Read as part of CBR17 Bingo: border. The book takes place in Mexico, our border neighbor in the States, and talks at length about how shipping alcohol and federal politics impacted Mexico’s relationship with the US.
This is one of those books where the writer is trying to tell one story but really wants to write another.
Jose Cuervo as a person doesn’t seem that interesting. He’s from a famous family, has a fascinating story, did some incredible stuff and observed a lot more. But this is a book where it feels like everything is happening around him rather than through him. Which would be fine if he was the auxiliary character and not the purpose of the book.
Because the history stuff on Mexico, particularly their early-2oth century Civil War, was fascinating to read and I learned a lot. I learned a lot about tequila production too for what that’s worth; I truly did not know the name tequila came from the name of the town in which the famous agave leaves were used to make the drink. But I liked it as a history text, even if the narrative can get clunky.
And again, Cuervo being a regular dude with minimal background is not the author’s fault. This isn’t fiction. But it also doesn’t make for the most compelling read. Still a fun book and a good reminder that capital usually drives conflict, as I saw many times with tequila barons backing various politicos so they could traffic their wares.