The Adventure of the Busts of Eva Perón by Carlos Gamerro
Ernesto Marroné is a corporate warrior, a sales samurai who takes How to Win Friends and Influence People as his Bushido code. Even as his countrymen are rising up to reject capitalism all across the land, Ernesto remains a devout follower. His good books tell him how to get ahead and he zealously recites their mantras, performs their creativity exercises and preaches their word to all who'll listen, unshakeable in his faith that his efforts will one day be rewarded with the divine bounty of a Vice President position.
The Adventure of the Busts of Eva Perón is a Salman Rushdie-style retelling of a nation's history from the recollections of an oddball individual, as Carlos Gamerro delves back into a vital passage of Argentina's past from the skewed perspective of a man fundamentally unsuited to his own time. Devoid of political ideas of any kind, and unconcerned with the plight of any working man below the 'Executive Class', Ernesto bumbles right into the middle of history and does his best to survive it. The result is a comically charged and slyly satirical tale that strips away the high rhetoric of history and politics, and reveals the squabbling egos underneath.