Books Briefly -- Gringos
By Adam Woog
[
A review of Gringos, by Charles Portis,
Transcribed by Alex T. Moore from The Seattle Times (March 3, 1991), 
for non-commercial use on The Unofficial Charles Portis Website 
(http://charlesportis.cjb.net).
]

Charles Portis is a comic writer from Arkansas best known for 
"True Grit," which became a John Wayne movie that was very different 
from - and not nearly as good as - the novel. Portis has been a kind 
of secret weapon in Southern-humorist circles for a long time, although 
he's not prolific (only five novels in 25 years), and many of his fans 
felt his last book, "Masters of Atlantis," was one long slip on a big 
banana peel.  (Portis' editors apparently feel the same way; the jacket 
copy for "Gringos" says that "Portis is back again at the top of his 
form.") 

"Gringos" is, indeed, a return to the old Portis whimsy. Jimmy Burns is 
a ratty American expatriate, eking out a living with a small truck in 
small-town Yucatan. He's very good at observing and judging the other 
nutty outcasts, American and otherwise, who wash up in the area. Among 
them are a pompous flying-saucer buff and his headstrong wife; self-
absorbed hangers-on around archaeological excavations; and a loony 
bunch of hippies (as Burns grumpily still insists on calling them) who 
steal car parts and worship Mayan ruins. Burns is no paragon himself - 
he has his own demons, including the fact that no one will believe he 
doesn't trade in black-market artifacts anymore.

Among its other merits, "Gringos" is a wonderfully trenchant, 
bittersweet treatment of the bizarre way expatriates justify their 
marginal existences. This isn't belly-laugh slapstick, but if you can 
get past the leisurely start - the pace is, shall we say, measured - 
Portis' casual charm is addictive. He's ingratiating without being 
corny, his tone is both cool and warm, and his characters are so 
amiably off-center that you can overlook the fact that the plot seems 
almost an afterthought.