Reviews

The Forgery by Ave Barrera

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ajkhn's review

5.0

Right when I finished this book, the first thought I had was "bonkers." And then the first review I found, on Kirkus, used the word bonkers. So yep, this is a bonkers book. It's a classical picaresque work, set in 1990 Guadalajara. The point is to skewer the elite through an anti-hero, and it's really good at that.
It's also just...bonkers. Our anti-hero Burgos just cannot get out of his own way, or his own head, with tragic, comic, and creepy results. The long-dead come back to life, or are apparitions, and it's never quite easy to tell when. This surprisingly isn't frustrating at any point, I just kind of happily went along in stride with whatever crisis Burgos found himself in. And there's enough pleasant asides - Oaxacan food, the architecture of Barragan, how to make paint and forge works of art - that one doesn't get too stuck in the high gothic horror of certain segments.
This kind of reminded me of Arturo Perez Reverte's works in Golden Age Spain, except it's...1990 Guadalajara. I really can't speak enough of how well this works: I was skeptical when I read the back cover, but it really is a romp both through Guadalajara and through a singular dude's broken brain. So it's almost this fun, pulpy, novel...except for all of the genuinely creepiness and unsettlingness that pervades. Which is a great mix.