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Title: Way short of Marques
Review: I greatly admire this author and his work, but this is not a very good novel. It draws its stylistic inspiration from Latin American writers, most importantly Gabriel Garcia Marques, but is not as successful. It relies too much on an alien imagination, and too little on the true culture, history and mythology of Latin America. The result, especially with its graphically violent portrayal of the sufferings of the Coca lords' victims, is almost voyeuristic. It's certainly gratuitous in places. I also think that the blend of 'magic' realism with a conventional contemporary story does not work here.
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