Book Report: The Night Buffalo

The Night Buffalo
By Guillermo Arriaga
(Translated by Alan Page)

Book Description

Award-winning, internationally acclaimed writer Guillermo Arriaga weaves a luminous, insightful story of love and friendship, passion and betrayal, lunacy and mental illness. Set in Mexico City, The Night Buffalo revolves around the mysterious suicide of Gregorio, a charismatic but troubled young man who was betrayed by the two people he trusted most.

First Paragraph:

I decided to visit Gregorio on a Saturday afternoon, three weeks after his most recent release from the hospital. It wasn't easy for me to seek him out. I thought it over for months. I was afraid of meeting him again, almost as if I were anticipating an ambush. That afternoon I walked around the block several times not daring to knock on his door. When I finally did, I was nervous, restless, and--why not say it--feeling a little cowardly.

I rescued this book from Cargo Largo, intrigued by the premise and the author's film work. Guillermo Arriaga is the screenwriter for 21 Grams and Babel, two movies which I know were very popular when they released. I've seen neither. But when reviews for a book include words like 'haunting' and 'poetic' and 'mental illness' and 'troubled young man', I'll bite every time.

Manuel, a college student in Mexico City, is this story's protag, and a guilty one at that. Within pages, Manuel's friend Gregorio kills himself and Manuel finds the gruesome body. But Gregorio's story is far from over. A dark, somewhat demented, 'troubled' character, he continues to haunt Manuel even after his demise, in the form of having a fellow patient from the mental hospital send Manuel threatening, cryptic letters. Gregorio knew that Manuel was sleeping with his girlfriend, Tania, and is rightfully not happy about it. But if that weren't enough, Manuel was also sleeping with Gergorio's sister, Margarita.

The lust and sex is unneeded, as the female characters come off as shallow and needy and stereotyped. The real story is Manuel's slow unravel, as his guilt and fear cause inner torment and conflict--the stuff of real storytelling. Gregorio--both in life and death--has affected everyone he knew and the guilty suffer.

This is a fast moving story, broken into flashes with breaks between every few paragraphs and written with light, entrancing dialogue. I personally enjoy these kinds of stories, and this one was no exception. The writing is good, but it seems as though too much work was put into trying to make this plot smart and clever, and because of it, the characters feel shallow. One of my favorite characters was actually a minor one, a detective that enters near the climax and doesn't stay long, but his realism left a bigger impression than most other characters. Perhaps this story would be better suited as a screenplay--and in turn, another creepy!good film.

Night Buffalo certainly has its moments, with several outstanding passages. Not poetic, but rhythmic and easy to read. Lingering.

I sat on the bed. I could make out the faint outline of her body on the comforter. I touched it to see if her warmth was still there, but the fabric had grown cold. I breathed in between the pillows and picked up hint of her scent. I grabbed the book. On the page at which it had been left open, Tania had underlined a phrase with a blue marker--"Before being humans, we're animals"--and on the margin, she had written in her uneven handwriting: "and before that we're demons."


Two stars out of five