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Los Minutos Negros/ The Black Minutes (2009)

by Martin Solares(Favorite Author)

3.6 of 5 Votes: 1

ISBN

607429223X (ISBN13: 9786074292237)

languge

English

genre

Fiction

publisher

Random House Mondadori

review 1: Well, I had high hopes for this book. Perhaps that contributed to my disappointment. All told, I think it is a valuable entry into international crime fiction because it incorporates some rather bold literary tools that are otherwise unfamiliar to the genre, not to mention it bills itself as Mexican Noir! Despite its merits of ambition though, it fell flat in execution. It felt to me like the author was trying to be reminiscent of Bolano in 2666, but just did not have the talent...yet--I will say he shows a bulk of promise. The novel's attempt to integrate multiple narrative points of view, alternating time periods and surrealist vignettes into a cohesive vision simply did not meld the way the author hoped. Instead, it created a muddy plot that strove for critical receptio... moren, while forgetting the reader entirely. In other words, it was my opinion that this novel was self-consciously "literary," instead of an organically developed whole. I give it three stars as opposed to a lower rating for two reasons:1) This was in translation, in addition to being written about a culture with which I lack familiarity. It is quite possible that some stylistic elements were lost in translation and/or that clever social critiques were made that went over my head as a result of my cultural ignorance!2) The author made genuine attempts at integrating some complex literary devices into the generally straightforward prose of crime fiction that I want to encourage in further works!
review 2: booklists best crime:The Black Minutes. By Martín Solares. 2010. Black Cat, $14 (9780802170682).The sheer exuberant inventiveness of this remarkable Mexican debut may mystify some American crime-fiction fans, used to tamer fare. Set in the made-up port city of Paracuán, on the Gulf of Mexico, the story starts in present time, with policeman Ramón “El Macetón” Cabrera assigned to investigate a journalist’s murder. Soon, though, the story leaps back in time to another investigation in the 1970s. As the plot paths converge, we see how the tragic past becomes the tragic present, but it’s Solares’ prose—alternately playful, poetic, and plainspoken—that propels the pages. less

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