The King and Queen of Comezón by Denise Chavez

What a carnal novel this is. Three hundred pages of bodily functions and dysfunctions. A book full of seepages and oozings and assorted excretions: the housemaid farting in the bath, characters urinating on themselves, an undocumented border crosser having her period at just the wrong moment, the untold joys of defecation, projectile vomiting in a…

Mexico, mi amor, mi tristeza

I was in Mexico City this week, giving some talks to educators. Inevitably, in private moments between sessions and at dinner, the conversation turned to the forty-three desaparecidos – the ‘disappeared’ students who, it appears, were brutally murdered. Their plight has horrified the nation – indeed, the world. Mexico contains the most wonderful people, and…