"In many senses a forerunner to his Margarita, está linda la mar (see item #bi2001002161#), this is the most riskily (and pleasantly) autobiographical of Ramírez's novels so far. He writes seemingly not about himself, but rather about the adults and the world that surround a child born in 1942, like he was. A rural masked ball is the fable's center, but the message is a nostalgic view of the music and popular culture that leave a permanent imprint on the young boy. Abundantly humorous (there is a boxing match between a blasphemous singer named Quevedo and Christ), rich in dialogue and characters who move in and out of time and space, and a treatise on onomastics. The novel's seven chapters emphasize without cynicism the richness of a close family"--Handbook of Latin American Studies, v. 58.