A woman's hand in black gloves offered me the platter of organ meat. I felt revulsion, but my manners required that I take a bit of liver from here and a bit of tripe from there. . .

Yves Navarro finds himself a slave to class and upbringing throughout his encounter with the supernatural, this occurs to his detriment. Likewise the reader owes a debt to Fuentes and gives him a few passes. I know this reader did. There is a core of a good novel here. Details about the health and attentions of Fuentes at the time of Vlad aren't readily availible. Fuentes did more than most to inform my sense of history 20 years ago. I can forgive an afterthought of a novel devoted to one's homeland becoming a failed state. I know that disappointment if not the pain. There are few surprises here. There are also splashes of genuine color and history.

I wasn't in love with it, but it was delightfully creepy. To sum up the book, it was a Vald the Impaler story set in Mexico city, and it was very well written.

Nicely told version of the Dracula story, but I do prefer the atmosphere of the original.

The body of the work is great, but the ending sadly falls flat. So much potential. A similar feel to Chac Mool, but leaves you disappointed instead of utterly horrified. The predictability isn't what bothers me, it's the writing at the end. As though he spent a week crafting the body and then realized it was due in an hour and just threw the end at you. Or maybe he became disinterested. I would recommend to either stop reading a chapter early and come up with your own ending -or- just read (or reread) Chac Mool (Burnt Water).

Una vuelta de tuerca de la historia de Drácula, pero esta transcurre en México. La idea me parece muy original y la verdad es que la prosa de Carlos Fuentes es atrapante y en algunas partes angustiante (y hasta repulsiva también). Es un genio en transmitir sensaciones.

En cierta medida me recordó a su otra gran obra, Aura, por el halo de misterio, y esa sensación de claustrofobia.

Sólo tengo como crítica el final, que me parece muy abrupto, creo que la obra daba para mucho más.

If you're looking around for a scary read this Halloween season or a book to give for All Hallow's Read, I highly recommend Vlad by Carlos Fuentes. This is by far one of the best "sequels" to Bram Stoker's Dracula that I've read.

Fuentes pays homage to Dracula but masterfully makes Stoker's original creature all his own. There is no pandering to Hollywood and cheapening of the spirit of Bram Stoker's classic novel in this short work.

Vlad is an entertaining and well-written horror story. Fuentes' tale brings the legendary vampire to Mexico City, a city populated by 10 million "blood sausages." There are some references and nods to Mexican history and politics that would probably enhance the story for those who are knowledgeable, but nothing is lost for those (like me) who are woefully ignorant on these topics. The story is also a commentary on the socioeconomic blindness of the upper middle class as well as a cautionary tale of blindness in one's own relationships.

Yves Navarro, the story's narrator and Jonathan Harker-esque character, is the second in command at Eloy Zurinaga's law firm. Mr. Zurinaga is a powerful man in Mexico City, but he's very old and no longer comes into the office. Navarro is in his prime, happily married, secure in his career, and very much a creature of contented habits. He's a lawyer married to a real estate agent: the perfect combination for what Vlad needs to get settled in his new country of choice. A house is found for Vlad and altered to his specifications. The horror begins.

Vlad is a short novel, only 122 pages, and not a word is wasted. The translation seems masterful to me, but I don't read Spanish so have no way of knowing for sure. However, this is the first novel I've read that made me want to learn Spanish so that I could I read it in the original.

Because Vlad is so short, I read it twice. The first time I read with great admiration for Fuentes' ability to convey so much with so few words. I also read with something like relief. Relief that Fuentes was indeed paying homage to Dracula, but I was also heartened that he completely refreshed the story and characters into something scary, contemporary, and believable. The second time around I was able to relax into the story and enjoy how Fuentes sets up Navarro and saw more of what Navarro represents: that smug upper middle class attitude that doesn't really see what's around until something goes terribly wrong.

Maybe the translation fails to bring the original work justice, but this was terrible.

The premise of Dracula traveling to Mexico City, trying to survive in a modern age sounding so intriguing. Sadly, the book wasn't even about that.

All I'm left with is a bad taste in my mouth... I wish I hadn't read this book. Well, at least it was short.

Quick read. If you've lived in Mexico City, you will love the references. Sad story, though the ending was a bit rushed. Loved it!

Para quienes hemos consumido mucho contenido de vampiros, esta novela se siente como que el autor agarró todo lo popular, lo puso en una licuadora y lo apachurró en la Ciudad de México con una historia que no me pareció relevante.
Aún así estoy satisfecha con el final, pero siento que pude haber leído algo más tenebroso para el mes de Halloween.