The Bullet Swallower - Elizabeth Gonzalez James
Publisher – Hodder & Stoughton
Published – Out Now
Price – £20.00 hardback | £9.99 Kindle
Despite being a big fan of westerns in film, I haven't read a huge number of them. And even though I love the idea of magic realism, similarly I've only dipped into the genre. So a magic realism western is both very much something I'd want to read but also not really the sort of thing I usually read. I'm glad I did because this was great, and I think it's a contender for one of my favourite reads this year.
The novel charts the history of the Sonoro family over several generations. Our main exposure to them is through the eyes of Antonio Sonoro, who's trying to scratch out a living for his wife, children, and brother somewhere along the Mexico/Texas border in the 1890s. He's a ruthless, horrible bastard who leads a life of violence. When a train robbery goes wrong he finds himself morally wounded and being chased across Texas by a group of Texas Rangers who'll stop at nothing to see him dead. Antonio's sections are bloody and violent, tense and dark, and I loved them.
That main narrative is broken up by a couple of others, namely Antonio's grandson - a successful Mexican actor in the 1960s - and excerpts from a book from the 1700s, which chronicles the older history of the family. These sections are generally shorter than the main narrative, and if I'm being honest there were times in the novel when I didn't really care about what was going on in the 1960s and wanted to get back to Antonio.
I was wrong to think that, though it took reaching the end for me to realise it. Without any spoilers I'll say that the final chapters of the book were surprisingly tender, and that they pack a huge emotional punch that would have been lessened with the omission of the sections that don't follow Antonio.
In an author's note after the conclusion of the novel, the author explains that The Bullet Swallower is based in large part of her own family history. I didn't need to know that to have enjoyed the book, which stands on its own merits beautifully, but that extra layer somehow made it feel even more magical. I'll definitely be picking up Elizabeth Gonzalez James' first novel at some point.