'Briefly Noted' The New Yorker, p. 71 4/19/2021:
"One of Mexico's most celebrated contemporary writers offers an affectionate exploration of the country's capital city. In Villoro's view, chilangos--a term for the city's residents--experience life as a series of impending disasters, such as the earthquake of 1985, and a fear of calamity explains why the city has grown outward rather than upward. Following the 'zigzagging of memory or the detours endemic to city traffic,' he incorporates character studies, essays, and autobiography. He does not shy away from issues of poverty, class, and gender, and the result is an enthralling, often funny depiction of a city that 'overflowed urbanism and installed itself in mythology.'"
"One of Mexico's most celebrated contemporary writers offers an affectionate exploration of the country's capital city. In Villoro's view, chilangos--a term for the city's residents--experience life as a series of impending disasters, such as the earthquake of 1985, and a fear of calamity explains why the city has grown outward rather than upward. Following the 'zigzagging of memory or the detours endemic to city traffic,' he incorporates character studies, essays, and autobiography. He does not shy away from issues of poverty, class, and gender, and the result is an enthralling, often funny depiction of a city that 'overflowed urbanism and installed itself in mythology.'"
