David's Reviews > The Iliac Crest

This book is a masterpiece of storytelling. The Iliac Crest is a surrealist tale by Mexican author Cristina Rivera Garza, translated by Sarah Booker and published by Feminist Press. I'm not sure if I'm capable of summarizing the plot, or whether it would even be helpful if I could, because the magic of the book works on the level of atmosphere and themes. The atmosphere is textbook gothic, using horror as a device to situate the reader but also to prepare them for what is to come. Rivera Garza intriguingly uses a first-person male protagonist, we think, a figure of some authority, whose understanding of the world gradually unravels after the unexpected visit of two women, one of whom we learn is Mexican writer Amparo Davila (unless she isn't). The book explores the transience of seemingly fixed polarities - male/female, north/south, true/false, past/present - as well as the limits of language and the stability of identity itself.