"Alferez Antonio Sonoro was born with gold in his eyes." Thus begins The Bullet Swallower by Elizabeth Gonzalez James (Mona at Sea), a novel that examines three generations of men in the Sonoro family, each grappling with their own relationship to violence, justice, trauma, and forgiveness. Alferez Antonio is one of the anchors to this story's pain, the source of a line of evil that demands a certain retribution. But the book leaves Alferez Antonio in the prologue, alternating between his son Antonio, a Mexican bandido known in 1895 as El Tragabalas (the Bullet Swallower), and his great grandson Jaime, star of wildly popular ranchera comedies in 1964 Mexico.
A failed robbery lands Antonio in the sights of the Texas Rangers, and fans of classic westerns will appreciate the atmosphere of every dusty backwater town and the tumult of each gunfight. But The Bullet Swallower is much more than just a western, introducing elements of magical realism that provide the perfect backdrop for its exploration of morality and the generational impact of human choices. Jaime discovers the evil deeds of his ancestors in a book (the other malevolent anchor in this tale) published in Spain in 1783 by Maria Gaspar Rocha de Quiroga. She explains that the book is "a documentation of the genesis of evil in our world. Like the estimable botanist, Carolus Linnaeus, I have identified a specimen, named it... that others may recognize evil, too, and once named, tear it root and stem from the soil." It is an impossible task, perhaps, as even Maria Gaspar exclaims, "I fear--oh my God, I fear!--that in looking at them I recognize myself." Just as Antonio and Jaime realize the role the past must play in the present, readers will see their own failings and frailties in the Sonoro men, as did Maria Gaspar centuries before.
The Bullet Swallower is based on the family history of the author, including her great-grandfather, a bandido known as El Tragabalas. In an author's note, James comments, "Everything in this book is true except for the stuff I made up." Her blending of fact and fantasy, magic and morality, and the weight of family history is a success, making The Bullet Swallower both a page-turner with impeccable pacing and a complicated narrative full of unexpected elements and deeper questions. --Sara Beth West, freelance reviewer and librarian
Shelf Talker: The Bullet Swallower is more than just a fabulous western, with elements of magical realism providing a perfect backdrop for its exploration of morality and the generational impact of human choices.