The Bullet Swallower by Elizabeth Gonzalez James
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
“Pride has ruined me far more than disease,” he said, “and so I fear it has ruined you.”
Wow! I wasn’t sure how I would feel about this Western (not a genre I feel any particular way about) laden with magical realism (which can be hit or miss for me), but I loved this book!
The author’s great-grandfather was a bandido who escaped from a prison in Texas, survived being shot in the face by Texas Rangers (and thereby earning the nickname “The Bullet Swallower”), and made his way home to Mexico. Using this as a springboard, she has spun a stunning and emotional tale spanning more than a century, transporting readers to a lawless Texas-Mexico border as well as an affluent part of Mexico City, touching on issues of colonialism, racism, and more.
Chapters alternate between film star Jaime Sonora and his ancestor, the eponymous bandido, Antonio Sonora. The latter plans a train heist, hoping to steal enough riches to lift his little family out of poverty, but gaining only a personal vendetta against a trio of Texas Rangers instead. I was completely invested in this story line – the setting was gorgeously depicted, as we blazed trails through the chaparral beneath a luminous sky. I adored the relationship Antonio winds up forging with sharpshooter Peter Ainsley, “The Gentleman Assassin”. The link between Antonio’s story and that of his descendant, Jaime, is the shadow of retribution, a literal dark figure who is tasked with collecting souls, and the Sonoro family is deep in cosmic debt…
[He], for all of his faults, woke up every morning and tried to be better. And maybe that was all there was and all there ever would be: a daily dedication to the light.
Jaime’s chapters didn’t resonate with me quite as much (there were some A-holes in the Sonora lineage, but it hardly seems like every single one of them was evil; and what did the woman who wrote an entire history about their family have to do with them in the first place?), but were still fine, especially in how they represent the completion of Antonio’s story.
The author is without doubt a talented writer, and this story got me right in the feels. And that cover! An all around beautiful book.
Jessica Crawford 