Hardcover, 272 pages
English language
Published Jan. 23, 2024 by Simon & Schuster.
A dazzling magical realism western in the vein of Cormac McCarthy meets Gabriel García Márquez, The Bullet Swallower follows a Mexican bandido as he sets off for Texas to save his family, only to encounter a mysterious figure who has come, finally, to collect a cosmic debt generations in the making.
In 1895, Antonio Sonoro is the latest in a long line of ruthless men. He’s good with his gun and is drawn to trouble but he’s also out of money and out of options. A drought has ravaged the town of Dorado, Mexico, where he lives with his wife and children, and so when he hears about a train laden with gold and other treasures, he sets off for Houston to rob it—with his younger brother Hugo in tow. But when the heist goes awry and Hugo is killed by the Texas Rangers, Antonio finds himself launched into a …
A dazzling magical realism western in the vein of Cormac McCarthy meets Gabriel García Márquez, The Bullet Swallower follows a Mexican bandido as he sets off for Texas to save his family, only to encounter a mysterious figure who has come, finally, to collect a cosmic debt generations in the making.
In 1895, Antonio Sonoro is the latest in a long line of ruthless men. He’s good with his gun and is drawn to trouble but he’s also out of money and out of options. A drought has ravaged the town of Dorado, Mexico, where he lives with his wife and children, and so when he hears about a train laden with gold and other treasures, he sets off for Houston to rob it—with his younger brother Hugo in tow. But when the heist goes awry and Hugo is killed by the Texas Rangers, Antonio finds himself launched into a quest for revenge that endangers not only his life and his family, but his eternal soul.
In 1964, Jaime Sonoro is Mexico’s most renowned actor and singer. But his comfortable life is disrupted when he discovers a book that purports to tell the entire history of his family beginning with Cain and Abel. In its ancient pages, Jaime learns about the multitude of horrific crimes committed by his ancestors. And when the same mysterious figure from Antonio’s timeline shows up in Mexico City, Jaime realizes that he may be the one who has to pay for his ancestors’ crimes, unless he can discover the true story of his grandfather Antonio, the legendary bandido El Tragabalas, The Bullet Swallower.
A family saga that’s epic in scope and magical in its blood, and based loosely on the author’s own great-grandfather, The Bullet Swallower tackles border politics, intergenerational trauma, and the legacies of racism and colonialism in a lush setting and stunning prose that asks who pays for the sins of our ancestors, and whether it is possible to be better than our forebears.
A pretty good Western. I think comparing it to One Hundred Years of Solitude or Lonesome Dove or Cormac McCarthy's books is too much.
This book is a Western-style study of evil, of multi-generational trauma and redemption, and of whether or not we can change our fate due to who our parents or grandparents were — and it’s a fun ride with a memorable cast of characters to boot. Not to mention the action-packed chase scenes and firefights between the fugitive main characters and the vicious Texas Rangers. This book was such a joy to read, and I loved sinking back into its atmosphere, its people.
The pacing and flow was perfectly done. The story editing here was top notch. Then there’s the sharp, insightful prose and dialogue with just the right amount of narrative self-awareness and social commentary. The subversion of the hero’s journey was cleverly executed, and made me laugh out loud at times. The dialogue especially felt very authentic, and I could clearly hear each character’s voice in my head.
The …
This book is a Western-style study of evil, of multi-generational trauma and redemption, and of whether or not we can change our fate due to who our parents or grandparents were — and it’s a fun ride with a memorable cast of characters to boot. Not to mention the action-packed chase scenes and firefights between the fugitive main characters and the vicious Texas Rangers. This book was such a joy to read, and I loved sinking back into its atmosphere, its people.
The pacing and flow was perfectly done. The story editing here was top notch. Then there’s the sharp, insightful prose and dialogue with just the right amount of narrative self-awareness and social commentary. The subversion of the hero’s journey was cleverly executed, and made me laugh out loud at times. The dialogue especially felt very authentic, and I could clearly hear each character’s voice in my head.
The Sonoros family has blood ties to the first brother-killer, Cain of the Christian mythos. Many of them have led typically morally corrupt lives, and “have always had a talent for profit through wickedness” (p. 227). This story is one of why Remedio, an invisible shadow character who vaguely represents the grim reaper and occasionally makes himself known, follows Antonio Sonoros, living in the 1890s, and his grandson, Jamie Sonoros in 1964. It’s about what conclusion he comes to about humanity and fate after not damning Antonio straight to Hell as soon as he was born, as he was supposed to.
For it is Antonio who is destined to become the infamous Bullet Swallower. Remedio shadows him as he leads a life both of crime and of compassion, helps people, and kills them, and as he goes on a revenge quest after a group of Texas Rangers kill his brother.
Antonio acts “as though he were aware of the precariousness of his own existence, that he wished to perform some balancing of accounts within himself, committing murder and then saving a family from starvation on the same day, net equal” (75). He instinctively feels the need to balance the harm he does with care. He can be tender to people who need it — even if doing so gets him in trouble. But the point is that he does try to consciously balance his own perceived moral debts, and make up for crimes he’s committed.
Which is what most people with a shred of humanity left do, even the “evil” Texas Rangers. This book really shows you that inside everyone is a tender heart. Every character here gets a chance to finally reveal it.
Finally, the book portrays pretty well some situational answers to questions of fate, redemption arcs, healing from the transfer of trauma across the generations, and existential judgement in the face of this wild, wild world.
“It is a hard thing to be a good man”
I’m just such a sucker for duel timelines and western backdrops. Sprinkle in a cursed family name and a Mephistopheles-type and I am hooked, line, and sinker.
The prose is delicious. Everything about it is just a delight on my eyes. Once I got this in the mail yesterday, I could hardly keep it down, and isn’t that endorsement enough?
The Sonoros, we learn early in Elizabeth Gonzalez James’s violent meditation on the sins of the father The Bullet Swallower, have a long track record of rapaciousness, cruelty, and remorselessness. The opening section shows us how one member of the family killed scores in an effort to snatch every last bit of gold from the Sonoro family’s mine on the US-Mexico border in the mid-1800s. Unlike a lot of aristocratic monsters, however, the members of the family suffer disaster and poverty as often as they enjoy wealth and privilege. This split time narrative shows us how two scions of the Sonoro family face the long overdue repercussions of their fathers’ sins.
Read the rest of my review at A Bookish Type. I received a free copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley, for review consideration.
