Ilya's Reviews > The Bullet Swallower

This is a tale of revenge and revenge, as we know it, can be messy. This book was advertised as a "magical realism western in the vein of Cormac McCarthy meets Gabriel Garcia Marquez." While I can see some inspiration of these two authors in this work, I can't say that this book has many magical elements to it. The part that impressed me the most about this story is that it's largely based on real events that took place in Texas at the end of 19th century. I enjoyed the plot of this novel but I thought that some parts were hard to believe. Additionally, I would have liked the author to spend more time on the parallel story in the 1960s.

I would recommend this book to any fans of westerns, historical fiction and fiction inspired by true events. Additionally, readers who like parallel narratives should like this book. Overall, I liked this story but I felt that it was missing something. 3.5 stars.