SOURCE: Rubin, Merle. “Artifice below a Mask of Wonder.” Los Angeles Times Book Review (26 August 1984): 4.

In the following review, Rubin analyzes the intricate mixture of realism and fantasy in Ghose's Don Bueno.

Why should a Pakistani-born British poet, a novelist who lives in the United States and teaches at the University of Texas, write novels set in South America? Zulfikar Ghose's ninth novel, Don Bueno, travels a spectrum of South American landscapes, from steamy jungles of the interior to the Atlantic and Pacific seacoasts and the crystalline heights of the Andes.

More than a colorful background for adventure stories, however, South America is also the home of a distinct literary tradition that some writers and critics consider more vibrant these days than its North American counterpart. Ghose's penchant for setting his novels in Latin American reflects his interest in a certain style of storytelling—sharply allegorical, yet lushly...