Gringa

Set in Mexico City in 1968, a time when protesting students are being brutally corraled, jailed and abused, this provocative though uneven first novel uses background as a paradigm of character. Several of the female characters are typical victims who taunt their all-too-willing tormentors and accept their punishment. Notable is the Texan heroine, Abilene Painter, who was gang-raped as a teenager; now her self-esteem is so paltry that she serves as a sexual doormat for her swaggering lover, Mexican bullfighter Tonio Velez. Tonio's pride in his animal trophies points up the obvious analogy between his mistresses and these slain creatures. While the North American gringo is one who comes down to Mexico ``for the ride'' with ``little to lose,'' the gringa is a ``slut,'' an American woman who seeks sexual adventure with Mexican men. She asks for and deserves her fate, which is, according to macho logic, death. Scofield is a writer of talent, but this disjointed novel fails to elicit much sympathy for the supine Abilene. (Mar.)