Chulito
Irregular, irrelevant, irrational. Ridiculous, tedious, pretentious... I can carry on like this but I won't.There were several Spanish words. And I will tell you a secret: I wasn't thrilled about this.
Now let's come back to the crux of the matter: if I have to sum the story up in a few words I would say this is a nonsense. There were moments I was interested in the story and in Chulito. Those scenes usually were the life of Hispanic people in one of the troubled suburbs in New York. But that didn't last long because suddenly a secondary character's life was told and I was just not interested in that. Even more, I wasn't aware they were talking about said person until the narrator had already told half their lives, and as fast as it has started it ends in the same fashion and the plot goes on with Chulito. I never grasped the utility of doing this. It gave me the impression of an unbalanced story, with no harmony at sight. Is the narrator's goal to confuse the reader? Because he achieved it.
Secondly, this is a contemporary book but this may well be sci-fi nonetheless. To be honest, the mood of the book never struck me as a futuristic one but it surely felt as one. Because Chulito not only travels through time but he beams up whenever he wants, too. One minute Chulito is in his neighborhood and the next one he is with Carlos getting into an empty building on the other side of the city (because New York is that small, guys).
Also, I could not really understand his social dynamics. He works for a gangster and that is cool, but his mother doesn't want him to behave badly so he doesn't say a thing because he loves her. I know, peer pressure and all of that, but I could never feel close to Chulito. I believe he is a superficial prick with no personality to stand for himself and for what he wants. Carlos has by far more character than him and that's why I didn't like him, either, because he is clever enough to realize Chulito has never deserved him and that he should invest his time in someone more worthwhile. Generally speaking, I didn't like the MCs.
Furthermore, there is a disgusting image I can't get rid of even after all this time since I finished the book. I will never forgive the author for this.
All in all, I can't recommend it.
