The Obstacles (Latin American Literature Series)

This is a thoroughly postmodern take on the coming-of-age novel. Ricardo is making himself sick over his obsession with the girl next door and Elias is hopelessly infatuated with a local prostitute. One lives in the bustle of Mexico City, the other in the quiet of a tiny Baja California town. They both find themselves in a world dominated by desire where "love begins to wither from the moment it takes root". They spend their days agonising over women and their nights dreaming of them. They invent erotic stories whose labyrinthine plots twist and turn into wildly comic and lyrical testaments to the difficulties of love. With this novel, Urroz joins the ranks of such eminent Latin American writers as Juan Luis Borges, Julio Cortazar, Carlos Fuentes and Manuel Puig, marking the American debut of one of the most brilliant Mexican writers working today.