that he doesn't shave off. I had fun listening to Yolcaut and the Governor talking. But the Governor didn't. His face was all red, as if it were going to explode, because I was eating some quesadillas while they had green pozole and talked about their cocaine business."
*)Suspicion. "Yolcaut watched the news with me and when it was over he said some enigmatic things to me. First he said: 'Ah, they suicided her.' And then, when he'd stopped laughing: 'Think the worst and you'll be right.'
*)Expensive trips. "A Monrovian guide is good for three things: so you don't get lost in Monrovia, so you don't get killed in Monrovia, and for finding Liberian pygmy hippopotamuses. That's why he's charging us a lot of money, millions of dollars I think. Because it turns out that finding Liberian pygmy hippopotamuses isn't easy, even in Liberia."
ek70r's review against another edition
4.0
Extranjeros
Nos vemos inmersos en la mente del hijo del "Rey". Observar el mundo criminal desde la inocencia indiferente de un niño, es la manera maestral que fue desarrollado, vale la pena ser experimentado. Entramos en esta historia, y con la misma rapidez que el personaje principal cambia de intereses, asi mismo nosotros como lectores dejamos inconcluso el destino de los personajes. Desconocidos extranjeros que habitan al margen del mundo.
Nos vemos inmersos en la mente del hijo del "Rey". Observar el mundo criminal desde la inocencia indiferente de un niño, es la manera maestral que fue desarrollado, vale la pena ser experimentado. Entramos en esta historia, y con la misma rapidez que el personaje principal cambia de intereses, asi mismo nosotros como lectores dejamos inconcluso el destino de los personajes. Desconocidos extranjeros que habitan al margen del mundo.
hadas's review against another edition
4.0
Well written, the story of a weird and creepy but charming boy, who tries to survive and understand the cruel adult world of his drug lord father.
theartolater's review against another edition
5.0
It's often difficult to find truly funny humor novels. It's even harder when the humor novels need to be published in English from another language, which almost invariably results in a lot of the humor literally being lost in translation. Down the Rabbit Hole suffers from neither.
Basically a short novella about a kid who lives with a Mexican crime syndicate and is obsessed with Liberian pygmy hippos, the observations from his point of view and the absolute lunacy that occurs throughout the story is laugh-out-loud funny at points and doesn't even start to wear out its welcome.
A great, quick read. Definitely recommended.
Basically a short novella about a kid who lives with a Mexican crime syndicate and is obsessed with Liberian pygmy hippos, the observations from his point of view and the absolute lunacy that occurs throughout the story is laugh-out-loud funny at points and doesn't even start to wear out its welcome.
A great, quick read. Definitely recommended.
the_bard's review against another edition
3.0
I tagged this as Magical Realism, although there's nothing really overtly fantastical. It just overall feels...magical realist to me, mostly for the vaguely surreal, blackly comic way the narrator, a 7-year-old Mexican boy, perceives and deals with the dark, disturbing world around him. I'm incredibly impressed at how the author is able to attack Mexican politics, crime, and cultural machismo AND the imperialist politics of the US AND the post-colonial problems of Africa in a mere 70 pages.
kjulie's review against another edition
4.0
An interesting little novella, a narration of the life of a child raised in a drug ring. It's dark, yet filled with childish innocence. I enjoyed how the story followed the boy's train of thought and his awkwardly used words.
booksnbrains's review against another edition
dark
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
2.0
theecatreaders's review against another edition
dark
funny
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
3.5
hosseinmoazzeni's review against another edition
4.0
کوتاه، بامزه، داستان آمریکای لاتین و در قطعی جذاب!
richardwells's review against another edition
3.0
Why, at 70 pages, this is being called a "novel" rather than a novelette is beyond me. Some kind of literary hyperbole, or a way to sell books, maybe. Anyway, it had gotten raves from the NY Times, and the Guardian, and not having checked its length, I ordered it.
Down the Rabbit Hole is fun in a macabre sort of way. Our hero and narrator is a pampered seven year old, who either has a bad stomach or worse, stomach cancer. He lives in a castle in Mexico surrounded by luxury and is granted his every wish. He's hoping for the arrival of a Liberian pygmy hippopotamus to supplement the evidence eating tiger in his personal zoo. His father is a drug lord, and his playmates are murderers and torturers who do their best to normalize the horrors that occur in the castle.
It's probably an allegory. This child is probably all Mexicans, innocent but jaded, and ill, and coping with a world gone completely haywire but perceived for survival's sake as normal.
sigh
Down the Rabbit Hole is fun in a macabre sort of way. Our hero and narrator is a pampered seven year old, who either has a bad stomach or worse, stomach cancer. He lives in a castle in Mexico surrounded by luxury and is granted his every wish. He's hoping for the arrival of a Liberian pygmy hippopotamus to supplement the evidence eating tiger in his personal zoo. His father is a drug lord, and his playmates are murderers and torturers who do their best to normalize the horrors that occur in the castle.
It's probably an allegory. This child is probably all Mexicans, innocent but jaded, and ill, and coping with a world gone completely haywire but perceived for survival's sake as normal.
sigh