In the US, Paco Taibo II is better known within the mystery readers' crowd for his accomplished police stories with a touch of irony and a shrewd writing style. For this reason with certain apprehension I started reading this biography. In fact it was the first complete and serious Che's bio I have ever read. Later I grabbed Jon Lee Anderson's one... Of all Che's bios Paco's is the most enchanting one. It may lack the huge documention of Anderson's book, but it compensates it with an amazing style. Paco cannot divorce his own admiration of Che from his subject, but, hey, that is exactly why this book becomes so much enjoyable. I still recall grabbing the book (700 hundred pages!) one morning and going that same night to bed with the book in my hands! I couldn't stop reading it! Che's story is reflected under the light of an amazing storyteller. The episodes of Che's story are exquisitely threaded together in a masterful way. His life becomes flesh and blood in Paco's hands. The icon, the symbol of rebellion and struggle for social justice turns a man, an incredible, passionate and admirable human being throughout the book. The end cannot be better: it is ghostly but hopeful with a lot of energy and sadness and beauty: a song to Latin American history of struggle.

Of two most recent books on the life and death of Ernesto "Che" Guevara, this is the most personal and personable. Paco Taibo's translated writing touches the reader with the untouchable moments of Che's life, leaving behind the hype, the political interventions and propositions, and the devious subterfuge of reading into or out of events the vision of Che as a misguided revolutionary. Taibo tells us about a naive man who only near the end came to the beginnings of understanding how revolutions cannot be institutionalized. However, this excellent book is one star shy of perfect because of numerous typos and misspellings as well as horrible mix-ups of words and phrases in the middle of what would have been otherwise a seamless joy to read. Buy the book and read it, but have a blue pencil in hand so that, once you find the butchery of the text, you can excise it in true revolutionary fashion, so that others who come to read later will not have to suffer the confusion of trying to understand a very understandable man. Para que el Che viva, lo podremos creer.

In the US, Paco Taibo II is better known within the mystery readers' crowd for his accomplished police stories with a touch of irony and a shrewd writing style. For this reason with certain apprehension I started reading this biography. In fact it was the first complete and serious Che's bio I have ever read. Later I grabbed Jon Lee Anderson's one... Of all Che's bios Paco's is the most enchanting one. It may lack the huge documention of Anderson's book, but it compensates it with an amazing style. Paco cannot divorce his own admiration of Che from his subject, but, hey, that is exactly why this book becomes so much enjoyable. I still recall grabbing the book (700 hundred pages!) one morning and going that same night to bed with the book in my hands! I couldn't stop reading it! Che's story is reflected under the light of an amazing storyteller. The episodes of Che's story are exquisitely threaded together in a masterful way. His life becomes flesh and blood in Paco's hands. The icon, the symbol of rebellion and struggle for social justice turns a man, an incredible, passionate and admirable human being throughout the book. The end cannot be better: it is ghostly but hopeful with a lot of energy and sadness and beauty: a song to Latin American history of struggle.

I was walking around wearing one of those 'Che' T-shirts and a guy asked me some questions about him. I felt pretty stupid not knowing more than I did. So I started reading about Che. That was 3 years ago.
I have read his diaries, speeches, FBI files, everything I could find....THIS was the BEST.
The author is truly a Che fan, but he still points out mistakes Che made, but the best thing is he provides everything in its context. He builds the background of where Che came from, what his life was. The reader FEELS 50's 60's Latin America so you can really emphasize with the actions and emotions of the integral characters.
Sum it up, even though it was a factual biography I still was totally engrossed reading 500 some pages in about 3 days, and still re-reading it.
A pleasure.

Taibo's mystery moves to uncover layers of distrust and fear ofthe secret workings of government officials. The feelings ofhopelessness descend with frightening clarity as the truth of how deeply the system fails to protect the rights of the citizens while fighting viciously against any presumed violation are revealed. Taibo has placed his hero, Hector, in an unbeatable reality. But Hector's fight displays hope.

There is something I appreciate about PIT II's books, they talk about reality. It's ok Hector does not exist but the country does. You should fight hard and to the limit, but you have to know that there can be a no happy ending.

Manuel Hugo Porras Ortega (Manuel_porras@excitemail.com) México city. 02/22/98 The first time I started reading it, I found it kind of disturbing. However, when I finished it, I actually felt the despair of living in México, as I do. I couldn't believe that "although the story and the characters are fictitious, the country, however, is real". I read it first in Spanish, and later on I had the chance to bought it in the English version. What I didin't like of it, was that some names where changed, (like Sara Montiel for John Travolta). Anyway, I became a fan of PIT II from the moment i read that book, and i would like to get all translations that have been made to it.

Have you read a lot of mystery novels? Can you guess "whodunnit" before the final chapter? If so, try your wits against this book. Written from several different perspectives, bridging not only gaps in point of view but time and geography as well, this novel will make you want to bang your head into the wall. Taibo's work, however, is well worth the all the confusion, because once you have a vague idea of what is going on, the work's machinations are fascinating. While Four Hands can be read as an exercise in disinformation, in the creation of history, it can also be read as the construction of a mystery. In other words, reading this novel is like seeing the cogs turning in Agatha Christie's head. Taibo supplies all of the necessary ingredients for a good mystery novel: the killer, the victim, the mastermind, and of course, the detectives (Greg and Julian, two journalists). The construction of the mystery then proves more important than the mystery itself; the reader waits and waits for all of these ingredients to come together. The character of Alex, the crazy agent in charge of the intelligence agency "SD" ("It is not especially clear who maintains the SD either. One time someone suggested their paychecks came directly from the National Security Council"(11)) is Taibo's mad artist figure, pulling all of the mystery's factors together. Alex, however, tries to plan the outcome of this mystery, and so there is potentially no mystery at all, but just the manipulations of an intelligence agency. Can all mystery novels be seen as the result of such careful and meticulous calculation? Is there any such thing as the unknown anymore? Luckily, there are enough twists and turns in this complicated narrative to keep every reader happy. In fact, if you can keep up with what exactly is going on, then you deserve a gold medal. My advice is to just enjoy this "mystery-in-reverse" and to appreciate the kind of thought and energy that goes into creating traditional mystery novels.

Yummy. This book is a real treat for any person who can string together alot of facts, loves details from the four corners of the earth that all play into a plot, and intellectualism in their mystery. I have to admit there were some chapters about a play in some prision that I did not get at all. But what I did get was a huge grin on my face for three days while I slogged through this fun fun book. So many subplots. The CIA (sort of, with a great oberkonig character), revolutionary-chasing reporters (they love Che and pal around in El Salvador when they're not drunk), stressed out drug dealers, Leon Trotsky, and some old International Marxist Organization surviving through a bunch of octagenarians. Oh-- I forgot my favorite-- a PhD student in search of a thesis topic. All these characters come together in an odd tale. And the best thing--- the book has NO POINT. At least none that I could pick up. Don't read this if you need to have your Ts crossed by the time you're done. Personally, it was sheer joy to read this. The author and translator are clever and witty to an art form and I hope someday I have friends who can amuse me so.

OF ALL PACO IGNACIO TAIBO'S BOOKS THIS IS HIS TIGHTEST. I'VE READ TWO OTHERS AND A PART OF A FOURTH THINKING ONE MAY BE BETTER THAN THIS, BUT IF YOU LIKE AN AUTHOR IT'S A PERSONAL DECISION. I WAS ATTRACTED BY A MYSTERY AUTHOR FROM ANOTHER CULTURE WRITING ABOUT A PRIVATE EYE IN THAT CULTURE AND IN THAT RESPECT SOME CLOUDS WAS A SUCCESS. THE DIFFERENT CHARACTERS, THE DIFFERENT SETTING. SATURDAY AFTERNOON READING.

Sitting in Mexico on an unseasonably cloudy day, I picked up my newly-purchased copy of Some Clouds, feeling a certain amount of order in the cosmos, along with happy anticipation. Then I discovered that today (as I'm writing this) is Paco Ignacio Taibo II's birthday. Then I discovered that Some Clouds, the third in his Hector Belascoarán Shayne detective series, seemed to have an undeservedly low number of Amazon-stars. (The Spanish version has -- at the moment -- one more star than the English, which is plain strange. Not only are both versions excellent reading, but William I. Neuman, who translated this volume into English, is really brilliant. I think that Spanish-to-English translators of contemporary Mexican literature could probably use Algunas Nubes/Some Clouds as a sort of how-to text.)

So on this serendipitous day for me and natal day for the author, and having just finished this excellent, many-layered mystery, I wanted to highly recommend it -- and all the wild and edifying series that features Basque-Irish-absurdist detective Hector Belascoarán Shayne, presenting the city of Mexico in such an authentic and ironic light. While the series hardly needs to be read in any sort of order, I believe the chronology for titles is: (Días de Combate), An Easy Thing, Some Clouds, No Happy Ending, Return to the Same City, (Amorosas Frantasmas), Frontera Dreams, (Desvanecidos Difuntos), (Adiós, Madrid)-- with those yet-to-appear-in-English in parentheses.

and, Feliz Cumpleaños to Paco Ignacio Taibo II !

Unfortunately, this doesn't live up to the admiring blurb on its cover from the author of "Like Water for Chocolate" which calls the author's work "intelligent." The main character is a one-eyed Mexican detective with some far-fetched quirks who thinks in Marxist slogans. This would be fine, except the author has placed him in a predictable Communist morality tale, where the bad guy is an evil Cuban-American "gusano" with ties to the CIA, being pursued by an alcoholic-but-heroic left-wing gringo reporter and our hero. It turns out they are being guided and manipulated by the Castro-Cuban and Sandinista secret police (one of the few realistic touches) to do their dirty work for them. When he discovers this (somewhat after the reader) instead of giving our hero second thoughts this delights him, since he sees it as joining forces with fellow travelers in the global anti-imperialist struggle. Basically, the whole thing is about as intelligent (with about as developed a plot) as a Rius "Marxism for Beginners" comic book. It's a waste of time unless (seriously) you're interested in Marxist literature caricaturing itself.

Surreal and funny, this book is full of atmosphere and presence. Warning: some things don't make perfect sense, but yet again they do. You need to suspend judgment and accept things as they are.

This book will make you laugh and cry . . . but if you are a conservative aging white male you won't appreciate PI Taibo II's extravagant sense of humour.

Critica de "Dias de Combate" Felipe Dias Alberto Barrera Paulino Meza

"Dias de combate" es una novela escrita por Francisco Ignacio Taibo Mahojo II, mejor conocido como Paco Ignacio II. En esta obra, el autor se utiliza de su pasado politico para escribir la historia. Su familia siempre fue relacionada a la politica, tanto en Espana como en Mexico, adonde se instalaron, despues de marchar de Espana. La novela es muy original. Ella no sigue los principios basicos de una historia de detectives. El personaje principal, Hector Belascoaran Shayne, no es un heroe comun. El no es competente, no hace mucho esfuerzo, dice palabrotas frecuentemente, se enamora mas de una vez, fuma un cigarrillo depues de otro, no usa bien una arma , hizo un curso por correspondencia... Talvez Taibo II tuviera que leer mas libros de Sherlock Homes o Agatha Christie antes de escribir otro libro sobre estranguladores. En el empiezo, la novela es muy buena. Los modales de Hector ayudan la imaginacion. Los lectores piensan que estan dentro de la historia. Las palabrotas hacen sentido, por que los detectives probabelmente no hablan "por favor" y "con permiso" todo el tiempo. Un punto positivo de la historia es exatamente eso. La narrativa es buena, eficaz, detallista, muy bien escrita. A uno le gusta Hector, mismo cuando el hace las cosas que no debia. Las descripciones son muy buenas. Uno casi puede mirar lo que esta pasando. Hay muchos detalles en la historia. Hector es un bueno personaje. El corre todo el tiempo, de un lugar a otro. Siempre fuga, nunca cerca del asesino. Despues de horas de libro, con Hector herido en la pierna, sobreviviendo a una bomba, amando a mujeres, apareciendo en la television, pero lejos del estrangulador, Cerevro, el asesino, le da a Hector su diario, para ayudarle a solucionar el caso. Y mismo asi, a los lectores les gustan Hector...El diario es la mejor cosa de "Dias de Combate"...Resumiendo, "Dias de Combate" es una novela que empieza bien, pero termina mal.

Critica del libro El libro Dias de combate, de Paco Ignacio Taibo II, fue una novela muy interesante. Contiene detectives, extranguladores, crimenes, mysterios y amor. Aunque no sigue todas las reglas del "cuentos de detectives", este libro esta en los primeros en la lista de novelas para leer. Hector Belascoaran Shayne, el detective principal del cuento, embarca en una adventura con el extrangulador, un hombre mysterio que mata para jugar. Durante el cuento, nosotros siguemos a Hector en su busqueda para encontrar al "cerevro" y resolver el caso. Hector conoce a muchas personas que le ayudan con su busqueda. Unas de estas personas es la mancha, una mujer mysteriosa con una cuella de caballo. Los dos, sin pensar en las reglas, se enamoraron. Una otra de sus amigas, Marina, fur su asistante en el esfuerzo para atrapar el cerevro. El libro comienza muy lento, pero con cada cadaver, se aumentan los problemas y los retos mentales. Las vidas de Hector y del cerevro se mezclan mas y mas con cada parte del juego. HAy una connecion entre el detective y el assesinador. Pero, quien es el cerevro? Este libro me captiva mucho. Tiene todos los aspectos de un libro de detective, pero hay cosas personales al dentro. A nosotros nos gusta Hector y queremos que el gane al final. Pero, necessitan leer este libro para descubrir quien gana, Hector o el cerevro...

"Dias de Combate" es un libro de misterioso. Lo esta sobre de un detective, Hector Belascoaran Shayne. Shayne esta un hombre timido y critico a quien es le gusta comida de china y las novelas de detectives. En este libro, Shayne pasa su tiempo con mujeres rato esta buscando por asesino a quien le gusta matar los mujeres. Este libro hace de accion y juegos de mental. Nosotros pensamos que hay muchas cosas buenas sobre el libro "Dias de Combate". Creimos que el autor, Paco Ignacio Taibo II, es uno de los escritores mexicanos que tiene mucha influencia en la parte final de siglo veinte; y por eso, "Dias de Combate" es una novela muy unica. Hay muchos elementos que comprenden una novela que incluyen: el escenario, los caracteres, la trama, el punto culminate, y la conclusion. Taibo hace esto con exito y el combino todos los elementos que resulta en una obra maestra. El autor describio todo el lugar muy vivo. Los caracteres estan muy realisticas y hay detalles de sus personalidades para que el lector puede comprender sus descripciones con mas fuerzo. Cuando el libro inicio, el lector esta imediatamente interesado en el misterio del cuento y las implicaciones de los acciones de Hector y del cerevro. La esquema es muy interesante y tiene elementos de accion, drama, comedia, romance, y misterio. El punto culminante es muy intricado con muchas detalles y el lector queda suspendido por mucho tiempo. Este forma de escribir es muy efectivo porque es mas emocionante. El lector no tiene la menor idea de quien es el cerevro hasta el acto final de la novela. "Dias de Combate" tiene mucho humor y desperacion y todos las palabras tienen valor. Por eso, el trabajo de Paco Ignacio Taibo II es muy popular con muchas lectores en el mundo. Nosotros creimos que "Dias de Combate" tambien tiene muchos puntos malos. Un mayor aspecto negativo es la conclusion... Recomendamos este libro, "Dias de Combate", a los adultos a quien les gusta un misterioso maduro. Este libro no esta apropiado por los jovenes porque lo tiene lengua explicita y contento sexual. El libro estuvo muy lento en el comienzo y el autor apresuro la conclusion. Pero pensamos que el lector necesita hacer su propia conclusion...

Hector Belascoaran Shayne is one of greatest characters in all of mystery fiction. The one eyed anarchist is at his very best when he is Mexico City. This is his home and he has wonderful eye for the absurdities of daily life in the world's largest city. However, problems begin when he leaves the D.F. for the frontera. Both Belascoaran Shayne and the book meander around both sides of the US-Mexico Border. The frontera is not Taibo's beat and unfortunately this is evident in the book. I would recommend this book only to die hard Taibo fans. For those new to Taibo, check out his earlier books.

"Poor Mexico" exclaimed dictator Porfirio Diaz, "so far from God and so close to the United States!" That says it all. The entire border is a huge Zone of Distortion warped by the looming proximity of the Giant to the North. I felt it as far south as Los Mochis, Durango and Chihuahua, and did not feel entirely free of it until I got to Guanajuato and Queretaro.

Poor Hector Belascoaran Shayne has been knifed, shot at, and even left for dead -- but Paco Taibo keeps bringing him back for more. In this case, it is childhood crush Natalia Smith-Corona, an actress whose daughter has reported her missing and sends the stout detective on a hallucinogenic chase among the narcotraficantes, DEA agents, ambiguous chiefs of police, 300 whores from Zacatecas, and other loonies -- the worst of whom is a right winger named Quayle (sadly, no relation to the former vice president).

FRONTERA DREAMS is not quite linear in its organization, resembling at times some of those strange Italian spy movies of the 1960s that capitalized on the James Bond craze. If you don't like the feeling of not knowing where you are going, this novel will not please you.

On the other hand, if you see it as a shaggy dog story that, as it moves rapidly from one location to the next, gives you some feeling of the strangeness of El Border, you might enjoy it as much as I have. This is my third Shayne novel, and I look forward to reading all of them, if only someone would come along and translate the first of the series (DIAS DE COMBATE) into English.

Not Taibo's best work but an insightful view into differences between anarchists and communists of the 1920's and 30's. Overall a fun, short read.

I've long admired Paco Ignacio Taibo II's detective fiction, particularly his series featuring Hector Balascoran Shayne (and even more particularly the book Some Clouds, with its existentialist overtones). When a new Taibo comes into translation, I feel a palpable excitement and anticipation; his hard-boiled characters are strikingly human and his Mexican settings are rich with atmosphere and dense with detail. But I'll admit that I've grown to experience some trepidation about Taibo's non-detective fiction. While his experiments with style and structure are often playfully challenging (take Leonardo's Bicycle, for example), they are just as often difficult to navigate. And while his knowledge of Mexican culture and history (specifically political history) is admirably broad, I've sometimes felt at a loss to understand his allusions to historic figures and, because of this, at a loss as well to fully understand the context of these tales. Such has been the case with Just Passing Through, which mixes fact and fiction, reportage and postmodern play, in exploring the story of revolutionary Sebastian San Vicente. While I've enjoyed the book on one level (it's been advertised as an adventure tale, which is not entirely the case), I had a lurking suspicion that I was missing another level of the story -- even with the annotations provided by translator Martin Michael Roberts to help readers like myself less familiar with Mexican history. While Just Passing Through is a good read, it's not Taibo's most accessible work. And with this in mind, I'd have to say that I'd recommend this one to more serious readers, to those a little more up to a modest challenge, than to fans of Taibo's brilliantly engaging mystery fiction.

el que es explotado lo es porque quiere...el que es pobre lo es porque quiere....no quieren salir adelante...a menos que vivan en Cuba.FIDEL...NO SEAS MAMON,,,

In the US, Paco Taibo II is better known within the mystery readers' crowd for his accomplished police stories with a touch of irony and a shrewd writing style. For this reason with certain apprehension I started reading this biography. In fact it was the first complete and serious Che's bio I have ever read. Later I grabbed Jon Lee Anderson's one... Of all Che's bios Paco's is the most enchanting one. It may lack the huge documention of Anderson's book, but it compensates it with an amazing style. Paco cannot divorce his own admiration of Che from his subject, but, hey, that is exactly why this book becomes so much enjoyable. I still recall grabbing the book (700 hundred pages!) one morning and going that same night to bed with the book in my hands! I couldn't stop reading it! Che's story is reflected under the light of an amazing storyteller. The episodes of Che's story are exquisitely threaded together in a masterful way. His life becomes flesh and blood in Paco's hands. The icon, the symbol of rebellion and struggle for social justice turns a man, an incredible, passionate and admirable human being throughout the book. The end cannot be better: it is ghostly but hopeful with a lot of energy and sadness and beauty: a song to Latin American history of struggle.

Che Guevara was here before he was born. Che Guevara is still here after his assasination. He represents the highest feelings andconcepts on justice, rebellion and freedom against any kind of tirany. That's why his photo is world-spread by palestinians, puertoricans, cubans, mexicans, germans, koreans. That's why his life of sacrifice and example can't never be erased.

VOS SOS EL CAMINO, NOSOTROS LOS CAMINANTES.