The Old Testament e-book of Ezekiel states that “the son shall not bear the iniquity of the father.” In principle, whereas wealth could also be handed alongside from era to era, money owed—even these of the karmic nature—aren’t.
Try telling that to any of the Sonoro clan, the household on the heart of Elizabeth Gonzalez James’ dual-timeline magical realist tour de drive, The Bullet Swallower.
Beginning with patriarch Alferez Antonio within the 1800s, the Sonoros have dedicated all method of sins within the title of ambition, from working a gold mine with slave labor to robbing a prepare on the flip of the twentieth century. When the latter goes sideways, Antonio Sonoro is shot by the Texas Rangers and left for useless within the desert. His henchman brother is killed, however Antonio survives and swears a blood oath for revenge—rechristening himself as El Tragabalas, the Bullet Swallower.
A century later, in 1964, Jaime Sonoro is Mexico’s primary box-office draw, a much-beloved film star and performer often known as El Gallo (The Rooster). While stress-free at residence after a grueling tour, he’s visited by somebody whom he believes to be a fan, bearing an odd reward: an historical quantity entitled The Ignominious History of the Sonoro Family from Antiquity to the Present Day.
Ping-ponging backwards and forwards throughout the a long time, Gonzalez James constructs a dynastic legacy that’s shrouded in thriller and carries greater than a touch of hazard. When Jaime tries to pry some of the household’s more moderen historical past out of his tight-lipped father, the outdated man replies, “Did you ever think that the reason I never said anything about them is because it’s too painful?” And when a shadowy determine named Remedio inserts himself unexpectedly into Jaime’s family, the story takes on a component of the supernatural.
All this may be outstanding sufficient, nevertheless it’s made much more so by the truth that The Bullet Swallower relies, albeit loosely, on Gonzalez James’ circle of relatives historical past. As she places it within the writer’s word, “Everything in this book is true except for the stuff I made up.” So whereas the son—or on this case the great-granddaughter—could not bear the iniquity of the daddy, it appears she does wind up bearing witness to it.
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