Philip Maughan
Bite Marks
The Story of My Teeth
By Valeria Luiselli (Translated by Christina MacSweeney)
Granta Books 188pp £12.99 order from our bookshop
At Las Explicaciones, a cheap corner-cafe located in the heart of an industrial neighbourhood northeast of Mexico City, a charismatic auctioneer reveals the essence of his art. ‘What auctioneers auction, in the end, are just names of people, and maybe words,’ the toothless dandy, Gustavo Sánchez Sánchez, explains to his new friend Voragine – a disappointed tour guide who likes to walk in open spaces and shares his name with a 13th-century Italian archbishop. ‘You see,’ the auctioneer continues, ‘I’m like those people who scavenge in your garbage. But with pedigree. I expurgate; I find. I aromatize, clean, and disinfect. I recycle.’
Sign Up to our newsletter
Receive free articles, highlights from the archive, news, details of prizes, and much more.@Lit_Review
Follow Literary Review on Twitter
'To me, Elmore Leonard is as comforting in extremity as Pym, and as safe, in the last resort, as Wodehouse. The guys with the best lines are going to come out the other side; the dumb fucks are going to get it in the head or chest.'
https://literaryreview.co.uk/a-spoonful-of-elmore
'As we read, we know that in a short time the Rolling Stones, Bob Dylan and colour television will sweep that age over the balustrade and into the sea, but for now everyone is happy.'
Simon Baker is charmed by Graham Swift's new novel, 'Here We Are'.
http://ow.ly/uDL050ylh80
'As science moves forward ... are we entering an era where sex is for leisure and IVF is for creating the perfect child?'
@MGilmore121 takes a look at the future of IVF in her review of @RobertKlitzman's 'Designing Babies'.
http://ow.ly/xuJY50ybNJa