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Book Review By Augusto Wong Campos
The Crystal Frontier by Carlos Fuentes

In this novel made of nine short stories, the Barroso family dominates commerce along the Mexican border with the US. The leading character, Leonardo Barroso, has made a fortune out of this, and we see how much his doings have affected the life of Mexicans. One character goes looking for a job and suffers harrassment from his employers, another one tries to get into the US with the help of the 'espaldas mojadas' (wet backs) and is killed trying. Finally, in the last episode all the individual stories come to a same ending: the misunderstanding between both countries will go on.


Plot & Themes
Tone of book? - depressed
Time/era of story - 1980's-1999
Political/social activism Yes
Plotlet:
Ethnic/Regional/Religion
Is this an adult or child's book? - Adult or Young Adult Book
Ethnic/regional/gender life Yes

Main Character
Gender - Male
Profession/status:
Age: - 60's-90's
Ethnicity/Nationality

Main Adversary
Identity: - none

Setting
How much descriptions of surroundings? - 5 ()
United States Yes
The Americas (not US): Yes
The Americas: - Mexico

Writing Style
Sex in book? Yes
What kind of sex: - vague references only - actual description of hetero sex
Amount of dialog - roughly even amounts of descript and dialog
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