Gringo

by Cass J. McMain

You don’t have to die to become a ghost. Daniel lives alone, and he does nothing but sleep and work, work and sleep. When this sleep is repeatedly interrupted by his neighbor’s barking dog, he surprises himself by doing something despicable. When he finally meets the mysterious neighbor, Ellie, he surprises himself again, realizing a friend is something he’s been missing more than he knew. Ellie’s been having a rough time since tragedy struck her family. Her out-of-state brother wants to move her into a nursing home as soon as they can sell her old house, but it needs a lot of work, and she just hasn’t been able to deal with it alone. As the year goes by, Daniel and Ellie come to rely on each other more and more. But time does not stand still, even though Ellie insists that it does, and Daniel discovers he is in the midst of huge changes—and has been for some time. In fact he and Ellie—and Gringo—have been somewhere pretty unexpected all along. This is a novel about time, and the way it marches on—or doesn’t, as the case may be.

280 pages, Paperback

Published June 1, 2017

Reviews

[Ellie Lee · Rating 4 out of 5]

Daniel, who is already feeling alone and doubly betrayed by a failed love affair, has no idea how much his life is about to change when he agrees to assist his boss by working what he believes to be a temporary change of shifts. It all starts with the persistent barking of his neighbour’s dog, Gringo, night after night after night depriving Daniel of his sleep, exhausting him to the extent that he finally snaps and feels he has to do something to put an end to the situation.

As a result of his actions Daniel then feels morally bound to help out Gringo’s elderly owner, Ellie, as she reluctantly prepares her family home for sale. What begins because of his initial perception of guilt subsequently develops into a genuine fondness and friendship with a mutual reliance and interdependency; eventually Daniel even seems to forge a grudging bond with the ever-intrusive Gringo.

Meanwhile as Ellie becomes more demanding at home things at work are growing increasingly stressful for Daniel and with a change of boss and new regime his job becomes progressively more precarious despite him working longer and more frequent shifts. Something has to give. But what?

I found this book very easy to get into as the two strands of Daniel’s life are woven effortlessly together. With Margie and Clive at work and Greg next door to ground Daniel all the characters and dialogue are entirely convincing and the underlying psychology is fascinating. I became totally absorbed in Daniel’s personality and his life and towards the end of the book I couldn’t wait to discover what happened and started to race through to find out. When I did reach the end, wow, a twist I was just not expecting!

‘Gringo’ is for me a story about reality and illusion, whether if you believe in something with enough conviction it becomes your truth and about the repercussions when you suddenly feel you have cause to doubt that truth.

[Merryl · Rating 3 out of 5]

I found this a difficult book to review as typically I don’t enjoy characters who allow themselves to be pushed around. So irritating did I find Daniel’s character that I almost (wanted to slap him up the side of the head) abandoned the novel at 70% (Kindle version) as it seemed that the rest of the novel was just going to be more of the same. It was but by now I realised that this was the author’s strength – to create characters that were so “real” you felt a connection to them – even in a negative sense.

There is a good twist in the ending that could be missed unless you had been paying attention to the dialogue between Daniel and Ellie.

[Mickey S · Rating 3 out of 5]

"Gringo" by Cass J. McMain

Two days after reading this and I still can't start another book; I am still trying to make sense and sort out this incredible, unexpected ending! I strongly recommend you keep reading until the very last page of the book.

While reading there were several times I struggled to push on through; I wanted to set the book aside and start a new one. Throughout the entire book the story, seemingly basic plot, and character development seemed to be in one small, crescendo - a bit like ground hog day. Then boom! Completely unexpected ending that I was not even close to predicting!

When I finished the book my gut instinct was to rate it one or two stars. However, an hour after finishing and I found myself still thinking about the book. So much so that I started reading it again! I have volun-told (instead of volunteer) several friends to read it just so we could discuss it (there seems to very little discussion online). This would be a great book for a book club! Needless to say I have upped my star rating!

#NetGalley #Gringo
Book Published: June 2017
Review Published: December 2017

[Bonnye Reed · Rating 4 out of 5]

GNAB I ask Netgalley to share this novel with me because Cass J. McMain's profile shows her as a New Mexico resident. New Mexico has produced some fine authors. Tony Hillerman, Cormac McCarthy, Edward Abbey, Eleanor B. Adams - the list is very long. I will be adding Cass J. McMain to my personal list of New Mexico favorite authors.

Gringo is an interesting novel. Set in Albuquerque, we see a lot of Bud's bar & grill and the small subdivision where Danny, Greg and Ellie live. The bar is small, the staff like family. Bud separates himself from his responsibilities at his bar as his wife's illness intensifies and then he loses her. Danny was the night bartender, with Bud covering the opening and the day shift but now Bud doesn't come in at all. Danny is obviously frazzled, between the mounting problems at work and insomnia that intensifies as he goes along. He is pulled into work problems as bills are not paid on time, and answering the phone calls from vendors wanting to be paid could be considered a full-time job. At home, the across-the-street neighbor Ellie is a little bit crazy. She has a big black shepherd Gringo who starts barking at midnight every night, leaving Danny with broken or no sleep as he tries to cover Bud's shift behind the bar as well as his own. And neighbor Ellie is suffering greatly with age and a lack of support and no apparent family - Danny gets wrapped up in helping her de-clutter her home, and doing small improvements to help her get her house ready to sell. Greg shares insights into the heartbreak Ellie has been through over the last several years, adding to Danny's need to help her, to check on her often, to do little chores she is no longer capable of. And things with the dog just keep getting more disruptive until Danny can't take it any more.... And the dog comes back, the very next day....

Netgalley
pub date June 1 2018
Holland House Publishing
REVIEWED on November 29, 2017 At Goodreads, Netgalley, and AmazonSmile.
Re-read, April 24, 2024, just because I remembered it fondly. A great story, told very well. Cannot recommend it highly enough.

[Wolf DeVoon · Rating 5 out of 5]

In a very real sense, reading Cass McMain's new novel Gringo wrecks one's enjoyment of other authors, because her smooth, sleek style is almost invisible. Characters live and breathe so simply and clearly that it's more like watching a movie than reading a book, which is an amazing feat of literary art.

The story of Gringo is magnetic. I found myself rooting for Daniel immediately and intimately, began to shout at him, so frustrating that he's trapped in a job -- and an empty life -- that punishes him for no discernible wrong except the crime of living too small, sleeping too little. He's rational and slowly losing his mind, driven mad by a barking dog at night and the tawdry task of tending bar too many days, double shifts and endless humiliation. Quit, damn it! Get the hell out of there, Daniel, I found myself shouting at him. When a book makes me care about someone so personally, it's achieved the precious impossible -- and it never lets up.

[Katie O'Rourke · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've read and reviewed Cass McMain's first two books. They're great. As a fellow writer, I admire her ability to create relatable characters living simple lives. What McMain is genius at is transforming the ordinary into the profound.

To say I was rooting for the characters in Gringo would be an understatement. The fury I felt when the bar manager insists on a uniform change was the kind of anger I generally reserve for actual things happening in my real life. That is how good the author is at building tension and making you invested.

Main character Daniel works nights and sleeps days and manages to have little time for much else. A temporary schedule change, along with the neighbor's barking dog, deprive him of sleep. His unlikely friendship with the elderly neighbor seems to provide the human connection he hadn't realized he was lacking. He's spent the last few years hiding out, licking his wounds after a break up. It turns out he and Ellie have something in common: they're both so stuck in the past that the passage of time has become difficult to gauge.

The ending is clever and will make you want to go back and reread the whole novel. Don't worry if you don't get it right away; just be assured it does all make sense. It's not a case of the author painting herself into a corner and throwing up her hands. I hesitate to explain too much because I think figuring it out is half the fun.

I enjoyed every moment of this read and raced through it. I highly recommend picking up a copy.

-Katie O'Rourke, Finding Charlie

[Kathleen · Rating 2 out of 5]

GRINGO is the story of a lonely man, Daniel, his job in a bar and his mostly uneventful friendship with an old lady. Unless it isn't that story, and all or some of it takes place in his mind. The author slowly develops and weaves this puzzle. It was difficult to finish this slow moving book.

What makes reading it nearly torture is the typeface and punctuation. Letter sizes morph so that sometimes lower case letters such as v, w, and m are larger than uppercase letters, and then in other places they are not. The lower case r is sometimes missing the front curve, sometimes looks like a lower case l and sometimes appears as you would expect --- even in the same paragraph. About a quarter of the sentences have no ending punctuation. There is no apparent pattern.

Perhaps the author and publisher are malevolently manipulating the print to unsettle and confuse the reader as much as the lead character. My head was spinning by the end.

[Deb · Rating 4 out of 5]

It all starts with the persistent barking of Daniel's neighbour’s dog, Gringo, night after night after night preventing him of sleep,
He finally snaps and does something that not even he knew he was capable of.
His conscience gets the better of him and he feels obligated to help his elderly neighbour Ellie who is organising her house ready to be sold.
The two form an unlikely friendship which makes this such a fascinating compelling read.
As Daniels work life becomes worse demanding longer hours and more shifts something in his life has to change.
The twist at the end of the book was completely unexpected and made me want to go back to the beginning and start agin!
The ending alone makes this book a must read for pretty much anyone.