MODELO ANTIGUO

by Luis Eduardo Reyes ‧ RELEASE DATE: Nov. 1, 1997

An enjoyable magical-realist romp, which you might call a Mexican Driving Miss Daisy, describes in the energetically foulmouthed voice of a young taxi driver (Juan) the odd transformations that occur when he reluctantly agrees to become the chauffeur for a sixtyish woman passenger (""Barbara Somethingorother""), who tells him she's dying and longs to revisit the scenes of her youth in Mexico City. In effect, her aging black Ford (itself a menacing figure) is a time machine: The present becomes ""Barbara's"" 1940s and '50s; and when Juan, to his amazement, becomes her lover, he ""enters"" her past life. It's a delicious, disturbing conceit, and Reyes makes it all work in a deft tale--his first to be translated into English--that's part character study, part comic nightmare, and altogether engrossing and satisfying.

Pub Date: Nov. 1, 1997

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: 192

Publisher: Cinco Puntos

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 1997

Categories: FICTION