Book Review of Mexico: Stories by Josh Barkan

Mexico, by Josh Barkan, is a collection of short stories, each about a character who is trying to lead his or her life until crime intervenes. I received a review copy from Blogging For Books in exchange for my honest review. The cover, a design which would be beautiful, if a bit twee for the subject material, has large, distracting ink blots obscuring much of the illustration. I wonder if the intent was to contrast the potential beauty of Mexico with the ugliness of the crime depicted in Barkan's stories contained herein, showing how it detracts from the otherwise pretty setting and culture. If so, it wholly fails, leaving me as the reader with the impression that the goal was a cover design reflecting an American tourist's conceit of Mexico, rather than the gritty reality Barkan seems so desperate to convey.

Flipping inward, my experience as a reader did not improve. The first story features a chef running his own restaurant in Mexico City who is caught unawares when El Chapo appears at his restaurant, demanding the finest meal he has ever eaten, but prepared with only two ingredients, and threatening to kill him if it doesn't meet that standard. As El Chapo's security detail and attendant thugs take over the restaurant and terrify its staff and diners, the chef indulges in dull reflections about his wife and young son, not seeming to experience the kind of panic for one second that would've lent even a small amount of verisimilitude to this situation, which is improbable, at best. From there, my doubt mounted when the chef settled on Wagyu beef garnished with human blood. After tasting his own and determining it too bitter and salty, Barkan then presumes I will buy that the mother of a young girl in the dining room will allow her daughter to be mutilated for the chef's purposes, without any threats or explanation beforehand? At that point, a spaceship landing in the kitchen would've been more realistic, and less disturbing.

However, my biggest issue with Mexico: stories is that it feels like it was written by an outsider. The author of this book might have observed the land, the people, and the culture, but I get the feeling that he does not understand them. It feels much more like this book was written by someone who lives part time in Roanoke, Virginia than by one who lives part time in Mexico City, though his author bio says he divides his time among the two. It showcases the simplistic view of Mexico that it's a nice country which could be great if there were no crime. Gee, you think? I'm pretty sure there's a little more to it than that. Ultimately, my problem with Mexico: stories is that it wasn't written by somebody from Mexico... and that's how it reads.