The Bullet Swallower
A Novel
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Narrated by:
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Lee Osorio
About this listen
A “mesmerizing...wildly entertaining” (The Boston Globe) 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 rob a train, only to encounter a mysterious figure who has come, finally, to collect a cosmic debt generations in the making.
In 1895, Antonio Sonoro is the latest in a long line of ruthless men. He’s good with his gun and drawn to trouble but he’s also out of money and out of options. A drought has ravaged the town of Dorado, Mexico, where he lives with his wife and children, and so when he hears about a train laden with gold and other treasures, he sets off for Houston to rob it—with his younger brother Hugo in tow. But when the heist goes awry and Hugo is killed by the Texas Rangers, Antonio finds himself launched into a quest for revenge that endangers not only his life and his family, but his eternal soul.
In 1964, Jaime Sonoro is Mexico’s most renowned actor and singer. But his comfortable life is disrupted when he discovers a book that purports to tell the entire history of his family beginning with Cain and Abel. In its ancient pages, Jaime learns about the multitude of horrific crimes committed by his ancestors. And when the same mysterious figure from Antonio’s timeline shows up in Mexico City, 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, the legendary bandido El Tragabalas, The Bullet Swallower.
A family saga that’s epic in scope and loosely based on the author’s own great-grandfather, The Bullet Swallower is “rich in lyrical language, gripping action, and enchanting magical realism” (Esquire). It tackles border politics, intergenerational trauma, and the legacies of racism and colonialism in a lush setting with stunning prose that asks who pays for the sins of our ancestors and whether it is possible to be better than our forebearers.
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Oakland-bred LaVeesha “Vee” Gilliam (Coco Jones) is a determined single mother of an autistic son and a gifted aspiring coder. When Vee loses her job as a food-services worker at the onsite restaurant at Grapengine, a large Silicon Valley tech company, she’s unable to pay for her son’s much-needed specialized education. By a twist of fate, mistaken identity, and her tech skills, Vee meets Troy Wilson (Keith Powers), the company’s wealthy founder and CEO and a wunderkind in the tech industry, who believes that Vee is a college-educated techie who works at his company.
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Overdue Diverse Representation in Tech!
- By Jatai Pollock on 09-26-24
By: Michael Elliot
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Ghost Stories: Stephen Fry's Definitive Collection
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- Narrated by: Stephen Fry
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As the days grow shorter and the temperature drops, Halloween approaches. Come, brave listener, pull up a chair, and spend some time with master storyteller Stephen Fry as he tells us some of his favourite ghost stories of all time, in truly terrifying spatial audio. From the headless horseman of Sleepy Hollow to the tortured spirits of M.R. James, from Edgar Allan Poe’s terrifying tale of a doppelganger to Charlotte Riddell’s Open Door that should definitely stay shut, join Stephen as he tells you some truly terrifying tales.
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Wonderful narration. Mediocre stories.
- By Michael Fuchs on 11-07-23
By: Stephen Fry, and others
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Fahrenheit 451
- By: Ray Bradbury
- Narrated by: Tim Robbins
- Length: 5 hrs and 1 min
- Unabridged
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Guy Montag is a fireman. In his world, where television rules and literature is on the brink of extinction, firemen start fires rather than put them out. His job is to destroy the most illegal of commodities, the printed book, along with the houses in which they are hidden. Montag never questions the destruction and ruin his actions produce, returning each day to his bland life and wife, Mildred, who spends all day with her television "family."
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Wish I Hadn't Cliff Noted This in High School
- By Joel on 03-27-17
By: Ray Bradbury
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Brain Damage
- By: Freida McFadden
- Narrated by: Megan Tusing
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As Charly struggles to recover from her brain injury, she begins to realize that the events of that fateful night are trapped in the damaged right side of her brain. Now, she must put the jigsaw pieces together to discover the identity of the man who tried to kill her...before he finishes the job he started.
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Who Else Laughed, Cried, and Shuddered?
- By Jennifer Chichester on 09-16-22
By: Freida McFadden
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Starship Troopers
- By: Robert A. Heinlein
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Johnnie Rico never really intended to join up—and definitely not the infantry. But now that he’s in the thick of it, trying to get through combat training harder than anything he could have imagined, he knows everyone in his unit is one bad move away from buying the farm in the interstellar war the Terran Federation is waging against the Arachnids. Because everyone in the Mobile Infantry fights. And if the training doesn’t kill you, the Bugs are more than ready to finish the job.
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The definitive version!
- By Kristopher G. Hesson on 10-03-24
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Slayers: A Buffyverse Story
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Original cast members from the beloved TV series, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, reunite for an all-new adventure about connections that never die—even if you bury them. A decade has passed since the epic final battle that concluded Buffy the Vampire Slayer (TV). The game-changing spell that gave power to all potential Slayers persists. With new Slayers constantly emerging, things are looking grim for the bad guys.
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A dream come true
- By Anonymous User on 10-12-23
By: Christopher Golden, and others
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Jack Parker knows all too well how treacherous turn-of-the-century East Texas can be. His parents did not survive a smallpox epidemic. His grandfather was murdered. Now his sister Lula has been kidnapped by a criminal who may believe wearing a dead man's clothes protects them both from death. With bounty hunter Shorty, a charismatic and cunning dwarf, and Eustace, a gravedigging son of an ex-slave, the heartbroken young Jack sets off on an epic quest to rescue his sister from the corrupt men who control much of the new territory.
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What listeners say about The Bullet Swallower
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Kindle Customer
- 09-13-24
Amazing!
I loved the story and narration! It was definitely different from anything I've listened to in a long time. The unique perspective and engaging storytelling kept me captivated from start to finish. The narrator's voice added an extra layer of depth to the experience, making the characters feel so real and relatable. I found myself completely immersed in the world created, and I appreciated the fresh take on the themes explored. I highly recommend it to anyone looking for something original and thought-provoking!
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- Carolyn Nelson
- 06-18-24
Good read! Recommended by my daughter.
So much imagination used to create this story. Interesting take on time and the Grimm reaper
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- Mike
- 05-16-24
A great start to 2024
I've been picking away at this since the start of the year as part of my resolution to read more new books. I picked a real winner here. amazing performance, no notes
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- Michele
- 03-29-24
Mystical Mexican Caballero’s Cuento.
A wonderfully woven story of the sins of the father, revenge, forgiveness, and redemption. Told part western, part mystery, and part ghost story, the book keeps you enthralled in every single detail.
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- Theresa Reding
- 04-04-24
Incredible Story!
I was on the edge of my seat listening to this book. It was very well written and the story line captured my attention to the very last word. The performer was absolutely amazing! He was by far the best reader on audiobooks I have ever listened to. I could tell the characters apart so easily and looked forward to hearing how he would interpret each new character as they were introduced by the author.
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- Jeff Nebraska
- 02-19-24
Fantasy-infused Western page turner!
A very fun read. Kept me excited to hear more from the very beginning. Colorful characters are creative lore building. Highly recommend.
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- Nana of Plants
- 02-04-24
Fun and interesting tale
I’m so grateful for joining the Book-of-the-Month club and having them recommend books Like this one. my typical go to our female, driven female, written female performed in the book of the month club stretches my mind a bit more
The story reminds me a lot of Gabriel Garcia‘s work where it’s whimsical fantastical in parts. The story goes on and on in this weavy windy way that makes it just more interesting. It’s nice to see another author pick up that style. I can picture of the old Texas old Mexican showdowns in my head. This is great keep up the amazing work!
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- Barbara S
- 02-14-24
timely story
Author Elizabeth Gonzalez James takes on intergenerational trauma and their legacies in a clever way, by combining a Western story with magical realism. She takes the Sonoro family, who is noted for profiting from inequity, and asks: Should we be responsible for our ancestor’s
abuses and sins? Are reparations required and to whom should those reparations be paid? Who should pay for the sins? Is the progeny of evil equally guilty and thereby responsible?
In an NPR interview, Gonzalez James states that her great-grandfather was a bandito. “He was put in jail in Houston. He broke out, got chased down by the Texas Rangers and was shot in the face and left for dead. But he lived and eventually made it back to his family in Mexico.” He became a local legend, and the event gave him his nickname, El Tragabalas, the bullet swallower.
In her story, El Tragabalas, aka Antonio Sonoro, is riddled with guilt and vengeance when the Texas Rangers kill his brother after a failed robbery of a train near Houston, Texas. A severe drought has left the Sonoro family finances dissolute. Antonio learns of a train coming through the Texas border, full of gold. The brothers find themselves in a shootout.
The story is structured in two timelines: 1895 and 1964. The earlier timeline follows Antonio’s tortured existence after his brother, and then eventually most of his family, are killed by the Rangers. The Sonoro family are thought to have exploited the Indigenous inhabitants and are thereby known as dishonorable in 1964 Mexican society.
The 1964 timeline follows Antonio’s great-grandchild, Jaime Sonoro who is a known Mexican actor and singer. In Jaime’s timeline, he finds a book that was written about his family. It follows his family’s history, as a documentary of evil. The novel’s premise is that evil begets evil, and Jaime learns of the horrendous acts of his ancestors. Jaime finds that there is a “shadow figure” called Remedio (a reaper of souls) throughout the story, who shows up in the history to seek atonement for the evil for which the Sonoro family is responsible. Jaime wants to make his grandfather’s story into a feature film, in hopes of redeeming his family’s lore. When the shadow figure shows up in Mexico City in 1964, Jaime wonders if he is now responsible for his forebearers crimes.
The border crisis has been and is fluid. Border politics such as racism, colonialism and toxic masculinity are constant threads, occurring today. Gonzalez James explores those stories that were told of “the bad guys” and looks at it from another point of view. She was also inspired by the history of the Texas/Mexican border politics, especially in the 1800s.
It’s her beautiful prose that makes this an unusual western.
**Antonio never believed in curses or bad legacies. He lived in a poor region in a poor country, peopled by ignorant peasants ground down by centuries of exploitation, ruled by a corrupt and avaricious government bounded by, on one side, a hostile foreign power with no regard for economic parity or national sovereignty, and unlucky enough to have survived a long drought.
**It’s the strangest thing: I was born in New Spain, which then became Mexico, then the Republic of Texas, and then wound up in the United States, and meanwhile, my house has always stood in the same place. The Texans call me Mexican and I’ve never crossed the Rio Grande.
I listened to the audio, narrated by Lee Osorio. I was not a fan of his Texas accents. One Texas Ranger sounded like a strange combination of a deep south accent as opposed to a Texas accent. There is a difference. Nonetheless, this is a worthy story, whether one reads it or listens to it.
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- Jordan
- 03-26-24
Wonderful and exciting
A little slow to start but once it gets rolling this book is a wild and exciting ride
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- Michael Solomon
- 02-27-24
New classic
I love a good western and the bullet swallower delivered. Looking forward to more from Elizabeth Gonzalez
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