The Old Gringo

Carlos Fuentes · 1928–2012 · Mexico

Originally Gringo viejo (Spanish) · translated by Margaret Sayers Peden

Why it matters

An aging American writer rides into the Mexican Revolution to die on his own terms and vanishes into Pancho Villa's army instead. Fuentes's tribute to Ambrose Bierce's real disappearance: the first novel by a Mexican writer to top U.S. bestseller lists.

At a glance

A linear, image-driven narrative shifts between three converging points of view.