Gringos

By: Charles Portis

Narrated by: David Aaron Baker

With an uncommonly astute eye for the absurd details that comprise your average American, Charles Portis brings to life Jimmy Burns, an expatriate American living in Mexico.

For a time, Jimmy spent his days unearthing pre-Columbian artifacts. Now he makes a living doing small trucking jobs and helping out with the occasional missing-person situation—whatever it takes to remain “the very picture of an American idler in Mexico, right down to the grass-green golfing trousers.”

But Jimmy’s laid-back lifestyle is being seriously imposed upon by a ninety-pound stalker named Louise, whose particular fascination with Jimmy is a mystery to him. Add to this a sudden wave of hippies led by a murderous ex-con guru in search of psychic happenings, archaeologists unearthing (illegally) the Mayan tombs, and Louise and her weirdo husband’s quest for UFO landing sites, and Jimmy’s simple south-of-the-border existence is facing clear and present danger.

©1991 Charles Portis (P)2022 Recorded Books

This is literature.

Truly great writing is not just about plot. It uses imagery and character portrayal in telling a story that brings a time and a place and people to life. Portis does with words what Michelangelo did with marble. And there is no better narrator for his work than David Aaron Baker who is an artist in his own right. I’m re-listening for the tenth time since I downloaded it last month and every time I catch on to something new… last night the phrase toward the beginning of the book about Alma using a lot of stamps, for instance. This bookscape is studded with nuggets of pure gold.

Charles Portis will hold up better than Cormac McCarthy in the coming decades

A magical writer. One of the best (and, unfortunately, one of the most slept on) American writers of the 20th century.

Another great novel by Charles Portis

I just discovered Mr Portis after reading a memorial in The New Yorker. True Grit: amazing.The Dog of the South: spectacular. Gringos: another exploration of a truly American sensibility. What a voice he had. (And the actual voice of the actor who narrates, David Aaron Baker, was a tour de force. For me, a jewel of American literature.

Great characters

A fun little book, believable characters and story. Really well performed. I liked it better than Dog of the South.

A modern Mark Twain

David Aaron Baker does a wonderful job of differentiating this wide swath of characters. I’m a fan of Portis’ novel, True Grit so thought I’d give Gringos a try. It may be the best book I’ve read in 2023 so far. I loved it.