Tales of the Quintana Roo

Rating:
Summary: Just amazing.
Review: "Tales of the Quintana Roo", a fictional book set in the Yucatan peninsula (back in the 70's or so...) is a masterpiece. While there are only three stories, they are all good... and the title story is simply amazing. All of them deal with the mystical nature of the state of Quintana Roo, in Mexico (Cancun resides in it, for reference), and the mystical things that happen to those who venture there. While I don't want to give away plot, I'll take a moment to quote (from memory: hope I get it right) a poem from the beginning, which really sets the tone:

Tourists throw spent Polaroid
Where Spaniards threw spent slaves;
And now and then a tourist joins
Four thousand years of graves.
For loves it's wiser to avoid
Smiles from those brilliant waves.

Rating:
Summary: magical
Review: This is one of the most striking books I have read in the last year. It contains three short stories, all set in the Yucatan with the same main character. All three deal with ambiguous, mysterious, and "magical" events that were told to the main character. The stories are told in a way that leaves you wondering if the events they tell of happened or if they came from the fevered minds and imaginations of the tellers. I read a lot and buy very few books, but this is a book that I will keep and lend to anyone who will accept it. The closest genre I can think of to Tales of the Quintana Roo is "urban fantasy", it has the same "maybe it could happen" feeling to it, but the setting, the Yucatan Peninsula, is much more romantic and evocative than the settings of the urban fanatasies I've read.