And he's gotta be funny, because the main plotline is depressing. On a small Carribean island in the worst spot of land, a missionary moves in with an agenda to buy up the land and exploit the resources. The two main characters try to oppose him but they spend most of their time betraying each other as well as getting thrown in jail by the corrupt officials. There's also precognizance that ultimately they'll both be killed as well as their children. Around them are assassinations, brutality and politicians uniformly corrupt and/or stupid.
Still, as the ghost telling the story doesn't seem to mind, you are moved along the plotline without letting yourself get too bogged down in the horrors. Akin to Gabriel Garcia Marquez and Isabelle Allende this is in many ways a much more robust version of the Magical Realism genre.
