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Teo are 78 de ani și locuiește cu un grup de alți bătrâni într-o clădire pe cale de prăbușire în Mexic, unde își reamintește și repovestește viața, variind narațiunea în funcție de stare. Vânzător de taco pensionat și pictor nerealizat, își găsește modelul de viață în Theodor Adorno, în a cărui Teorie estetică află răspuns pentru aproape orice, revelații pe care le notează apoi la întâmplare într-un caiet.
„Cartea nouă a lui Juan Pablo Villalobos e unul dintre romanele cele mai inteligente, cele mai bizare și cele mai delicioase care s-au publicat în spaniolă în ultima vreme.”
The Guardian
„Cu cel de-al treilea roman al său, Villalobos confirmă ca reper al noii literaturi mexicane.”
El Mundo
„Cartea nouă a lui Juan Pablo Villalobos e unul dintre romanele cele mai inteligente, cele mai bizare și cele mai delicioase care s-au publicat în spaniolă în ultima vreme.”
The Guardian
„Cu cel de-al treilea roman al său, Villalobos confirmă ca reper al noii literaturi mexicane.”
El Mundo
232 pages, Paperback
First published October 1, 2014
89 people are currently reading
2301 people want to read
About the author
Juan Pablo Villalobos
27 books604 followersJuan Pablo Villalobos nació en Guadalajara, México, en 1973. Estudió Marketing y Literatura Hispánica. Ha realizado cientos de estudios de mercado y ha publicado crónicas de viaje, crítica literaria y crítica de cine. Se ha ocupado de investigar temas tan dispares como la ergonomía de los retretes, la influencia de las vanguardias en la obra de César Aira, la flexibilidad de los poliductos para instalaciones eléctricas, los efectos secundarios de los fármacos contra la disfunción erectil o la excentricidad en la literatura latinoamericana en la primera mitad del siglo XX. Ha sido becario del programa Alban, becas de alto nivel de la Unión Europea para América Latina, y del Instituto de Investigaciones Lingüístico-Literarias de la Universidad Veracruzana. Estudia un doctorado en Teoría de la Literatura y Literatura Comparada en la Universidad Autónoma de Barcelona. Actualmente vive en Barcelona, donde combina la escritura con su trabajo en una empresa de comercio electrónico.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 242 reviews
February 16, 2020
This is a humorous absurdist novel. The main character is an 82-year-old former taco seller in Mexico City now living in an old age apartment building. There are many themes which I will list rather than attempting to give a summary and thus give away plot.
One theme, from which the title derives is, people who attempt to sell dogs to taco sellers for their meat.
There’s a theme that I will call the futility of political demonstrations and revolutions in Mexico. The former taco seller interacts with several people who are politically active currently or were so in the upheavals of the 1960's. There’s a metaphor of earthquakes and revolutions.
The main character reflects back on his father, mother and sister and their unusual and untimely deaths.
Cockroaches are mentioned so many times I have to list them as a theme too.
Every day in the building lobby he passes by a large group of residents in the lobby who spend their time reading and discussing in a book club. They erroneously believe the main character is writing a novel and they hound him about it. He denies this but enjoys antagonizing them and disrupting their meetings by shouting at them things he read in deconstructionist and hermeneutic works. (How often we have to look up that word! Lol). They throw rotten tomatoes at him.
He flirts with a female greengrocer. (Who sells rotten tomatoes.) He not very successful, perhaps because his main pick-up line is “wait for me while I go to the pharmacy to buy a pill.")
There’s a theme of his failed artistic career, paralleling that of his father who abandoned his family when the taco seller was a boy.
He debates religion with a young American Mormon missionary, mainly trying to confuse and corrupt the young man. The former taco seller is a beer-a-holic and spends most of his day drinking.
There are many funny passages. Some examples:
“My mother died in 1985, in the earthquake. The dog beat her to it by over forty years and in his haste he never discovered how World War II ended: he swallowed a pair of nylon tights, incredibly long ones, as long as my father’s secretary’s legs.”
“…he saw the painting hanging on the opposite wall. ‘Is that a clown?’ he asked. ‘It’s a portrait of my mother,’ I replied.”
“From the kitchen a cockroach peeped out, waiving its antennae: I could have sworn I had seen it in my apartment.”
Even the afterword has humor: “The dogs are all fictional not one was killed in the making of this novel.”
Probably a 3.5, rounded up to 4. It held my attention and was genuinely funny at times.
The author, born in Mexico in 1973 has lived in Brazil and Spain. He has written several novels and academic books.
Top photo, street scene in Mexico City from nzherald.co.nz
Taco stand in Mexico City from bloomberg.com
Mexico City skyline from blog.nema.org
The author from danfermin.files.wordpress.com
One theme, from which the title derives is, people who attempt to sell dogs to taco sellers for their meat.
There’s a theme that I will call the futility of political demonstrations and revolutions in Mexico. The former taco seller interacts with several people who are politically active currently or were so in the upheavals of the 1960's. There’s a metaphor of earthquakes and revolutions.
The main character reflects back on his father, mother and sister and their unusual and untimely deaths.
Cockroaches are mentioned so many times I have to list them as a theme too.
Every day in the building lobby he passes by a large group of residents in the lobby who spend their time reading and discussing in a book club. They erroneously believe the main character is writing a novel and they hound him about it. He denies this but enjoys antagonizing them and disrupting their meetings by shouting at them things he read in deconstructionist and hermeneutic works. (How often we have to look up that word! Lol). They throw rotten tomatoes at him.
He flirts with a female greengrocer. (Who sells rotten tomatoes.) He not very successful, perhaps because his main pick-up line is “wait for me while I go to the pharmacy to buy a pill.")
There’s a theme of his failed artistic career, paralleling that of his father who abandoned his family when the taco seller was a boy.
He debates religion with a young American Mormon missionary, mainly trying to confuse and corrupt the young man. The former taco seller is a beer-a-holic and spends most of his day drinking.
There are many funny passages. Some examples:
“My mother died in 1985, in the earthquake. The dog beat her to it by over forty years and in his haste he never discovered how World War II ended: he swallowed a pair of nylon tights, incredibly long ones, as long as my father’s secretary’s legs.”
“…he saw the painting hanging on the opposite wall. ‘Is that a clown?’ he asked. ‘It’s a portrait of my mother,’ I replied.”
“From the kitchen a cockroach peeped out, waiving its antennae: I could have sworn I had seen it in my apartment.”
Even the afterword has humor: “The dogs are all fictional not one was killed in the making of this novel.”
Probably a 3.5, rounded up to 4. It held my attention and was genuinely funny at times.
The author, born in Mexico in 1973 has lived in Brazil and Spain. He has written several novels and academic books.
Top photo, street scene in Mexico City from nzherald.co.nz
Taco stand in Mexico City from bloomberg.com
Mexico City skyline from blog.nema.org
The author from danfermin.files.wordpress.com
May 22, 2018
As truths are the fictions of the rational, so fictions are the truths of the imaginal.
This is a truly delightful black comedy that concerns the adventures of a dirty old man living in an apartment complex in Mexico City. Teo revels in both shocking and irritating the building's other elderly residents, particularly those who belong to the "literary society" which meets in the lobby. He's an incorrigible flirt, AND a gentleman, who offers to buy the Viagra whenever he meets, oh, pretty much any woman. His days are just packed with taunting his neighbors' tastes in fiction, attempting to rid his flat of its numerous cockroaches, and hanging out with an American Mormon, a missionary who sees the irascible old man as the ultimate test of his faith and powers of conversion. The rest of the old fart's time is taken up with calculating how many more beers he can afford to buy before his savings are depleted.
I loved this one so much that I was even able to overlook the surprising number of dogs who meet gruesome ends within the pages. (Hint - the dog in the title is NOT being sold as a pet.) This is probably not for everyone, but if you're looking for a smart, quirky, and funny read, or even just something different, this one should satisfy your cravings.
This is a truly delightful black comedy that concerns the adventures of a dirty old man living in an apartment complex in Mexico City. Teo revels in both shocking and irritating the building's other elderly residents, particularly those who belong to the "literary society" which meets in the lobby. He's an incorrigible flirt, AND a gentleman, who offers to buy the Viagra whenever he meets, oh, pretty much any woman. His days are just packed with taunting his neighbors' tastes in fiction, attempting to rid his flat of its numerous cockroaches, and hanging out with an American Mormon, a missionary who sees the irascible old man as the ultimate test of his faith and powers of conversion. The rest of the old fart's time is taken up with calculating how many more beers he can afford to buy before his savings are depleted.
I loved this one so much that I was even able to overlook the surprising number of dogs who meet gruesome ends within the pages. (Hint - the dog in the title is NOT being sold as a pet.) This is probably not for everyone, but if you're looking for a smart, quirky, and funny read, or even just something different, this one should satisfy your cravings.
February 6, 2023
¡Qué novela tan divertida y a la vez profunda! Teo, el taquero, es una especie de Henry Chinaski chilango (pero menos cochino y ligeramente más optimista) que nos enseña que en el hombre común hay mucho que aprender sobre el arte, la vida y los perros. Si usted es de la CDMX, la disfrutará más, si no es de aquí, ya no venga, somos muchos. Gracias.
March 26, 2018
A quote from Adorno with which our hero Teo tries unsuccessfully to repel a Mormon missionary:
Villalobos is a tricky guy. You start out getting sucked into an amusing trifle and pretty soon you’re trying to decipher snippets of Adorno and calculating how many levels of messing with your concept of the author Juan is trying to carry off simultaneously. Indeed, comic and tragic are intertwined, but the comic prevails. Villalobos sees the world through a crazily cynical glass. And yet, he is heart and soul a believer in art as a calling.
I really liked this. I loved the vegetable seller whose primary product line is providing cut-rate rotten tomatoes to protestors, and talking revolution with our hero. I loved the young Mormon missionary Villem who is slowly seduced in multiple sense of the word. Smiled at Villalobos using indirect style (albeit first person) to lightly send up free indirect style.
I enjoyed Villalobos's exploration of the question of what determines our fate, what determines success as an artist, and more importantly what an artist is. Would Adorno have classed the protagonist’s father as an artist, was it sufficient that he had passed through multiple quasi-conceived performance-art ideas of what he wanted his (abandoned) children to eventually do with his corpse? What would Adorno have thought of our first-person narrator who everyone in the novel, except himself, is convinced that he is writing a novel, wink wink? What about the literally physical mash-up of Adorno and Proust, and Adorno and the cockroaches?
Why the recurrent riffs on what’s really in your taco (not unrelated to the diversions into the frequent mortality of dogs in Mexico City)? Sample the narrator’s musings, prompted by a trip in the very slow apartment building elevator with his relentlessly-didactic antagonist, who is another aging denizen of the run-down, rent-controlled apartment house and the one who runs the all-powerful literary salon that convenes daily in the lobby:
Irreverent, alcohol-drenched, radical, melancholy with loss, hilarious--and with much to chew on regarding art and literature. What’s not to like?
And Senor Villalobos, how did Teo end up with his apartment?
"Advanced art writes the comedy of the tragic: here the sublime and play converge...Important artworks nevertheless seek to incorporate this art-alien layer."
Villalobos is a tricky guy. You start out getting sucked into an amusing trifle and pretty soon you’re trying to decipher snippets of Adorno and calculating how many levels of messing with your concept of the author Juan is trying to carry off simultaneously. Indeed, comic and tragic are intertwined, but the comic prevails. Villalobos sees the world through a crazily cynical glass. And yet, he is heart and soul a believer in art as a calling.
I really liked this. I loved the vegetable seller whose primary product line is providing cut-rate rotten tomatoes to protestors, and talking revolution with our hero. I loved the young Mormon missionary Villem who is slowly seduced in multiple sense of the word. Smiled at Villalobos using indirect style (albeit first person) to lightly send up free indirect style.
I enjoyed Villalobos's exploration of the question of what determines our fate, what determines success as an artist, and more importantly what an artist is. Would Adorno have classed the protagonist’s father as an artist, was it sufficient that he had passed through multiple quasi-conceived performance-art ideas of what he wanted his (abandoned) children to eventually do with his corpse? What would Adorno have thought of our first-person narrator who everyone in the novel, except himself, is convinced that he is writing a novel, wink wink? What about the literally physical mash-up of Adorno and Proust, and Adorno and the cockroaches?
Why the recurrent riffs on what’s really in your taco (not unrelated to the diversions into the frequent mortality of dogs in Mexico City)? Sample the narrator’s musings, prompted by a trip in the very slow apartment building elevator with his relentlessly-didactic antagonist, who is another aging denizen of the run-down, rent-controlled apartment house and the one who runs the all-powerful literary salon that convenes daily in the lobby:
Between the first and second floors she tried to instruct me on something she referred to as ‘the literature of experience’ and which basically turned out to mean that one can only write about what one has experienced, about what one knows first-hand. I thought that this was like saying no one can explain what a dog-meat taco tastes like if they haven’t eaten one. If they don’t believe they’ve eaten one. The fact is that everyone has eaten a dog-meat taco, even if they don’t know it, everyone knows what a dog-meat taco tastes like, even if no one thinks they do. This was the real paradox: not being able to write about something, not because one hadn’t experienced it but rather because one didn’t know one had experienced it...
Irreverent, alcohol-drenched, radical, melancholy with loss, hilarious--and with much to chew on regarding art and literature. What’s not to like?
And Senor Villalobos, how did Teo end up with his apartment?
February 2, 2021
Roman yazmaya zorlanarak yazılan bir roman. Karakterler ilginç, kurgu da fena değil, eğlenceli ama güldüren bir hikaye değil, absurdlüğü belki gülümsetir, komik bir öykü sınıfına girmez bence. Kısa sütede okunuyor ve hiç yormuyor. Bende bıraktığı en önemli iz Adorno’nun “Estetik Kuramı” kitabını okuma isteği oldu.
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April 29, 2024que bien juan pablo villalobos por fin un hombre me hace reir
January 12, 2015
“Lo bello ha brotado en lo feo más bien que al revés”, T. W. Adorno, Teoría estética.
Si a alguien no debemos perdernos de leer es a Juan Pablo Villalobos (Guadalajara, 1973). Sus dos primeras novelas “Fiesta en la madriguera” y “Si viviéramos en un lugar normal” le han granjeado la aclamación de la crítica, local e internacional; y han dejado en claro las preocupaciones literarias de este escritor.
Un autor que vuelca, en la construcción firme de una voz, la narración de la novela en un flujo continuo de cruces entre lo histórico, lo político, lo sarcástico, el humor, incluso, lo mexicano.
Donde en las dos primeras novelas no me atrapó, a pesar de encontrar en ellas cuestiones brutales como la violencia y la corrupción perenne del estado mexicano; el humor oscuro y recalcitrante de sus personajes; el viaje al interior de un país que parece inventado por la mente de un cineasta heredero del expresionismo; en esta, parece conjugar en tiempo y forma todo lo que puede parecerme necesario para sentir que estoy leyendo una magna obra de literatura.
La agilidad de su narrador, el ingenio para hacer reír al lector, múltiples referencias culturales, artísticas, filosóficas, pero, bien pulidas, tan bien pulidas que uno no ve las pinceladas, no detecta las costuras del libro, equilibrando y homenajeando de paso a quienes pueden ser sus tótems literarios: Ibargüengoitia a la cabeza; Fernando del Paso (obvio), Sada, quien está presente desde una de las epígrafes, Adorno; y tomando una respetuosa distancia de Rulfo.
Un artista que ve frustrada su aspiración y termina siendo taquero. Un México por el que transcurren la historia nacional y la historia mínima de sus habitantes. Hay una riqueza textual en la propuesta de esta novela, que bien valdría la pena leerse dos veces, nomás de puro gusto.
En las primeras páginas no podía dejar de reír, luego uno le va tomando gusto a la trama y cómo lo va envolviendo a uno, y logra contener, aunque, Villalobos es un maestro para dejar caer aquí y allá líneas graciosísimas, y entremezclando en todo ello, cuestiones que podrían llevar al lector a detenerse y darle dos, tres pensadas a lo que lleva leído.
Historia, historia, historias. Personas, personajes.
La novela es una cátedra de literatura.
“Ponerse la corbata es a veces necesario, ponerse trágico no lo es”, escribió del Paso en su Palinuro; y siento a Villalobos deambular y llevarnos de paso, por un paseo riquísimo sobre una parte de nuestra historia patria, de la historia debajo de la historia del arte mexicano del siglo XX; lo popular encontrándose con los “tacos de perro callejeros”; la tragedia forma parte de nuestro imaginario, de nuestra realidad, de lo jodido que podemos vernos todos en algún momento de nuestras vidas, y Villalobos nos hace partícipes de la tragedia desde una perspectiva estética, que pareciera ser la mejor manera de afrontarla.
Si a alguien no debemos perdernos de leer es a Juan Pablo Villalobos (Guadalajara, 1973). Sus dos primeras novelas “Fiesta en la madriguera” y “Si viviéramos en un lugar normal” le han granjeado la aclamación de la crítica, local e internacional; y han dejado en claro las preocupaciones literarias de este escritor.
Un autor que vuelca, en la construcción firme de una voz, la narración de la novela en un flujo continuo de cruces entre lo histórico, lo político, lo sarcástico, el humor, incluso, lo mexicano.
Donde en las dos primeras novelas no me atrapó, a pesar de encontrar en ellas cuestiones brutales como la violencia y la corrupción perenne del estado mexicano; el humor oscuro y recalcitrante de sus personajes; el viaje al interior de un país que parece inventado por la mente de un cineasta heredero del expresionismo; en esta, parece conjugar en tiempo y forma todo lo que puede parecerme necesario para sentir que estoy leyendo una magna obra de literatura.
La agilidad de su narrador, el ingenio para hacer reír al lector, múltiples referencias culturales, artísticas, filosóficas, pero, bien pulidas, tan bien pulidas que uno no ve las pinceladas, no detecta las costuras del libro, equilibrando y homenajeando de paso a quienes pueden ser sus tótems literarios: Ibargüengoitia a la cabeza; Fernando del Paso (obvio), Sada, quien está presente desde una de las epígrafes, Adorno; y tomando una respetuosa distancia de Rulfo.
Un artista que ve frustrada su aspiración y termina siendo taquero. Un México por el que transcurren la historia nacional y la historia mínima de sus habitantes. Hay una riqueza textual en la propuesta de esta novela, que bien valdría la pena leerse dos veces, nomás de puro gusto.
En las primeras páginas no podía dejar de reír, luego uno le va tomando gusto a la trama y cómo lo va envolviendo a uno, y logra contener, aunque, Villalobos es un maestro para dejar caer aquí y allá líneas graciosísimas, y entremezclando en todo ello, cuestiones que podrían llevar al lector a detenerse y darle dos, tres pensadas a lo que lleva leído.
Historia, historia, historias. Personas, personajes.
La novela es una cátedra de literatura.
“Ponerse la corbata es a veces necesario, ponerse trágico no lo es”, escribió del Paso en su Palinuro; y siento a Villalobos deambular y llevarnos de paso, por un paseo riquísimo sobre una parte de nuestra historia patria, de la historia debajo de la historia del arte mexicano del siglo XX; lo popular encontrándose con los “tacos de perro callejeros”; la tragedia forma parte de nuestro imaginario, de nuestra realidad, de lo jodido que podemos vernos todos en algún momento de nuestras vidas, y Villalobos nos hace partícipes de la tragedia desde una perspectiva estética, que pareciera ser la mejor manera de afrontarla.
February 15, 2020
"tavşan deliğinde fiesta" sayesinde bayıldığım villalobos'un bu romanı evet yine şenlikli, rahat okunuyor ama işte ilk okunan kitap çok iyi olunca sonrakiler tatmin etmiyor.
yoksa yaşlı teo'nun başına gelenler, apartmandaki manyak kitap okuma kulübü, mormon wilhem filan çok iyi karakterler. teo'nun roman yazma çabasıyla roman dairesel bir biçimde tamamlanıyor.
çeviri beni çok tatmin etmedi, orijinal dilden değildi ve isimler bile birçok yerde farklı yazılmıştı.
yoksa yaşlı teo'nun başına gelenler, apartmandaki manyak kitap okuma kulübü, mormon wilhem filan çok iyi karakterler. teo'nun roman yazma çabasıyla roman dairesel bir biçimde tamamlanıyor.
çeviri beni çok tatmin etmedi, orijinal dilden değildi ve isimler bile birçok yerde farklı yazılmıştı.
July 22, 2022
Foarte originala, un umor negru inteligent, care m-a distrat teribil, bizar combinat cu introspectie, Mexicul si specificul sau, dovlecei Chayote, rosii putrede si tacos cu carne de caine, artisti care au existat cu adevarat, cu sau fara succes in timpul vietii, o inlantuire omogena si cu mult sens de fapte si reflectii, creionate de o scriere cursiva, care reuseste sa redea firesc, palpabil.
Totul mi s-a parut perfect, inclusiv traducerea inegalabila Marin Malaicu Hondrari.
Totul mi s-a parut perfect, inclusiv traducerea inegalabila Marin Malaicu Hondrari.
June 2, 2016
A genuine blast to read, didn't want to put it down. Nicely paced in bite-sized chunks, making it perfect to read on the go, very funny, and with a delightfully endearing old rogue at the heart of a warm, light-hearted story that reminds us no matter how old we get, there's still time to find out more about ourselves. Sensitive dog-lovers might want to give it a miss, mind...
May 15, 2024
Me declaro cien por ciento Villalover. Estos divagues literarios me hacen morir de risa y también tienen su yeite intelectual que te eleva culturalmente (???). Los personajes son todos entrañables y patéticos al mismo tiempo. La repetición de chistes a mi es un subgénero del humor que particularmente me fascina.
Recomiendo esta y/o cualquier otra lectura del autor.
Recomiendo esta y/o cualquier otra lectura del autor.
July 7, 2016
This book is set in an apartment building in Mexico City in which a group of elderly retirees live. The residents of the building engage in various activities together in order to fend off boredom, including the most popular activity which is the daily gathering and discussion at the literary salon. Francesca, the building president and leader, is also the head of this salon. As each new member moves into the building, he or she is given a warm welcome and an invitation to the salon. The only person who has ever dared to turn down an invitation to the salon is our witty, clever and crabby narrator, a man who goes by the name of Teo.
When Teo moves into the building hilarity ensues because he is not quite so willing to conform to all of the rules set forth by Francesca and her fellow tenants. Teo also drinks too much and has some interesting visitors over to his apartment, including a Mormon missionary who is constantly trying to preach the Word of the Lord to Teo. Teo’s days also include frequent visits to the local pub for several beers and visits to the greengrocer where he discusses life and politics over more beers with Juliet the proprietor. He also spends quite a bit of time recording his thoughts in a notebook and because of this the salon thinks that he is writing a novel. They seem to know everything that he writes in his journal and he can’t figure out how they are reading his personal thoughts.
The story also flashes back to Teo’s earlier days and we get some background on this roguish, alcoholic, funny old man. Teo mostly grew up with his mother and his sister and lived with them until he was in his fifties. Important events in his younger years were oftentimes brought about by the dog his mother happened to dragged home at the time. The original family dog caused the unraveling of his parents’ marriage and his father moving out. Like his father before him, Teo fancied himself an artist and when he was younger he attended art school for a year to try and cultivate his talents. But this all came to an end when the family dog was diagnosed with marijuana poisoning which resulted in his mother finding out what he was really doing with his fellow students.
After his mother forces him to give up attending art school, Teo gets a job with his uncle at his local taco stand which is a very lucrative business. It is also due to dogs that Teo becomes a local legend with his “Gringo Tacos.” I did find the story lines with the family dogs rather funny but those who are sensitive might need a warning that the fate of dogs in this book is never good. All sorts of local politicians and arts patronize his taco stand and have intriguing discussions about art with this astute taco seller. Teo’s favorite book is Adorno’s Aesthetic Theory and later in the retirement home he uses his cherished copy of this book to fend off the cockroaches.
The fight between Teo and the members of the literary salon reach a fever pitch when they get their hands on and hide his cherished copy of Aesthetic Theory and he, in turn, steals their copies of In Search of Lost Time. This is no small feat for Teo because Proust’s masterpiece weighs a ton. In the end Francesca has to blackmail Teo into returning the salon’s books and the scandalous information that she has on him involves, of course, a dog.
This is one of the funniest books I have read so far this year. It is cleverly written and has characters that manage to be silly but endearing at the same time. I look forward to reading more of Villalobos’ books.
When Teo moves into the building hilarity ensues because he is not quite so willing to conform to all of the rules set forth by Francesca and her fellow tenants. Teo also drinks too much and has some interesting visitors over to his apartment, including a Mormon missionary who is constantly trying to preach the Word of the Lord to Teo. Teo’s days also include frequent visits to the local pub for several beers and visits to the greengrocer where he discusses life and politics over more beers with Juliet the proprietor. He also spends quite a bit of time recording his thoughts in a notebook and because of this the salon thinks that he is writing a novel. They seem to know everything that he writes in his journal and he can’t figure out how they are reading his personal thoughts.
The story also flashes back to Teo’s earlier days and we get some background on this roguish, alcoholic, funny old man. Teo mostly grew up with his mother and his sister and lived with them until he was in his fifties. Important events in his younger years were oftentimes brought about by the dog his mother happened to dragged home at the time. The original family dog caused the unraveling of his parents’ marriage and his father moving out. Like his father before him, Teo fancied himself an artist and when he was younger he attended art school for a year to try and cultivate his talents. But this all came to an end when the family dog was diagnosed with marijuana poisoning which resulted in his mother finding out what he was really doing with his fellow students.
After his mother forces him to give up attending art school, Teo gets a job with his uncle at his local taco stand which is a very lucrative business. It is also due to dogs that Teo becomes a local legend with his “Gringo Tacos.” I did find the story lines with the family dogs rather funny but those who are sensitive might need a warning that the fate of dogs in this book is never good. All sorts of local politicians and arts patronize his taco stand and have intriguing discussions about art with this astute taco seller. Teo’s favorite book is Adorno’s Aesthetic Theory and later in the retirement home he uses his cherished copy of this book to fend off the cockroaches.
The fight between Teo and the members of the literary salon reach a fever pitch when they get their hands on and hide his cherished copy of Aesthetic Theory and he, in turn, steals their copies of In Search of Lost Time. This is no small feat for Teo because Proust’s masterpiece weighs a ton. In the end Francesca has to blackmail Teo into returning the salon’s books and the scandalous information that she has on him involves, of course, a dog.
This is one of the funniest books I have read so far this year. It is cleverly written and has characters that manage to be silly but endearing at the same time. I look forward to reading more of Villalobos’ books.
December 31, 2022
Un umor negru extraordinar de bine cizelat a făcut din această carte o plăcere absolută pentru mine. Villalobos îmbină gândacii de bucătărie și tacos de origine dubioasă cu o narațiune ingenioasă și plină de umor, care individualizează foarte bine personajul principal, un senior de peste 82 de ani cu un trecut foarte colorat.
Romanul are diferite chei de lectură, de la situațiile comice și absurde care în multe cazuri implică și gândacii de bucătărie, până la comentariile sociale despre viața de zi cu zi și aspirațiile zădarnice ale pseudo-revoluționarilor comuniști ascunși prin Mexic și, mai adânc, despre inspirație, muze și artă.
La cel mai superficial nivel, romanul este absolut delicios. Glumele, situațiile, personajele și comentariile acide ale naratorului fac ca parcursul cărții să fie foarte plăcut, iar în funcție de imaginație și părerea fiecăruia despre ce se poate face cu un câine mort, mai mult sau mai puțin paletabil (nu vreau să atentez la tradițiile altor culturi, dar sunt de acord cu inspectorul sanitar în privința asta).
Comentariile sociale presupun însă o oarecare familiaritate cu situația politică din Mexic, probabil, având în vedere că se discută anumite evenimente istorice la care, eu cel puțin am avut nevoie de Wikipedia.
Al treilea nivel, cel cu care autorul vrea să și închege romanul, aduce în discuție modul în care autorul își găsește subiectul operei și mi se pare că cere o familiaritate cu diferite cărți de teorie estetică superioară, și ca aceste cărți să fi fost folosite în mai multe scopuri, nu doar ca plici pentru gândaci.
Nu pot să-mi dau cu părerea mai mult de atât pentru nivelurile mai adânci de lectură, dar pot să spun că am început să văd cu alți ochi tacourile și carnea tocată din ele. O lectură faină și o traducere excepțională.
Romanul are diferite chei de lectură, de la situațiile comice și absurde care în multe cazuri implică și gândacii de bucătărie, până la comentariile sociale despre viața de zi cu zi și aspirațiile zădarnice ale pseudo-revoluționarilor comuniști ascunși prin Mexic și, mai adânc, despre inspirație, muze și artă.
La cel mai superficial nivel, romanul este absolut delicios. Glumele, situațiile, personajele și comentariile acide ale naratorului fac ca parcursul cărții să fie foarte plăcut, iar în funcție de imaginație și părerea fiecăruia despre ce se poate face cu un câine mort, mai mult sau mai puțin paletabil (nu vreau să atentez la tradițiile altor culturi, dar sunt de acord cu inspectorul sanitar în privința asta).
Comentariile sociale presupun însă o oarecare familiaritate cu situația politică din Mexic, probabil, având în vedere că se discută anumite evenimente istorice la care, eu cel puțin am avut nevoie de Wikipedia.
Al treilea nivel, cel cu care autorul vrea să și închege romanul, aduce în discuție modul în care autorul își găsește subiectul operei și mi se pare că cere o familiaritate cu diferite cărți de teorie estetică superioară, și ca aceste cărți să fi fost folosite în mai multe scopuri, nu doar ca plici pentru gândaci.
Nu pot să-mi dau cu părerea mai mult de atât pentru nivelurile mai adânci de lectură, dar pot să spun că am început să văd cu alți ochi tacourile și carnea tocată din ele. O lectură faină și o traducere excepțională.
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November 25, 2020Yazıyla güldürmek zor bir şey ve beni en çok güldüren kişilerden birisi oluyor kendisi. Villalabos ne yazarsa, ben okumaya razıyım. Kimseyle hiçbir şey konuşamayacak zamanlarımda dilimden anlayan, güzel bir dost benim için.
May 22, 2022
Aici: https://ramona.boldizsar.ro/iti-vand-...
Despre ce e vorba?
Întrebarea clasică ce-i dă de furcă oricărui cititor, atunci când parcă începe să uite tot ce a citit, o adevărată plăcere. Dar hai să vă spun totuși. E vorba despre un bătrânel de 78 de ani, posibil Teo, dar nu se știe dacă ăsta e totuși numele lui adevărat, care se mută într-un bloc unde locuiesc mai mulți pensionari și este agasat constant de o vecină, doamna Francesca, pe care s-ar putea să nici n-o cheme așa, să scrie la romanul lui și să se alăture clubului ei de cenacliști (ai ghicit, un grup de cenacliști absolut pensionari). E foarte fain cum începe romanul în această notă superbă în care autorul ne spune că e bătut la cap de doamna să scrie romanul, dar el nu scria, de fapt, niciun roman… Dacă crezi că vei avea parte aici de o călătorie meta, dar și de o grămadă de aventuri și simboluri, atunci ai perfectă dreptate. Teo se împrietenește repede și cu vânzătoarea de la aprozar, Giuliet, dar și cu un mormon care i-a bătut la ușă să-i vorbească despre Domnul, între timp bătând bine palma pe niște subiecte delicate cu Mao, un posibil comunist conspiraționist care ar juca într-o ligă mare sau nu, dar absolut obscură, în orice caz… mai aruncă și niște multe exemplare din În căutarea timpului pierdut, un câine furat de la niște bogați și un gigel de la protecția animalelor care vrea și el să scrie un roman polițist și să vezi atunci de ce aventură ai parte.
Despre ce e vorba?
Întrebarea clasică ce-i dă de furcă oricărui cititor, atunci când parcă începe să uite tot ce a citit, o adevărată plăcere. Dar hai să vă spun totuși. E vorba despre un bătrânel de 78 de ani, posibil Teo, dar nu se știe dacă ăsta e totuși numele lui adevărat, care se mută într-un bloc unde locuiesc mai mulți pensionari și este agasat constant de o vecină, doamna Francesca, pe care s-ar putea să nici n-o cheme așa, să scrie la romanul lui și să se alăture clubului ei de cenacliști (ai ghicit, un grup de cenacliști absolut pensionari). E foarte fain cum începe romanul în această notă superbă în care autorul ne spune că e bătut la cap de doamna să scrie romanul, dar el nu scria, de fapt, niciun roman… Dacă crezi că vei avea parte aici de o călătorie meta, dar și de o grămadă de aventuri și simboluri, atunci ai perfectă dreptate. Teo se împrietenește repede și cu vânzătoarea de la aprozar, Giuliet, dar și cu un mormon care i-a bătut la ușă să-i vorbească despre Domnul, între timp bătând bine palma pe niște subiecte delicate cu Mao, un posibil comunist conspiraționist care ar juca într-o ligă mare sau nu, dar absolut obscură, în orice caz… mai aruncă și niște multe exemplare din În căutarea timpului pierdut, un câine furat de la niște bogați și un gigel de la protecția animalelor care vrea și el să scrie un roman polițist și să vezi atunci de ce aventură ai parte.
February 7, 2017
I'll Sell You a Dog
is Rosalind Harvy's 2016 translation of Juan Pablo Villalobos 2014 comic novel Te vendo un perro. It is one of the funniest novels that I've read in a long time. The well-crefted story is narrated by a former corner taco seller in Mexico City who tells us about his life and times and retirement. The book pokes fun at Mexico's contribution to culture in the 20th century. It also reveals in a hilarious manner what life is like in Districto Federal today without being too vulgar, violent, or sexually explicit. Fans of Mexican literature and art will be well pleased with this effort. It seems to me that the author, along with Yuri Herrera and Alberto Chimal who all are in their early 40s, might represent the next wave in modern Mexican literature after Roberto Bolaño. Their works are exciting and different. If so, fans like me are enjoying the promise of great story telling in the very near future.
July 8, 2020
Într-un univers mexican în care orice bucurie e un necaz al altcuiva şi viceversa, Teo, personajul narator bukowskian, de o masculinitate debordantă şi uşor de remarcat în ciuda vârstei înaintate, duce o existenţă misterioasă şi zeflemitoare, rupând mereu tăcerile serioase cu aluzii sexuale şi întrebări despre alcoolul pe care-l caută şi-l cere peste tot, doar-doar îşi poate îmbunătăţi ziua sau măcar şederea într-un loc care-i displace sau alături de nişte oameni la fel de bătrâni ca el, dar pe care nu-i suportă, considerându-i demodaţi şi depăşiţi şi în totalitate antipatici, aceştia neavând vreo pasiune comună cu nonconformistul Teo.
Recenzia integrală: https://ancazaharia.ro/2020/07/poate-...
Recenzia integrală: https://ancazaharia.ro/2020/07/poate-...
July 26, 2021
"un roman pe care autorul nu vrea să-l scrie, un roman despre ceva ce ai trăit, dar nu știi ce e, un roman despre ceva ce nu s-a trăit, și, totuși, se cunoaște, un roman care ar fi ca o farfurie cu tacos de câine"
August 15, 2019
2014, Ignatius J. Reilly’s Mexican cousin (charming and less agitated) or Dude, where’s my dog?
June 12, 2019
Well that was fun to read. Teo is quite the old man. He has quite an assortment of friends and enemies that will definitely keep you entertained. I especially enjoyed his scraps with the literary salon in his building and the cockroaches!
February 5, 2021
Should be easy to love literature, this book is a reminder of that
December 5, 2021
Sólo voy a decir una cosa:
Todo mundo tiene que leer esta novela ¡YAA!
Todo mundo tiene que leer esta novela ¡YAA!
June 6, 2018
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.
June 29, 2021
Começo o review pedindo desculpas ao Juan Pablo, certamente o livro é melhor que 3 estrelas. O problema é que li em espanhol e isso certamente afetou a experiência.
Obviamente algumas outras coisas me incomodaram. Diferente do livro anterior, que abordava um tema mais universal, aqui temos um livro permeado por fatos históricos do México (revolução zapatista, terremoto de 1985) e da cultura mexicana (personagens do folclore, cultura das taquerias) que me distanciaram um pouco da estória. O protagonista é muito bom, mas alguns personagens secundários exageraram na caricatura para dar mais cores ao universo de absurdo que o autor cria aqui.
Por fim, acho que por esse livro ser a última parte de uma trilogia e eu ter começado por ele, pode ter afetado negativamente minha avaliação. De certo, só que vou voltar a ler seus demais livros, principalmente a parte 1 da trilogia, Festa no Covil.
Obviamente algumas outras coisas me incomodaram. Diferente do livro anterior, que abordava um tema mais universal, aqui temos um livro permeado por fatos históricos do México (revolução zapatista, terremoto de 1985) e da cultura mexicana (personagens do folclore, cultura das taquerias) que me distanciaram um pouco da estória. O protagonista é muito bom, mas alguns personagens secundários exageraram na caricatura para dar mais cores ao universo de absurdo que o autor cria aqui.
Por fim, acho que por esse livro ser a última parte de uma trilogia e eu ter começado por ele, pode ter afetado negativamente minha avaliação. De certo, só que vou voltar a ler seus demais livros, principalmente a parte 1 da trilogia, Festa no Covil.
December 10, 2019
The narrator, Teo, is an unconventional hero has seen it all and has an attitude not to take anything too seriously. He is a retired taco vendor who spends his time squashing cockroaches and ruminating on the absurdities of life, and passing derogatory comments to the literary group his neighbours have formed which takes place in the foyer of his apartment building.
Though Villalobos gives his protagonist that ‘devil may care’ attitude to life, there is a far more serious side to the book in its dealings with corruption, his acerbic humour has a political target.
Overall though, it’s a read that puts makes you grin pretty much throughout, there’s a light touch to the jokes, and despite characters like Willem the Mormon missionary, Mao the radical, Frrrancesca the grand-mistress Of literature, and Papaya-Head he never makes them caricatures. It’s very cleverly done.
Though Villalobos gives his protagonist that ‘devil may care’ attitude to life, there is a far more serious side to the book in its dealings with corruption, his acerbic humour has a political target.
Overall though, it’s a read that puts makes you grin pretty much throughout, there’s a light touch to the jokes, and despite characters like Willem the Mormon missionary, Mao the radical, Frrrancesca the grand-mistress Of literature, and Papaya-Head he never makes them caricatures. It’s very cleverly done.
December 31, 2014
Me dio mucha risa. Aunque parece pura chacota, en el fondo se cuentan cosas serias.
July 20, 2019
Strange book!!!
August 4, 2025
"Una novela que el autor no quiere escribir, una novela sobre lo que no se sabe que se ha vivido, una novela de lo que no se ha vivido y, sin embargo, se sabe, una novela que sería como un plato de tacos de perro"
—¿Por qué tiene que haber una historia detrás? ¿Por qué siempre tiene que haber una historia que explique las cosas? ¿Desde cuándo la vida necesita un narrador que vaya justificando las acciones de las personas? Yo soy una persona, muchacho, no un personaje.
UN LIBRO FASCINANTE Y DIVERTIDO 😉
—¿Por qué tiene que haber una historia detrás? ¿Por qué siempre tiene que haber una historia que explique las cosas? ¿Desde cuándo la vida necesita un narrador que vaya justificando las acciones de las personas? Yo soy una persona, muchacho, no un personaje.
UN LIBRO FASCINANTE Y DIVERTIDO 😉
August 8, 2021
Muy llamativo el título del libro y divertida e interesante la trama llena de espectativas de la vida de personas de la tercera edad y algunos jóvenes con diferentes modos de vivir.
Descibe bien algunos hechos de la folklórica y bella Ciudad de México.
Descibe bien algunos hechos de la folklórica y bella Ciudad de México.
September 2, 2025
am terminat si eu in sfarsit cartea asta (am fost cam ocupata sapt trecuta) - a fost foarte amuzanta dar mi-a si provocat o gramada de confuzie 😬
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