Chronicles of the Canongate Book

The last story in this collection, "Rainbow's End," really ties everything together nicely and has, in my opinion, the strongest narrative voice. I liked the mix of people and places in this book, which examines Mexico City through varying socioeconomic backgrounds and geographical locations. The result is like directing Mexican life through a prism of different experiences. Some stories shine more brightly than others, but I took something away from all of them. Mayo's measured prose isn't everyone's cup of tea, but I enjoyed her style in small doses. The one aspect of this collection that I found tiresome was repetition in descriptive writing--it seemed like everyone had a "wishbone back" under some type of "gunmetal sky." At times I found myself getting bored with all of these slouching people hunched under the weight of rain clouds and would have liked some more descriptive variation. This is a short story collection about Mexico, after all, and I would have enjoyed seeing some of the more vibrant aspects of the culture interspersed with the gray.