This is a book of short stories that take place in a city in northern Mexico. The main characters are a group of boys growing up and going to school together. It wasn't until the last story, the one that gives its title to the book, did all the relationships within the stories come together. The storyteller, the main character is a sensitive, youngest child in a wealthy family. It is not until the end that he realizes the corruption and privilege he's been growing up in.

The stories are well-told and believable as the experience of a boy growing up. ( )