Juegos de ceniza

"Juan El Orangután, the anticommunist, French Legion protagonist, emigrates to Costa Rica after participating in the failed Bay of Pigs invasion. A seducer, Juan travels far and wide, yet always returns to Costa Rica or Nicaragua, usually for a woman. The story covers the years 1963-94, and the action moves from China to Moscow, where Juan dies and is incinerated. Attempts to textualize the effects of globalization; however, insubstantial asides and frequent uses of magical realism derail the effort"--Handbook of Latin American Studies, v. 58.