This book is a satirical, darkly comic novel, set in Lima, Peru, mixing farce, crime story, and social portrait, written in the style of la novela picaresca with Peruvian local color and a touch of magical realism.
At its center is Pedro Suazo, a retired police sergeant who becomes the feared discipline inspector of San Jorge School. Obsessed with order, respect, and routine, he is both ridiculous and admirable -- a man who terrifies students, notes down license plates for fun, and still lives by the habits of a strict policeman.
The novel sets him up as an archetype of the "honorable but ridiculous" figure, whose moral rectitude is constantly undermined by comic misfortune.
The first chapters show how his perfectly ordered life unravels after a comic misunderstanding: believing his wallet stolen, he chases a man through the streets, only to later discover that his own wallet was still at home. In his zeal for justice, Suazo has in fact become the "thief." This episode sets off a chain of humiliations, hospital stays, and police interrogations that reveal both the fragility and the humanity of a man who built his identity on the law.
The novel expands beyond Suazo into a lively web of characters tied to the Pensión Portales, a boarding house owned by Doña María, nicknamed the Black Widow for having buried three husbands (and destined to marry Suazo as her fourth). Her backstory -- half melodrama, half dark comedy -- involves a runaway wife devoured by cannibals, a diary filled with "Oh my God!" entries, and the suspicious mushroom dish that left her a widow and landlady.
Alongside this domestic comedy runs another thread of satire: the Chang family, Chinese-Peruvian tailors who rose from poverty thanks to a brilliant (and fraudulent) sales trick involving hidden wallets in secondhand suits. Their scheme explains the entire "wallet mystery" that nearly ruined Suazo.
The tone of the book is playful and ironic, constantly undermining seriousness with absurd coincidences, mock-heroic narration, and exaggerated characters. Yet beneath the humor, it paints a vivid picture of Lima: its neighborhoods, schools, markets, police stations, and the complex mixture of cultures.

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• Publication Date: July 6, 2018
• Text-to-Speech: Disabled
• Lending: Disabled
• Print Length: 63 Pages
• File Size: 589 KB