Uncomfortable Dead [Paperback]

Subcomandant Marcos (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 11, 2007

In alternating chapters, enigmatic Zapatista leader Subcomandante Marcos and crime writer Paco Ignacio Taibo II create an uproarious murder mystery with intersecting storylines. Those chapters written by the famously masked Marcos originate in the mountains of Chiapas, Mexico, where, amid a hallucinatory blend of different voices, we meet Elias, a Zapatista detective tasked with locating missing people. Taibo's chapters star his Coca-Cola-and-cigarette-consuming series detective Hector Belascoaran Shayne: a PI specialising in cases stranger than reality. The two stories collide absurdly and dramatically in the sprawl of Mexico City. The ugly history of the city's political violence rears its head, and both detectives find themselves in an unlikely dance of death with forces at once criminal, historical, and political.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Mexican crime writer Taibo and a real-life spokesperson for the Zapatista movement, Subcomandante Marcos, provide alternating chapters for this postmodern comedic mystery about good, evil and modern revolutionary politics. Elías Contreras, a detective for the Zapatista National Liberation Army (and Marcos's creation), heads to Mexico City to investigate the case of a nefarious government-backed murderer named Morales. Taibo brings back one-eyed Mexico City detective Héctor Belascoarán Shayne (Return to the Same City, etc.), who becomes involved in the case when he learns of strange telephone messages about this same Morales. Taibo's expertise ensures a smart, funny book, and Marcos brings a wry sense of humor. The authors mix mystery with metafiction: characters operate from beyond the grave or chat about the roles they play in the novel, and Marcos writes his fictional self into the story. Literary readers will nod and smile knowingly, though serious mystery devotees who prefer more grounded noir might be mildly annoyed by the hijinks. (Sept.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Booklist

Told in alternating chapters, Taibo's striking collaboration with the charismatic leftist leader known as Subcomandante Marcos is a curious animal, laying forth planks in the Zapatistas' platform for the rights of indigenous peoples against globalization and privatization with subversive, comic panache. Taibo's one-eyed detective, Hector Belascoaran, finds more questions than answers in his ongoing quest to vanquish evil, this time in the shadowy form of one (or more) Morales, who may have killed a ghost now leaving messages on answering machines around Mexico City. The quixotic Marcos' inspired contribution is Elias Conteras, an ingenuous investigator from Chiapas imbued with the soul of Sancho Panza. Elias' charming irreverence fits well in the anarchic eclecticism that governs the fictional universe of Taibo, whose fans will hardly be surprised to find a porn actor who looks like Osama Bin Laden tossed in with Pancho Villa, Barney the dinosaur, and Gustav Mahler. As one might expect, the political trumps the personal in this curious mix of crime novel and position paper, but it is just strange enough to attract a cult audience. David Wright
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 288 pages
• Publisher: Serpents Tail (January 11, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1852429070
• ISBN-13: 978-1852429072
• Product Dimensions: 7.6 x 5.1 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #4,419,230 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars What a rarity! What a treat!, February 26, 2007

By 

Henry Porter "inriporter" (Cuernavaca, México) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: The Uncomfortable Dead (Paperback)

Oh, good, good, good! El Sup Marcos and Paco Taibo collaborate to write a contemporary thriller...with a cast of characters straight out of the newspapers. It's neat. It's funny. It's extraordinarily well done: Marcos wrote the odd-numbered chapters, and Taibo wrote the even-numbered ones...and the two of them take the reader from Chiapas to México (the city)and a dozen other places. The two authors grab bits and pieces from the Dirty War in México (about which most [North] Americans remain typically ignorant), and from there through to current times. Surely there is no other revolutionist in all of history who has co-authored a detective story while in the midst of the revolution that he helped create - and that continues to grip peoples from all over the world. Taibo is Taibo, and writes like he always does: very well, and with a canny eye for nuance and flavor. Marcos provides a glimpse into himself that shows another entire facet of this fascinating individual. Together, the two of them accomplish something subtle and rewarding...the reader's surprise is just the gravy. A good, fun read, but it may be difficult for persons without an understanding of contemporary México to enjoy it as much as do others. A WARNING, however: it will make you desperate for good street-corner tacos and warm orange soda, that's for sure.

4.0 out of 5 stars head spinning, May 11, 2010

By 

Howard S. Stein - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Uncomfortable Dead (Paperback)

Taibo is a really good writer and an interesting one too. His social views are revolutionary (in both meanings of the word); his detective (Belascoaran) is fun, particularly if you like foreign procedurals with a bit of noir; but in this book the construct of several voices all intermingled is somewhat confusing. I don't think anyone should start with this book, but like all of Taibo, it is worthwhile reading.

1 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars The uncomfortable reader, March 29, 2007

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Loves to read (Philadelphia, PA) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: The Uncomfortable Dead (Paperback)

I thought that having alternate chapters be written by two different people was an annoying gimmick for the most part - especially when one is a good writer and the other is less so. By the end I was caught up in the story but, as someone that isn't really familiar with Mexican politics over the last several decades, it was a little harder than usual to feel like I was really "getting" some of the points being made.