Elizabeth Gonzalez James transported me out West and back in time with The Bullet Swallower. The settings in Mexico and Texas were vividly depicted and I felt like I was along for the adventure, particularly with Antonio's storyline. I love that Gonzalez James used her grandfather's real life to inspire the story of Antonio Sonoro, a character who is many things: legend, villain and hero. It's an epic, but violent tale. I loved the touch of magical realism.

Antonio Sonoro is a superb character that Gonzalez James truly brought to life. I can see him so clearly in my mind. I think he was well developed with a terrific arc. The scenes with Antonio and Peter were pure magic.

In the end, this was a 3.5 star read for me. There was some truly beautiful writing and evocative scenes. But there were also stretches of passages that didn't completely hold my interest, I could've done without Jaime's point of view in its entirety. And I would've loved more magical realism, more Remedio.

I definitely will recommend this book for fans of historical fiction, Westerns and magical realism. It is truly a unique tale!

My thanks for the ARC goes to NetGalley and Simon & Schuster. I'm voluntarily leaving a review.

Genre: Western, Magical Realism, Literary Fiction, Historical Fiction, Mexican Fantasy
Format: Multiple POV, 3rd person, Two time periods
Language: Crude moments and some swearing
Spice Level: Fade to black and crude references
Representation: Characters are primarily of Mexican and European descent
Themes: Revenge, Loss, Karma, Home, Redemption

The Bullet Swallower is not my normal fare, but I like to try new things. I love multiple POV and time periods along with family sagas.

Wow! The opening is stunning! The descriptions are so fresh and visceral. The entire novel is gritty. And the author gives us a peek into her inspiration and family stories in the author notes. I'm always interested to see where a novel and real life intersect.

Even though it was well-written, I just didn't love it as much as I wanted to. I'm not even sure why. Perhaps, it was because I didn't like or empathize with Antonio. He gave to others at times, but he was also a bandit and murderer. And he's bent on justice for the loss of his brother. All his wife wanted was for him to stay home and be a father and husband. I honestly related to her more.

So, since I don't necessarily feel like we're supposed to like Antonio, he is interesting and complex. I guess you could say an anti-hero. With this in mind, what did I get out of the book? Love and live for your family. Don't chase after shadows that won't bring happiness.

This is a novel to make you think. I hope you enjoy it.

Happy reading!

3 stars.

Much of the actual prose of this book is beautiful, but the contents of the actual story were not as well thought out as I’d hoped, particularly in the portion set in 1964 and the elements surrounding the book about the Sonoros’ history. The story reminded me of a slightly more compelling version of the Alchemist. That’s a condemnation coming from me, but that book is well regarded by a lot of people and I’d highly recommend this one to anyone who even slightly enjoyed it. It has that sense of bland and vaguely Christian moral grandiosity, but The Bullet Swallower was grittier and more expansive, and clearly rooted in thorough research and personal investment, unlike The Alchemist. I didn’t really love this book, but I think a lot of people will, and I’ll be recommending it to quite a few come January 23rd.

I am so thankful to Simon and Schuster Audio, Simon and Schuster, Netgalley, and Elizabeth Gonzalez James for granting me advanced audio, physical and digital access to this fun historical fiction before its pub date of January 23, 2024.

This was such an epic read! I loved the reimagining of the western, a genre I've always loved within movies but never encountered within books. The approach of a curse following generations was incredibly unique and done very well.

Set on the Mexico and Texas border, you have a western landscape filled with untamed wilderness, train stowaways, and saloon shootouts in one epic, fantastic tale.
Antonio is a hard man to love. He is arrogant and desirous of everything other than his wife and children. Then you turn to his grandson Jaime in the present day, who has been giving a book about his family history. At the same time, a mysterious man comes into their life. Jaime reads the story of his grandfather, who, through it all, has given him the chance of a lifetime to rewrite history or change history.
The Bullet Swallower is thrilling and rageful, pulling from the past to the present day, showing how a family lineage can be cursed and how one can heal it

Elizabeth Gonzalez James remakes the Western. This is subversive storytelling. I love the time travel within it, the unraveling of "a cosmic debt, generations in the making." I'm in the midst of reading...ooof! Epic. <3

The Bullet Swallower follows Antonio Sonoro as he sets off on a journey to Texas to save his family. Through his journey he learns about a dark secret that has been plaguing his family for generations.

I don’t typically gravitate towards westerns, but I love magical realism so I thought I’d take a chance on this one. I’m so glad I did.

This was such a cool concept and right from the first chapter, I was hooked. The author shows us how generations of greed and violence have shaped this family and even the land around them. It’s an excellent story of redemption.

I particularly enjoyed the extra level of intrigue that Remedio’s character added.

My only complaint was that the chapters from Jaime’s perspective didn’t always seem to add that much to the story.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC in exchange for my honest review.

A chapter or two in, I was trying to remember why I thought I would like this book. Westerns are not my usual fare. And this is definitely of-the-genre. I re-read the description and figured it must have been the promise of magical realism.

It's funny. I've read some books that aren't promoted as magical realism at all, but have all kinds of time-traveling characters or talking animals. Then there are ones like this that kept me waiting for odder things to happen. The form the magical realism takes is mild enough to be just a good metaphor.

That's a minor quibble with what is, on balance, a technicolor meditation on the nature of guilt and absolution set along Mexico-Texas border. The Sonoros have been a nasty family for centuries. The prologue shows us one example of their greed; a book within a book history of the family purports to record other instances dating back to the 1400s. I get it, and if I could make one suggestion for the book, it would be to lose these pieces of evidence. They didn't fit with the main time frame of the story and they distracted me from identifying the real narrative. A reader could skip both and be no worse, and perhaps even more solid, in their understanding of the story.

The real narrative alternates between the late 1800s, when Spanish-Mexican Antonio Sonoros goes on a crime tear through northeastern Mexico, and 1964, when Mexican movie star Jaime Sonoros encounters a biographical book that could be about his own ancestors. Jaime goes on a journey, too, though his is back in time to discover his own history.

Like all good legends--and Antonio Sonoros is indeed legendary--this one keeps the death-defying feats and gun-slinging action coming. What starts out as a tw0-man plot to rob a train in Houston turns into a chase across much of the state of Texas with the Rangers hot on the heels of Sonoros, newly dubbed El Trabagado, "The Bullet Swallower."

Characters reference Don Quixote, so I expect there are allusions I would recognize if I knew that story. Instead I appreciated things at face value, none moreso than Peter, the English aristocrat who joins himself to Sonoros for the sheer entertainment of sticking one to the Texas Rangers.

I got an advance copy of this book through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. I appreciated the chance to check out this story that I probably would never have read otherwise, and thereby missed out on first-rate entertainment.

"The Bullet Swallower" by Elizabeth Gonzales James is a "magical realism Western about a Mexican bandido and his movie star grandson." It is also absolutely superb. Told through dual timelines, one in 1895 and the other in the 1960s, the story follows El Tragabalas (the bullet swallower) as he seeks revenge for the death of his brother at the hands of the Texas Rangers, and his grandson Jaime as he attempts to learn more about his family's sordid history and the so-called curse upon it. I was drawn into the story from the very first page; this is the type of book that makes me want to call in sick to work so I can read it straight through. It is an epic story of violence, greed, revenge, and redemption. "The Bullet Swallower" is beautifully written and riveting. The mysterious shadow character Remedio adds intrigue and mystery to what otherwise would have been a stellar Western novel, even without the magical realism.

This book should be on all of the lists of must-read books for 2024. It would make an excellent book club pick as there is a lot to unpack in this exciting story. Don't skip the author's note at the end; it explains how the story is actually loosely based on the author's own great-grandfather. Many thanks to NetGalley, the publisher, and the author for the privilege of reading an advanced copy of this fabulous book. It's always great to end the year with a five star read!

The Bullet Swallower
There are novels set in Mexico, but there aren't many sets in the north of the country, especially in the border. So, this novel is a Western with bits of magical realism. It sounds original, isn’t it?
The novel is narrated in dual timelines. The first in 1895 following the life of Antonio Sonoro, El Tragabalas (The Bullet Swallower) is wanted for killing a Texan, and the way he survived and escaped has been spread all around. The second is set in Mexico City in 1964 following Jaime Sonoro, a famous star who discovers a book about all his bloodline. Jaime will need to learn about his ancestors to break the family curse.

The novel reflects the history of the Mexico-Texas border, the racism and problems between the two nations, and border politics, as well, it also provides background context, and the story of colonialism in those lands. There is also symbolism, and I love the author’s note, but I won’t reveal it. It makes the book special for the writer and as well knowing about the heart of the novel makes me like it even more.

Thank you Netgalley and Simon & Schuster for the ARC.
Pub date: January 23rd, 2024

Thank you to Netgalley and the Publishers for this Advanced Readers Copy of The Bullet Swallower by Elizabeth Gonzalez James!

This book is an incredible ride through history, family secrets, and a string of murderous robberies and it made my heart race. I didn't know I needed a magical realism western with a vigilante soul catcher on the loose, but I did. Absolutely recommend this book.

Thank you #SimonAndSchuster and #NetGalley for providing this #ARC Advance Reading Copy. Expected publication date is February 13, 2024.

fiction • historical • literary • magical realism • adventurous • xxx Stars

The Bullet Swallower by Elizabeth Gonzalez James combines magical realism and western genres. It tells the story of two generations of a Mexican family that are haunted by the sins of their ancestors and a cosmic debt that they must repay. The novel spans from 1895 to 1964 and explores themes of violence, revenge, history, and redemption. It is based on (mostly) true events and draws inspiration from the author’s own family legends.

#Bookstagram #TheBulletSwallower #ElizabethGonzalezJames

I was pleasantly surprised with how much I enjoyed this book.

It's a well paced western with some cool magical realism elements mixed in. Moving between two timelines, the reader follows the Sonoro bloodline - in 1895, we ride along with Antonio, a bandido who is on a mission to avenge his brother's death, and in 1964, we're with Jaime, Antonio's grandson, an actor who discovers the gruesome truths about his grandfather and decides Antonio's story must be shared with the masses, against his father's wishes.

There's violence and greed and revenge and a mysterious stranger named Remedio, who once made a decision that went against his nature and is now destined to follow the ripple of its effects through the Sonoro generations until its debt is paid.

Sounds intriguing, right?!

Thank you to NetGalley and Simon & Schuster for the ARC of the Bullet Swallower by Elizabeth Gonzalez James in exchange for an honest review.

I loved every chapter we spent with Antonio Sonoro as he tried to make his way home from the fallout of the Houston robbery. The story had light and dark elements and spoke on both the goodness and badness of humanity, while also providing an engaging adventure within the lawlessness of late 1800s Mexico and Texas. Gonzalez James has a strong voice, and an awesome backstory to how this tale came about - you can tell in her writing she loves what she has created.

I would have absolutely loved the story with 5 stars if we only stayed with Antonio the whole time, or if we had more interjections on the crimes of his family prior to his journey. Having them listed in the book given to Jaime was interesting, but I think having them more interspersed with Antonio might help us better understand the debt (and maybe why Remedio didn't start earlier if the family has centuries of lineage? Or is the book saying everyone before that had passed the burden of the debt along?) Being with Jaime in the 1960s was interesting, but I couldn't seem to match the description of " Jaime realizes that he may be the one who has to pay for his ancestors’ crimes, unless he can discover the true story of his grandfather Antonio" with Jaime's plot - especially when his own father is still alive. That and feeling like I couldn't entirely place Remedio or Antonio in a magical realist setting - to me it seemed like there were some elements of Christianity and hell and I feel like I may have missed some subtext with how this shadow of darkness followed the family.

This book absolutely did me in with all the emotions! I absolutely love Mexican/Tejano historical novels and this one gave me the generational curse and magical realism vibes I wanted sprinkled in and the result was absolute perfection. Elizabeth writes the emotional and internal conflicts of each of the men with such passion that I found myself rooting for all of them. Even the villains have heart wrenching stories and reasons for being bad. I could not out this book down and to know there is truth sprinkled in just made it all so much for warming.
I cannot wait to read her other works and I recommend this to anyone who loves and cherishes history.

Thank you to NetGalley, Simon and Schuster and of course the lovely Elizabeth Gonzalez James for the ARC!

I so enjoyed The Bullet Swallower—from the gorgeous cover to the incredible author’s note at the end. It takes everything I loved from books like Lonesome Dove and adds a new layer of a multigenerational family saga that’s pitch perfect.

This book should be highly talked about! I LOVED it so much! I could not put this down. It's a story that stays with you .

A dazzling magical realism western in the vein of Cormac McCarthy meets Gabriel García Márquez, The Bullet Swallower follows a Mexican bandido as he sets off for Texas to save his family, only to encounter a mysterious figure who has come, finally, to collect a cosmic debt generations in the making.