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ocurtsinger's review against another edition
3.0
Teo is a retired taco seller living in a retirement complex in Mexico City. He struggles to get along with his cohabitants who run a stuffy book club, instead finding solace in the misfit characters he meets on the street, the bottoms of several different bottles, and the memories of his brief forays into the art world before he started selling tacos. He is a comedian, a thinker, and a trickster at heart, and he delights in playing philosophical pranks upon the people around him. As someone who isn't familiar with the lesser characters in Mexico's art and political history, some jokes perhaps didn't quite click as well as they would for Mexican readers, but Teo is still an original and amusing narrator to follow along; at some points we're left wondering if the novel itself is a trick he is casting upon us, as if his playful disdain for the reading group in his retirement home extends to readers in general.
lizaroo71's review against another edition
4.0
I’ll admit that some of the politics of this story escaped me, but the characters here are similar to characters in an Almodovar movie. The narrative is told from a man that just gets a coveted spot in a high rise in Mexico City. The residents erroneously believe he is an artist and welcome him with open new arms.
But he isn’t an artist and so the residents turn against a him. That’s not even the point though. It’s just a story about a man trying to get through his silver years with minimal effort. I like the characters. The story moves quickly and there are moments that had me laughing and smiling.
Also, I like the title because this storyline is pretty funny in itself.
But he isn’t an artist and so the residents turn against a him. That’s not even the point though. It’s just a story about a man trying to get through his silver years with minimal effort. I like the characters. The story moves quickly and there are moments that had me laughing and smiling.
Also, I like the title because this storyline is pretty funny in itself.
s4peace's review
4.0
Took me a while to get into it but once I did, I enjoyed every bit of the book. It's dry caustic humour and the story flows effortlessly. The humour works in places and in certain places does not. The protagonist is the author himself and he often fluctuates between someone who comes off as sleazy and someone who is pitiable. The parallels and metaphors are deep and witty. All in all, a fun read!
selaginello's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
funny
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
scrow1022's review against another edition
4.0
Absurd and delightful, and a satisfying intellectual brain-tangler. I wish I'd read this before "I Don't Expect...", I think it would have helped me get into that one sooner. And now I want to re-read his first two books in light of these later ones.
shanviolinlove's review
4.0
Playful and witty. I love a good cast of characters, from mischievous Teo to revolutionary Juliet, the bumbling Willem and the anarchist Mao, plus the coterie of literary salon minions who live like creatures of the Underworld, bent over their reading lights.
The premise is hysterical, with zany plot twists reminiscent of a Coen brothers film. It also calls into question the system of valuing life, both as Teo wrestles with the ennui of retirement-home community living and the futility of posterity in the art (or art-decadent) world. Characters confront philosophical, political, and aesthetic pursuits, as the ground is literally opening up beneath them, unearthing pagan gods; and as Cuban ballads drive allegedly CIA-constructed cockroaches out of Teo's apartment. Meanwhile, what makes failed artist Teo renowned in his area, apart from his avid love and literacy in the art world, is his taco dog meat recipe, which, he discovers post-retirement, is now a taboo practice.
Villalobos strikes a good balance between over-the-top events that are still believable enough to be coherent. Right up until the ending, which I felt was a bit of a creative let-down for a novel otherwise charged with originality. This is a novel whose main character is accused of writing a novel (despite his many protests to the contrary), but it does draw attention once again to the decadence art-lovers attach to art. Teo is first mistaken for a professional artist when he is seen carrying his father's easel and painting; when it is revealed that he was, instead, a taco seller, he is villified by the literary salon's champion Francesca, who later warms up to him due to the belief that he is writing a novel, and against his will attempts to coach him based on her own background in literary criticism. In fact, literature and art appear often in the novel, but it is the ideas about them that proliferate through Villalobos' narrative, and even still in irreverent ways (Teo pounding cockroaches with his copy of Adorno's Aesthetic Theory, passages from which he also uses to befuddle telemarketers and Latter-Day Saint missionaries; Proust's In Search of Lost Time stamped with footprints and used for attempted dog-napping heists). This is a book that invites the reader to engage in the idea of the arts on whatever grounds, silly or serious, as the tongue-in-cheek tone allows both. Engaging and easily paced, this novel was a fun romp to read.
The premise is hysterical, with zany plot twists reminiscent of a Coen brothers film. It also calls into question the system of valuing life, both as Teo wrestles with the ennui of retirement-home community living and the futility of posterity in the art (or art-decadent) world. Characters confront philosophical, political, and aesthetic pursuits, as the ground is literally opening up beneath them, unearthing pagan gods; and as Cuban ballads drive allegedly CIA-constructed cockroaches out of Teo's apartment. Meanwhile, what makes failed artist Teo renowned in his area, apart from his avid love and literacy in the art world, is his taco dog meat recipe, which, he discovers post-retirement, is now a taboo practice.
Villalobos strikes a good balance between over-the-top events that are still believable enough to be coherent. Right up until the ending, which I felt was a bit of a creative let-down for a novel otherwise charged with originality. This is a novel whose main character is accused of writing a novel (despite his many protests to the contrary), but it does draw attention once again to the decadence art-lovers attach to art. Teo is first mistaken for a professional artist when he is seen carrying his father's easel and painting; when it is revealed that he was, instead, a taco seller, he is villified by the literary salon's champion Francesca, who later warms up to him due to the belief that he is writing a novel, and against his will attempts to coach him based on her own background in literary criticism. In fact, literature and art appear often in the novel, but it is the ideas about them that proliferate through Villalobos' narrative, and even still in irreverent ways (Teo pounding cockroaches with his copy of Adorno's Aesthetic Theory, passages from which he also uses to befuddle telemarketers and Latter-Day Saint missionaries; Proust's In Search of Lost Time stamped with footprints and used for attempted dog-napping heists). This is a book that invites the reader to engage in the idea of the arts on whatever grounds, silly or serious, as the tongue-in-cheek tone allows both. Engaging and easily paced, this novel was a fun romp to read.
tommooney's review
4.0
I'LL SELL YOU A DOG by Juan Pablo Villalobos.
A pleasure to read, so funny and breezy. It tells of Teo, a retired taco seller in Mexico City who fills his time warring with the retirement home reading group, spending time with pseudo-Maoists and trying to sell dead dogs to the local butcher.
A joyous, if dark, book. Villalobos is great.
A pleasure to read, so funny and breezy. It tells of Teo, a retired taco seller in Mexico City who fills his time warring with the retirement home reading group, spending time with pseudo-Maoists and trying to sell dead dogs to the local butcher.
A joyous, if dark, book. Villalobos is great.