I have a complicated relationship with Under the Volcano. I started it five times and then dropped it. When I started the book on the last, sixth time, I managed to finish three easy reads on the side. And Under the Volcano is a bit more than 300 pages only! I read it for two weeks, I think. But I finished it. And despite my ranting, it is a great book and a must read.
The story takes places on the eve of the WWII, in Mexico, and tells a story of an ex-consul, now an alcoholic, his estranged wife and his anarchist brother. Each chapter is told from a different viewpoint. The voice of each character is distinct, the consul’s voice is more than others because of its stream of consciousness style. I struggled through it most, and not once I wanted to get me a heavy drink while reading bits generated by the consul’s delirium tremens.
The book reminded me a lot of Kerouac’s On the Road and the novels of Paul Bowles. The theme - life in a foreign land, a sense of being lost and looking for something - is the one that is very dear to me.