Un hilito de sangre.

• Author: Mujica, Barbara

Leon Rosas Bernal is one of the most irritating, selfish, manipulative, cruel, endearing, funny, pathetic characters you'll ever meet and Eusebio Ruvalcaba, winner of last year's Augustin Yanez Prize for Fiction, has produced one of the most touching and insightful coming-of-age stories to emerge from Latin America.

Sex-obsessed and totally egocentric, Ruvalcaba's thirteen-year-old protagonist struts his stuff with brass and braggadocio in his middle-class neighborhood of Mexico City. His conquests, he tells us, are many and his looks are divine. He compares himself with Kevin Costner, Tom Cruise and a host of other U.S. screen idols. He occasionally turns himself into James Bond, hot car and all, and goes racing down the street. He also likes to be Robin Hood. His teenage jargon is full of sass and pizzazz and special tricks that he identifies by acronyms and abbreviations: PET = Piensa En Ti (Think of yourself |first~); DV = Darse Valor (Be Brave); FCA = Fingir Cara de Asustado (Pretend to be Scared). According to Leon, his father is a bully; his mother, a neurotic; his sister, a spoiled brat; his teachers, complete nerds. However, Leon is prone to exaggeration and often tells outright lies.

The love of Leon's life is Osbelia, who is vacationing in Guadalajara. According to leon, he and Osbelia are having a hot affair (which later turns out to be not so hot and not even an affair.) Unable to bear the separation, Leon catches a bus to Guadalajara. His adventures along the way are pretty incredible. First he is abducted by a man who lures him out of the bus line by convincing him to take care of a blind girl, then tries to dupe him...