The Story Of My Teeth - Valeria Luiselli

This is a collaborative , multi-layered project of this author along with factory workers . The author says the formula for this book is " Dickens + mp3 ÷ Balzac + jpeg". She collected the stories , pictures of local landmarks , and commentaries from the workers who read and discussed her first instalment of the novel.  The result is a good and unclassifiable novel (essay!). I finished reading in one sitting though some details bored me.

I could restore an object’s value through “an elegant surpassing of the truth.” This meant that the stories I would tell about the lots would all be based on facts that were, occasionally, exaggerated or, to put it another way, better illuminated.

This is the story of Gustavo Sanchez Sanchez a.k.a Highway. He never opened his mouth and he was not happy about his teeth.  Everything changes once he studied auctioneering and became master in it. His wife along with his son left him for another man and never allowed him to meet his son. He goes around the world auctioning multitudes of items. He got riches and built his own collections at his own house.

My luck was without equal, my life was a poem, and I was certain that one day, someone was going to write the beautiful tale of my dental autobiography.

He lost everything when his son cheated him and took his famed and faked teeth (Marilyn Monroe's). He tried to get his things back . He also wanted to write his biography i.e the story of his teeth. Then the narrator Highway gives way to another writer who he hired to write his biography Voragine. I believe the author actually tells the value of  made-up-stories through the made-up-stories Higway uses to sell his items.  In fact the translator added chronology of events in Mexican history along with Highway's. That was a brilliant idea and it make sense.

I enjoyed all the stories by Highway specially the one's about teeth. Highly enjoyable. The author clearly succeeded in showing the power of storytelling to enhance the power of object being examined. This book is unclassifiable - sort of boundary between truth and fiction.

Read for the joy of  reading good stories and for the brilliant effort of this exciting author.