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Gloria (27 KP) rated Desert Blood: The Juarez Murders in Books

Jul 18, 2017

Desert Blood: The Juarez Murders

Alicia Gaspar de Alba | 2005 | Fiction & Poetry, Gender Studies

7.0

(1 Ratings)

Book Rating

A page-turner of frightening speed. (0 more)

A Mystery Unlike Any Other

Gaspar de Alba brings a fine writer's sensitivity and the open heart of her heritage. The result is a novel that takes your breath away, page after page, and grabs your heart.

Desert Blood is a mystery unlike any other. Gripping, heart-wrenching, set against the tough, lacerating reality of border-town engaging mystery, but it is more than well-written entertainment. It is an important book that sheds light on the Juárez murders--the ongoing slaughter of young Mexican women in the border city of Juárez by persons unknown. Desert Blood weaves together its fictional tale and the known facts of these notorious crimes in a way that reveals the cultural and political attitudes that have allowed these murders to continue with the indifference--if not the outright complicity--of Mexican authorities.

Gaspar de Alba not only crafts a suspenseful plot but tackles prejudice in many of its ugly forms: against gays, against Hispanics, against the poor. It's an in-your-face, no-holds-barred story full of brutality, graphic violence, and ultimately, redemption. Offering a powerful depiction of social injustice and serial murder on the U.S.-Mexican border, this is an essential purchase for both mystery and Hispanic fiction collections.

Kudos

Li Hughes (285 KP) rated Six Four in Books

Sep 3, 2017

A dense, rich plot (1 more)

Tons of interesting cultural glimpses

That dense, rich plot can be slow going (0 more)

I loved this book. Translated works can sometimes be clunky, with little nuances lost along the way, but this one was so smooth and evocative that it didn't really feel translated at all. Kudos to Jonathon Lloyd-Davies.

The basic plot involves 2 missing girls: the 1989 kidnap and murder of a 7 year old and the more recent disappearance of Press Director Mikami's teenage daughter. With the anniversary of the original crime coming up, Mikami is charged with organizing a PR visit by the police commissioner to the family of the murdered 7 year old and discovers a previously unseen clue in the case files along the way. The insight into the minutiae of Japanese daily life is fascinating: the sense of failure Mikami feels from having been transferred to criminal investigations to press director, cops stopping to purchase a visiting gift of rice crackers before stopping at the victim's home, Mikami's knowledge from the glimpse of a home shrine that a key witness has passed away.

While this can be a slow read, I suggest sticking with it. Take it in small doses. It's worth it.

Kudos

David McK (3562 KP) rated Casino Royale Vintage 007 in Books

Jan 30, 2019

Casino Royale Vintage 007

Ian Fleming | 2012 | Fiction & Poetry

4.0

(1 Ratings)

Book Rating

The very first James Bond (now a cultural phenomenon) book, and I'm sorry, but - much like the most recent Bond film of the same name - it's very hard to make high stakes gambling interesting or exciting (without being personally involved).

And that's the crux of this book: British (not-so) secret Agent James Bond is chosen to go undercover to bankrupt Le Chiffre in gambling at the Casino Royale of the title.

THis Bond is also quite 'hard', more akin to the Bond of the Dalton or Craig era of the films than to that of (say) the Moore era or - my favourite - the Brosnan era. As the first novel in the series, this also highlights to Bond just how cold the spy game an be, with the inclusion of Vesper Lynd: one of only two female's in his (literary) life who have such an impact on him.

While the prose does flow well enough, and the novel is short enough not to out-stay it's welcome, it none-the-less failed to ignite any desire in me to hunt down any other of Ian Fleming's Bond novels: I'm not going to avoid them (or say no if I come across them), but neither I am going to actively hunt them out.