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The nine stories comprising The Crystal Frontier, a brilliant work of fiction from Carlos Fuentes, all concern people who in one way or another have had something to do with, or still are part of, the family of one Leonardo Barroso, a powerful oligarch of northern Mexico with manifold connections to the United States.
- Sales Rank: #492465 in eBooks
- Published on: 2013-05-14
- Released on: 2013-05-14
- Format: Kindle eBook
From Library Journal
Leonardo Barroso is an unscrupulous Mexican oligarch whose fortress of a villa is only a short drive from the "crystal frontier" of the title, and each one of the nine stories comprising this work explores the life of someone touched by him. There's Juan Zamora, whose medical studies at Cornell were made possible by the stratagems of Barroso; the beautiful Michelina from Mexico City, whom Barroso marries; off to his son and then takes as his own, and the working girls of Barroso's maquiladoras, who lust after the gringo male dancers of the clubs. The outrageous racism of Fuentes's Anglo characters, such as Miss Amy Dunbar and border patrol Dan Polonsky, may seem excessive and stereotyped, but it is also hard to deny that such attitudes exist along this troubled border. Fuentes masterfully interweaves Mexican politics, economics, and history within the individual stories, giving a brilliant update on relations between an extremely poor country and the richest in the world. A recent (1995) and highly recommended work by Mexico's premiere novelist.?Jack Shreve, Allegany Community Coll., Cumberland, Md.
Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From Booklist
Fuentes has no qualms about using fiction as a vehicle for social analysis. When this union between art and commentary succeeds, it generates indelible scenes of tremendous passion, of which there are many in this set of nine loosely connected stories, but when it fails, Fuentes' tales turn awkward. It may be that Fuentes' immense sense of responsibility toward Mexico and its people--a commitment that compels him to dramatize the entrenched corruption and ferocious poverty that drive so many people across the border--at times simply overwhelms the delicate emotional balance crucial to the magic of a story. That said, these are nonetheless gleaming fables about the volatile and urgent relationship between Mexico and the U.S., unnerving stories rich in metaphor, wit, and remarkable characters, from Don Leonardo Barroso, an ambiguous figure of great wealth and power, to Juan Zamora, who leaves his oppressively poor life in Mexico City to study medicine at Cornell, where he discovers both his homosexuality and his deep compassion. Then there's young, vulnerable Marina, who dreams of seeing the ocean as she works assembling televisions in a factory along the border, and the hero of the haunting title story, Lisandro Chavez, who, along with dozens of other men, is flown into Manhattan to spend a weekend cleaning the inside of a glass skyscraper, the latest high-tech form of migrant labor. Fuentes boldly shines his high beams on "the illusory crystal divider, the glass membrane between Mexico and the U.S.," thus illuminating both our vast differences and our manifold connection. Donna Seaman
From Kirkus Reviews
A sardonic ``novel in nine stories'' about relations between the US and Mexico, by the latter country's acclaimed author of such cosmopolitan fictions as Terra Nostra (1976) and The Campaign (1991), among others. Each story portrays a conflict involving a family member, intimate, or business associate of ``the powerful political Leonardo Barroso,'' a deal- and king-maker with a foot in both countries and a shadowy demeanor and personal history. For example, ``A Capital Girl'' traces the emotional vacillations endured by Michelina, an impressionable young woman who idolizes her godfather, Leonardo, as a result accepting marriage to his deeply unstable son Mariano. These and other characters reappear in several stories, a few of which are rather too nakedly discursive (e.g., the wheelchair-bound narrator's monologue in ``The Line of Oblivion,'' and a predictably manic-depressive relationship between a wealthy white matron and her abused Mexican housemaid in ``Girlfriends''). Indeed, most of the stories are too frequently interrupted by ironic commentaries on both American arrogance and myopia and Mexican illiteracy and inertia. However, ``Spoils'' presents a delicious characterization of its protagonist Dionisio, a cooking expert and gourmet explorer of several species of appetites. And in ``Malintzin Las Maquilas''--a lively, sexy story whose sociopolitical content emerges naturally from its character relationships--Fuentes vividly depicts the volatile bonding among three women factory workers. The long (and uneven) climactic story, ``Rio Grande, Rio Bravo,'' explores in too pat a fashion the human and diplomatic ramifications of ``crossing the border,'' and brings the volume to a stagy (if perfectly logical) violent end. A vast improvement over Fuentes's recent self-indulgent metafiction Diana (1995), and a pretty creditable dramatization of the mocking rhyme with which the book leaves us: ``poor Mexico,/poor United States,/so far from God,/so near to one another.'' -- Copyright �1997, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.
Most helpful customer reviews
16 of 17 people found the following review helpful.
Culture Clash
By Enrique Torres
Carlos Fuentes is without doubt one of Mexico's most prolific writers. The fact that his novels are filled with social- political commentary makes him controversial. Some people like their novels without the authors views, others love it as they like the added "realism". Fuentes makes no qualms about his views and his portrayl of Mexicans on both sides of the border and the huge differences in cultures which create conflicts. The concept of this book is interesting but falls a little short on substance. Nine chapters detailing different peoples lives on both sides of the border and how they are interelated. The loose interweaving of the characters lives on both sides of the border are accurate and hence disturbing to some readers. The story centers around one powerful Mexican, Leonardo Barroso and various other people on both sides of the border who are loosely connected. The beauty of this book is in the authors insight into the vast differences between Mexico and the U.S. and how this plays out on his characters. Fuentes is a master of language and his imagery is magnificent. His use of language creates a world that takes on a new life as he transports the reader into his world. An example is one of his characters missing life in Mexico " Not a single tile, not one adobe brick-only marble, cement, stone, plaster, and more wrought iron, gates behind gates, gates within gates, gates facing gates, a labyrinth of gates, and the inaudible buzz of garage doors that opened with a stench of old gasoline, involuntary urinated by the herds of Porsches, Mercedes, BMWs that reposed like mastodons within the caves of the garages". Fuentes is a master at drawing vivid paralels as he creates images of Woolworths contrasted with mercados, or his symbolism of the Vatican and Washinton DC or his tirade on American TV pop culture filled with references to Elvis and filled with such diverse topics as Pat Boone, Charles and Diana jewelry from the Home Shopping Channel, credit cards, CD's with greatest hits, and my favorite, diet milkshakes. For people who live along the border this book is a riot at times and at others reflective of a sad and tragic love story, the relationship between cultures in the US and Mexico. As a character in the book reveals on a tatoo on his lower lip, We Are Everywhere. An excellent book for all interested in what makes these two countries "so far from God so close to heaven".
8 of 8 people found the following review helpful.
Un libro muy bueno.
By Christian Anderson
If you want to understand the complex relationship between Americans and Mexicans this is an excellent read. You'll get more out of it than any dry textbook on Mexican identity and relations with the US. It's not his best work but it is very good.
6 of 7 people found the following review helpful.
A Fragile Crystal
By Neil Scott Mcnutt
Carlos Fuentes is a major author in Mexican literature, with notable successes in history and fiction. In this book of 266 pages, he introduces us to the lives of a spectrum of persons living on both sides of the Mexican Border, particularly with Texas. He speaks with authority about the historical injustices involved in the American conquest of Texas, the War on Mexico, and our continuing hostile dependency on each other. The Americans need cheap labor and the Mexicans need jobs. In nine vignettes (chapters), he gives us a glimpse into the lives of various persons on both sides of the border. The Mexicans come North to go to school legally or to do menial work illegally or legally. The message in this book is quite clear. We want the Mexicans when we need them to do tasks cheaply that our own labor force will not do. We do not want the Mexicans when they become dependent on us and stress our social system for such things as health care or education. Carlos Fuentes points to the type of economic slavery that this creates, not much better than the era of slavery which Abraham Lincoln fought against. Fuentes achieves some balance in showing also the internal corruption of Mexico, and the many ways that they miss opportunities to improve themselves. The vignettes are funny, sad, passionate, and sometimes lacking in clear focus. Some characters fade into and out of various chapters creating a fabric of impressions about the life on the border. The reader has to relax and let the images flow past, with the poetic inserts by Fuentes about the various conflicts. This is clearly not his best book but in some ways it perhaps reveals more of his own most heartfelt conflicts which accumulated while he spent many years as a child and young adult in the USA. It is a particularly good book to read while you are traveling near the Mexican border and can get your own impressions of this SCENE.
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