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An Easy Thing (2002)

An Easy Thing (2002)

Book Info

Rating
3.97 of 5 Votes: 1
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ISBN
1590580060 (ISBN13: 9781590580066)
Language
English
Publisher
poisoned pen press

About book An Easy Thing (2002)

Aunque la novela policiaca no es un género narrativo de mi preferencia, Cosa fácil del autor Paco Ignacio Taibo II me mantuvo interesada y despertó mi curiosidad por leer más novelas de este estilo. Cosa fácil (“En esta vida, morir es cosa fácil. Hacer vida, es mucho más difícil”, cita de V. Maiakovsky) pertenece al subgénero de la novela negra donde además de narrar las peripecias de un detective, en este caso Héctor Belascorán Shayre, en su misión para resolver un crimen, también se desarrolla dentro de un contexto de denuncia y crítica social como lo es la incompetencia y la corrupción del Estado.Nuestro solitario héroe, quien comparte su despacho con dos personajes excéntricos, tiene la tarea de resolver tres enigmas: el crimen del empresario, Álvarez Cerruli, la amenaza de muerte que corre, Elena, la hija de la vedette, Marisa Ferrer y por último indagar en la leyenda de Emiliano Zapata, de quien se dice no murió aquel día fatídico del año 1919 como lo creen todos.Héctor Belascorán Shayne, detective independiente (no privado), no sólo es un detective de izquierda y un abogado de los humildes, sino que también debe aplicar la ley por cuenta propia y revelar las injusticias. Los culpables de dos de sus misterios tienen vínculos con la ley o son un ejemplo de la incompetencia de la misma. Belascorán, quien cumple con éxito su cometido resuelve los misterios con dificultad y sin mucha claridad y termina tuerto, cojo y exhausto por tanto insomnio. El misterio más intrigante y de más valor literario para mí es el de Emiliano Zapata, el cual interpreto como una reflexión, quizá un intento simbólico para regresar a los valores pasados, esos que no viene al caso cambiar y que nunca volverán.

It's a great premise: cynical 2nd generation immigrant of Basque-Irish descent quits his professional job and becomes (he believes) quite possibly the first private eye in Mexico City. Working on three cases at once (one of which involved, improbably, a search for the 92-year old Emiliano Zapata) while simultaneously learning about his late father's heretofore hidden past as a partisan in the Spanish Revolution and French Underground, and getting involved in a chaotic strike - our sleep-deprived detective is practically drowning in plot. There's enough material here for three or four books. I was not surprised to learn that this was Taibo's first novel.I suspect much of the Mexico City vibe he's famous for invoking got lost in translation. And the machismo - though not unexpected given the genre - was a bit gratuitous.Despite all this, I give it three stars for sheer ambition. And I will try Taibo again, probably one of his more recent books.

Do You like book An Easy Thing (2002)?

In a novel first published in 1977, half-Irish, half-Basque investigator Héctor Belascoarán Shayne gets presented with an intriguing premise: that Mexican Revolutionary icon Emiliano Zapata did not die at the Hacienda de San Juan in Chinamarca in 1919, but had instead cheated death when an emissary had gone instead. According to the tale Belascoarán is spun, Zapata, now in his 90s, remains very much alive, hiding out in a cave on the outskirts of Mexico City. Who could resist searching for Zapata? Surely not Belascoarán! Belascoarán also investigates two more mysteries in An Easy Thing, the first novel in the five-book Belascoarán series: some odd bullying against the teenage daughter of a former porn star and the stabbing murder of an engineer in a factory in Santa Clara in the state of Mexico (the province with the same name as the country). The factory owner and his board openly admit that they'll be blaming the murder on the union, which will be going on strike any day; in a nod at the total corruption of the system, both the executives and Belascoarán have no doubt that the police will totally comply. However, the executives would like to know the real murderer, all the same. Taibo is better known for his 2004 novel 68 about the 1968 student movement and the Tlatelolco massacre in which federal troops murdered hundreds of student protestors and arrested a thousand more 10 days before the 1968 Olympic Games were to begin in Mexico City. Taibo embues An Easy Thing with the same criticisms of the corrupt relationship between Mexico's politicians and oligarchs
—Ivonne Rovira

Paco Ignacio Taibo II siempre ha sido uno de mis autores predilectos, cuando lei la primer novela de esta serie (dias de combate)lo hice con grandes expectativas sobre todo porque los antecedentes que tenia sobre los trabajos pasados del autor y la premisa de la serie de Belascoaran Shayne, y al principio no me defraudo pero al final de la primer novela senti que el final fue un poco apresurado y esto me decepciono un poco. Pero con Cosa Facil se reinvidico y nos entrego una novela que emociona de principio a fin, desarrolla de forma un poco mas profunda al protagonico y los personajes secundarios son mas constantes. Me gusto mucho y lo recomiendo se te gustan las novelas policiacas.
—Arturo Del Rosal

In which the half-radical/half-romantic Taibo wrestles with the idea that there could never be a "Mexican detective" and then perversely creates one: the unforgettable Hector Belascoarán Shayne, a bleeding-heart, often-bleeding, pepsi-swigging, sleep-avoiding, sad-sack with an unpronounceable half-Basque, half-Irish name. The "Easy Thing" in the title is a three-headed mystery that involves saving a sad Catholic school girl with a broken arm, solving the political murder of a gay engineer, and proving that Zapata is still alive. Y'know, typical pulp stuff. This is essential reading for those interested in experiencing Mexico City (even Mexico City of the late '70s)as an electrically alive place -- but also for anyone who believes in the idea of the detective as a universal conduit between the parts of life we love and the parts we'd rather ignore. Absolutely outstanding.
—Andy

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