Strange Pilgrims

I have read some of this book as a Penguin 60, in which four of these were re-published.

Like that review, I have stuck it is a spoiler, as with stories so short it is hard not to give plot information... but no more than other reviews have... and I don't think I have spoiled them...

As it explains on the back of my edition - 12 stories of Latin Americans in Europe, Linked by themes of displacement and exile, vivid stories of love loneliness, death and memories of past life.

Bon Voyage Mr President - tells of an ousted South American President, in Geneva for medical treatment, and living a paupers life. His interactions with a former countryman and his wife end very different from how they were anticipated at their meeting. 4.5/5.The Saint - the story of a child who dies but does not decay, and her father does everything to try to get her canonized. Fantasy fiction. 3/5.Sleeping Beauty on the Airplane - a tale of love at first sight, unrequited love, and a tale of inaction. 3.5/5.I sell My Dreams - A woman is remembered for her dream interpretations. 2.5/5.'I Only Came to Use the Phone' - a horror story of circumstance. A woman whose car breaks down attempts to solicit help - to use their telephone, only to be locked away with the other lunatics. 4/5.The Ghosts of August - a short ghost story about a haunted house. 3/5.Maria dos Prazeres - A retired prostitute prepares for her death. 2.5/5Seventeen Poisoned Englishmen - A religious woman, an unsuccessful pilgrimage to meet the pope stays in a hotel, a floor above seventeen Englishmen. 2/5.Tramontana - Events in the tramontana , a harsh land wind. 1.5/5.Miss Forbes Summer of Happiness - Children on holidays at the family holiday house at the beach rebel against a nanny, but the result is not the one they expected. 3/5.Light is Like Water - Magical realism in the wild imagination of two children. I have never really been a huge fan of magical realism presented as a story in a 'normal setting'. One of the boys asks why the lights went on with just a flick of the switch, and the narrator flippantly responds, “Light is like water. You turn the tap and out it comes.” After that the boys ask their parents for a boat, and each time their parents go out they break a light-bulb and let light pour out to a depth of three feet, and go sailing around the house. 2/5The Trail of Your Blood in the Snow - On a honeymoon trip, a young bride pricks her finger on a rose, and during a drive across France cannot locate a pharmacy for assistance. Arriving in Paris, they rush to the hospital, and at the emergency ward, she is admitted quickly, while her husband is left to find a place to stay. On returning he is told visiting is only on Tuesdays, the next Tuesday being 6 days away. The story outlines the run around he gets as a non-French speaker in a city he is unfamiliar with. 4/5.(hide spoiler)]I think an overall 3.5, rounded up to 4 stars.