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Adonis Garcia: A Picaresque Novel

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Luis Zapata's "Adonis Garcia" is subtitled "Vampiro de la Colonia Roma" in its original Spanish, but perhaps it should be classified as "gothic humor", not "horror".

Adonis inhabits the world of the night -- true. But, so do most prostitutes and drug dealers. Having turned his back on a promising future in electronics repair working in his father's shop in Matamoros (on the U.S. border), "Adonis" opts for an adventurous, open life as a gay prostitute, petty thief and sometime drug dealer.

He makes no apologies -- "es me onda" (it's my thing) he says. While this novel deals with Mexico City before the 1985 earthquake that obliterated much of Colonia Roma ... and changed the social and political landscape ... much of what was written about Mexico City in the early 80s is still true today. Mexicans -- and the Mexican underclass -- are survivors above all. They make no apologies, they have their dignity, and -- above all -- they recognize the absurdity of life.

This is a joyful novel (something that doesn't always come across in the academic translation). As the hero of a piquaresque, Adonis is a loveable rogue. His worst crime is stealing an antique mirror from some trusting little old ladies -- with typically comic complications. This is not the Mexico of outsiders -- feeling sorry for our poor, worrying about the socialogical effects of a marginal life (Adonis' psychiatrist aunt worries about that for us). This is Mexican humor at its best -- mordant and black at times -- but willing to face the absurdity of life with a smile.