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THE WOUNDS OF HUNGER by Luis Spota

THE WOUNDS OF HUNGER

By

Pub Date: Oct. 8th, 1957
Publisher: Houghton, Mifflin

Luis Ortega, 17, and his manager, Camioneto, 19, arrive penniless in Mexico City where Luis dreams of becoming a torero. After a dissolute interlude, and the death of a friend, they travel on through Mexico, doing small jobs. They meet ""Mario"", another torero, on a bull ranch and Mario proves to be a girl-Maria- with whom Luis falls in love. Maria soon becomes a popular attraction in the ring and is taken up by wealthy patrons. Luis, consumed with jealousy, starts to drink and loses his nerve-eventually returns to Mexico City and almost succumbs to the advances of a homosexual impressario. Camioneto gets him a job out of town, he is gored in the ring, and almost dies. Finally cleared of his illusions about Maria and past entanglements, he is ready to begin his career as a great torero.... Basically, this has the same cast as Tom Lea's book but it lacks the intense drama. Still, it teems with the color, characters, the idiom, the sordid spectacle- and the glory- of the peculiar world of the bull-ring.