Reading 1001 discussion

The Myth

(will be posted within the next 24 hours)

The Books

For this twelfth and final Labour, which pack of dogs will you chase and capture on your quest for immortality?

Black Dogs (Ian McEwan) 2 points
The Underdogs (Mariano Azuela) 2 points

To earn the points associated with either book, you can only read and review the chosen book between 2017-12-01, midnight EST (New York) and 2017-12-31, midnight EST (New York). You should post your reviews below, clearly identifying which book you are reviewing.

Can't wait for the myth!

The links
Black Dogs
The Underdogs

The Underdogs

Rating 3 stars
Re-read December 2017

This is a novel set during the Mexican Revolution in the early 20th century. We follow a ragtag band of rebels fighting for the cause but not truly understanding what they are fighting for. The group is led by Macias, a poor, illiterate farmer. We witness all of this through the eyes of Luis Cervantes, a young medic who may be autobiographical of the author himself.

Overall, an entertaining book but certainly no masterpiece of literature. I imagine it is better read in Spanish. This was my second reading and I really hoped to appreciate it more the second time around. It read the same for me both times.

The Underdogs
3 stars

A hard-boiled story from the Mexican civil war, similar to other stories about rebels or outlaws. It's a quick engaging adventure story, and it's not until one has closed the book and starts to think about it that one notices how morally bad their actions really were. The main characters among the rebels were portrayed as lovable people, but their actions and their complete disregard for human lives are actually horrifying. I guess this is part of the books appeal - that old boys' club feeling of loving fighting and war - but it's off-putting for a modern reader. Nothing lovable about killing people just because one doesn't like the way they look, even if one is a rebel soldier fighting a (possibly justified) civil war. I can see why it is a classic of Mexican literature and why it is included on lists like the 1001 books to read before you die, and I'm glad I've read it.

Black Dogs Ian McEwan
3 Stars

I tried searching my edition of the 1001 books to see why this book was included and it has obviously been removed and that is a decision I am completely ok with.

The description from the back of the book says "In 1946 a young couple set off on their honeymoon. Fired by their ideals and passion for one another they plan an idyllic holiday, only to encounter an experience of darkness so terrifying it alters their lives forever."

Given the above description I was expecting a very different book from the one I got. I expected the events of 1946 to figure heavily in the narrative, they don't! Instead we follow the couple's on in law as he embarks on writing a memoir about his mother in law. It is the final chapter before the experience with the black dogs is revealed to the reader and when it was revealed it was so over the top, melodramatic and frankly stupid that it completely ruined the build up that had gone before.

I did enjoy a lot of the narrative when it dealt with Bernard and June communicating with each through the medium of their son in law, it was interesting to see how people have different memories of shared events and different opinions on what actually happened. I felt Bernard and June had an interesting dynamic and that this could have been explored more extensively.

The Underdogs Mariano Azuela
My knowledge of the Mexican Revolution was extremely sketchy and the overview provided in my Kindle appendix to this edition was intriguing and horrifying. It seemed the revolutionaries succeeded and then were assassinated one after the other! The story of a group of revolutionaries showed obliquely, rather than told, how they began with personal grievances against those in power, usually from personal slights, became emboldened by their success to believe that they were noble but then betrayed by their lack of knowledge of the political machinations and by their indifference to the plight of the ordinary people they were supposedly fighting for. It was an excellent short read. I felt that Azuela (who was an actual fighter) showed the horror of war and the filth of the surroundings and indifference of the fighters in such a way that I could begin to understand where modern Mexico came from. A recommended read. Thanks Patrick for encouraging me to read it.

I'm still waiting for the book...