Customer Reviews

Toro!toro!toro!

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My first encounter with Hjortsberg was Falling Angel--a stunningly good and creative work. I read some of Hjortsberg's other novels, but they did not come close to the level of Falling Angel--in much the same way that Pat Barker's Regenegation trilogy rises far above her other work. Then, browsing on Amazon I found Toro! Toro! is too short--only 138 pages, but it's wonderfully manic. One can perhaps imagine Hemingway pausing in writing Death in the Afternoon or The Dangerous Summer and getting bombed on mescaline or something similar and writing this.

You'll see a bad novillero, a female bullfighter, a top male bullfighter, and other characters of note, including a Chinese inventor. There's a robot bull, a corrida de rinoceronte, and other bizarre happenings. If you're a traditionalist, you would not like this book.

The only other book I've seen that resembles this is Earl Shorris' madcap Boots of the Virgin--no robot bull or rhinoceros, but certainly nontraditional. So--lots of fun!

Two ears and a tail, as well. It is not easy to write a truly funny comic novel, which is why there are only a handful in English. Add TORO!TORO!TORO! to the list. With a brilliant cast of shady characters, and a complex plot that moves along at Mack Sennett speed, this stylish story of matadors and mayhem is more fun than two weeks in Torremolinos. DEATH IN THE AFTERNOON meets LAZARILLO DE TORMES with hilarious consequences. A picaresque tale for the ages.

Quoted from Russell H. Greenan. (www.russellhgreenan.info)