I'm Mexican, and I can't help but feeling like the books described in this article are a treating my country a bit too much like being full of noble savages. Interesting, curious specimens, but not quite "normal", not quite... human. I suppose foreign perspectives on Mexico are important too, but Enrique Krauze here seems to be writing mostly from a foreigner's perspective. He is Mexican himself, of course, but like myself and other privileged Mexicans, also a bit of an outsider. We are prone to holding certain well-intentioned but romanticised notions of our dear Mexico.
I haven't read the book, but judging by the review that seems like a rather quaint perspective on Mexico.
For people interested in less detached, grittier narratives, I'd recommend "The Savage Detectives" by Roberto Bolaño and my stepgrandfather José Antonio Villarreal's "The Fifth Horseman".
