Road Story.

Reviewed by Bruce Jensen, South Texas Coll. Lib., McAllen, TX -- Críticas, 4/1/2008

Fuguet, Alberto & Gonzalo Martínez (illus).
Chile/ U.S.: Alfaguara. 2007. 127p. illus. ISBN 978-956-239-538-0. pap. $16.99. GRAPHIC NOVEL

Groundbreaking and influential, Chilean author Fuguet hooked up with countryman Martínez to produce what is by their reckoning the first graphic novel issued by a major Chilean publisher. An homage to Jack Kerouac’s On the Road, this story is emphatically North American. Raised in Southern California, Fuguet has been working with the motif of an alienated Chilean drifter traveling near the U.S.-Mexico border for many years. An early draft, "La verdad o las consecuencias" ("Truth or Consequences"), appeared in the McOndo anthology in 1996, and another version was included in his 2005 collection Cortos (Shorts). In this small-format, black-and-white graphic novel, an introspective thirtysomething man from Santiago travels to escape a soured marriage and other failures, using cash embezzled from his employer. Paired with the narrative, Martínez's strong, richly atmospheric artwork depicts the southwestern United States along parts of Route 66, with interludes in Tucson, Roswell, and Truth or Consequences, NM, and a climactic episode in El Paso/Juárez. The illustrations bring a proper touch of darkness to the story, carrying such cinematic weight that the author can advance the plot with few words. Recommended for all libraries and bookstores serving readers capable of dealing with pictures of explicit sex scenes.