The Lizard's Tail opens with a narrative stylistically similar to the Benjy section of Faulkner's The Sound and the Fury. Details and shreads of insight seem never to fuse. Each sentence starts a string of thoughts which remain dangling, unknotted by the paragraph's end. And understandably, this makes for frustrating reading.

Faulkner's narrator is an idiot; Valenzuela's is a messianic maniac, a Sorcerer and witchdoc. (p. 287)

The power source for this witchdoc is his third testicle, an appendage which he believes to be his sister, Estrella. By means of this third testicle he plans to conceive a son who will regain the power the Sorcerer himself once wielded.

The difficulty with this magical/realistic plot lies in the narrative technique and writing style Valenzuela employs. The Sorcerer tells his story through fits of rage, perversity, deviousness, and self-indulgence. One emotional outburst ignites another and thus a chain of...