This was a nice book - it was a collection of linked stories, that type of book that lives somewhere between a collection of short stories and a novel. It had been on my list for a while, after I read the NYT review of it.
The stories all take place around a hotel in what could be any Central American country. There's something I find oddly familiar about these "Anycountry" settings in Latin America (like Blindness, for example) although I'd be scared out of my wits if I were there. Staying at the hotel is a couple from the States adopting a baby, a waitress at the hotel, members of the unstable military government, a Korean businessman and his mistress, and the title character - a female matador determined to emerge victorious an upcoming bullfight.
This was of a completely different style from Reamde, which I just finished. This book was short, with each word chosen very carefully. There was a little magical realism thrown in - just enough to secure the book's place in Latin American writing. And there were many places where Garcia hinted at something or insinuated that something in particular had happened, or referred to a previous event, in a way that meant you had to pay close attention. Intricate but very, very subtle.
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