Palinuro of Mexico (World Literature Series)

Reduced to simplest terms, Palinuro of Mexico tells the tale of a pair of cousins (and lovers)--medical student Palinuro and nurse Estefania--who spend much of their time assembling skeleton out of a random collection of bones. But that would be like saying that Joyce's Ulysses is about a late-night stroll. This challenging and rewarding novel has much bigger things on its mind. Built around digressions, flashbacks, shifting time, and a narrator who is "not just one character but several, as well as all characters at once." Fernando del Paso plays with narration, storytelling, time, and the notion of creation.