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Fictio Literatur Humor (Fiction HTML: 'I don't expect anyone to believe me,' warns the narrator of this novel, a Mexican student called Juan Pablo Villalobos. He is about to fly to Barcelona on a scholarship when he's kidnapped in a bookshop and whisked away by thugs to a basement. The gangsters are threatening his cousin�??a wannabe entrepreneur known to some as 'Projects' and to others as 'dickhead' �?? who is gagged and tied to a chair. The thugs say Juan Pablo must work for them. His mission? To make Laia, the daughter of a corrupt politician, fall in love with him. He accepts . . . though not before the crime boss has forced him at gunpoint into a discussion on the limits of humour in literature. Part campus novel, part gangster thriller, I Don't Expect Anyone to Believe Me is Villalobos at his best. Exuberantly foul-mouthed and intellectually agile, this hugely entertaining novel finds the light side of difficult subjects �?? immigration, corruption, family loyalty and love �?? in a world where the difference between comedy and tragedy depends entirely on who's telling… (more)
User reviews
I did not know how I was going to review this latest satirical, bitter-as-bile delight from Juan Pablo Villalobos. Now I not only don't have to review it, I wouldn't dare. Robert Rea of estimable literary magazine The Southwest Review has already done
If you liked [THE SAVAGE DETECTIVES] by [[Roberto Bolaño]] (here unsubtly parodied and lovingly honored), or any of Villalobos's previous books ([QUESADILLAS] or [DOWN THE RABBIT HOLE] for example), you should rush to the Kindle and download this gem or get the paperbook from your favorite bookery. Wherever you source it, y'all literary readers will most likely never feel a moment's regret that you read it.
It's a mess of a story. The money laundry plot goes mostly unexplained, things are hinted at, but never fully rendered. The supporting characters are there only to add to the confusion, never to clarify. Motivations and purpose is left untold. It's all a secret, except maybe that the people of Catalonia are easily corruptible. The initial literature angle for why this student is perfect for the scheme is mostly forgotten, only being brought up to explain away the problem of the plot. Villalobos is a talented writer, able to convincely write in four distinct voices, it's too bad it was wasted on such a thin plot.