Gente Asi: Verdades y Mentiras

A veteran and widely respected Mexican journalist, playwright, novelist, and screenwriter [El crimen del Padre Amaro (""The Crime of Padre Amaro"")], Le\xF1ero here delivers a series of witty, incisive stories dealing with his longtime obsessions-literature, chess, cinema, theater, and religion. In each, he mixes historical fact with fantasy and fictional characters with real people (at the end of the book there's an index of names with some 500 entries). The part dealing with literature, with tales about the forgery of a Juan Rulfo novel or the young Fyodor Dostoyevsky, is a sheer pleasure to read. Autobiographical hints [""Resentimiento"" (""Resentment"")] and a tale of Jos\xE9 Donoso's fall from grace within Mexico's literary elite wonderfully depict both the maliciousness of literary circles and the writers' own narcissism. The rest of the book alternates good short stories [""La apertura Topalov"" (""The Topalov Opening""); ""Gemelas"" (""Twins"")], random commentary [for instance, about Spanish theater in ""Caj\xF3n de Alfonso Sastre"" (""Alfonso Rag Bag"")], and obvious fillers (an insipid tale about a Gael Garc\xEDa Bernal lookalike). The religion part, the most extemporaneous of the book, includes an alternative version of the nativity of Jesus Christ. Even with its unevenness-and a tendency to fall short in the endings-these stories will certainly please and surprise lovers of Mexican literature and casual readers alike. Highly recommended for all libraries and bookstores. Carlos Rodr\xEDguez Martorell, East Elmhurst, NY