Customer Reviews

Salsa and Chips

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This is one of the best kept secrets of eloquent writing. I've finished this book in one breath. Since I live in San Diego and have been in Tecate, I can relate to a lot of the descriptions. Reading this book makes me want to visit Tecate again and really look for some of the things described. The style of the book is such that Reveles seems to compose music with his words. The descriptions are original, complex and show a command of the english language like no other. The suspense makes this book a first rank page turner. Great book worth to buy several copies of to send to friends.

PS. I can't believe I found a autographed copy in the dumpster, thrown away by one of my neighbors. What a sin.

I bought this book today and read it all in one reading, could not set it down one moment. So now I'm on Amazon.com to buy his other book. As I can best describe it, Reveles stories are warm but realistic, light but insightful, and each with their own points of wit. Having lived in Mexico for 7 weeks this summer, I could appreciate the brief inclusions of Spanish vocabulary tidbits and "culturalisms", but Reveles writing brings these cultural pieces to life equally for the American reader unacquainted with life south of the border. I absolutely recommend this book to all ages and both genders alike, and I'd say buy it since those around you will be curious after you laugh out loud while devouring each story in this book. Enjoy!

I love all of Daniel Reveles' books, but this may be my least favorite of the four. The stories are new, but much of the setting is familiar--you gotta love this town. And the people will make you laugh!

I first discovered Daniel Reveles while bored one Sunday afternoon and browsing the shelves of a local library. I came across the book and was amused by the cover, so I checked it out (I know, I know....so sue me!). I didn't start reading it right away, but when I did, I could not put it down. I was drawn in by the different short stories, the ironies they contain, the humor and the parts that may you go "umm-hmmm". Right away, I went and got the next three books by him, and have not been disappointed. I've loved them all. He is truly an amazing, magical writer. But to this day I still wonder if the town of Tecate is real?

I remember running into Daniel Reveles at the U.S. post office in Tecate, California around the time he was submitting the manuscript for this book. I had run into him at the same place on a couple of occasions after a mutual acquaintance had introduced us, and I found him to be an energetic and affable man. That was eight years ago, and today, I find that few of my acquaintances, colleagues, and hundreds of current and former students in Tecate, Mexico--where I am an ESL instructor at our state university campus--have heard of him or of his work, though the fact that his books are written in English is not a problem for them.

The few people that I know who are familiar with his work find his stories and its characters to be cute, and they are tickled by the fact that books "about" Tecate are available at Barnes & Noble; but they invariably fail to recognize the town they grew up in. I don't recognize it either, in spite of the fact that I have lived here since I was five years old, though most Tecatenses who know me would say that I don't count since I am US-born and educated. Indeed, after 35 years, the locals have never seen fit to see me as anything more than a gringo, though my Spanish is passably native and I root for Chivas, the Dallas Cowboys of Mexican soccer.

Reveles, however, has no misgivings about calling Tecate his "little pueblo," which he apparently has shaped to conform to some magical retirement fantasy with little resemblance to one of the most Americanized, commercial, and nontraditional cities in Mexico. Camus's description of Oran in the first two pages of The Plague is more fitting, and the locals would seem to agree. When they want magic, they travel to Guanajuato, Zacatecas, and San Cristobal de Las Casas. If they are poor, they visit relatives left behind in southern Mexico. Any of them can tell you why the Day of the Dead takes a distant second to Halloween: we are closer--and not just geographically--to the US than we are to any point within the heart of this nation.

You couldn't tell any of this by reading Salsa and Chips. [...] If his aim has been to attract tourist dollars, we are in his debt. After all, the business of Tecate is business, and thanks to the maquiladora industry, unemployment is a whole lot lower in Baja than in other parts of Mexico. These facts, however, are barely visible in his work.

Those who are intimately familiar with the writing process know that rich vocabularies and ethereal muses can be quite seductive, and if we are not careful, they will play havoc with basic fidelity. In Reveles's case, his creations seem to be the product of either poetic felony or extreme marginalization. For example, anyone who purports to be as intimately familiar with Tecate and its people as Reveles represents himself to be, should know that the city proper has had not only one, but 17 postal codes for many years. He would also know that Mount Cuchumá is sacred to the Kumiai people, not the Pai Pai, who are from an area far to the southeast. Minor points, of course; but in many ways, this author reveals himself to be an unsuitable guide to the life and charm of "his" town. As Foucault used to say, written works reflect the collective discourse of a particular time and place. Reveles's novels betray the fact that his place continues to be the land of cock-a-doodle-doo.

A fun read; just don't lose sight of the fact that it is outrageously fictitious. If you really want to experience Mexico, invest in a foray that will take you much further south.