Dr. Brinkley's Tower

October 29, 2012
An impoverished Mexican border town languishes in the aftermath of the Mexican revolution in Robert Hough’s (The Final Confession of Mabel Stark) lackluster fourth novel. The residents of Corazón de la Fuente have had little to look forward to since revolutionary fighting tore their village apart. So when Dr. Brinkley, an American millionaire, chooses their town to build a radio tower, the villagers are delighted. Although some have reservations about Brinkley, who claims he can cure impotence with his goat gland implantation technique, the economic prospects change most of their minds. After all, the town’s steadiest earners thus far have been the madam and her working girls. As the tower goes up, “the worry so firmly etched into the faces of the townspeople eased, making room for expressions of gaiety.” Francisco Ramirez, a strong-willed teen, takes advantage of the upswing and begins to teach English in order to impress the beautiful Violeta with flowers and sodas. The cantina owner and the madam hire new help to keep up with demand, and the lightened atmosphere leads to strange romantic connections. However, the townspeople quickly learn that Dr. Brinkley might not be the savior they imagined, and that money brings problems as well as prosperity. Unfortunately, a scattered narrative and cardboard characters leave the novel sluggish and colorless.

November 15, 2012
Hough fictionalizes the real-life exploits of charlatan Brinkley, known both for his radio broadcasts from Mexico (across the U.S. border) and for his goat-gland implantation procedure to cure male impotence. It would be hard to make this stuff up, and fortunately Hough doesn't have to since Brinkley is a larger-than-life character, oozing the American entrepreneurial spirit in a way that is simultaneously entertaining and disgusting. Ironically, he's somewhat at the periphery of this novel, for Hough centers his work in the sleepy Mexican town of Corazon de la Fuente, where we meet the sweet and hapless Francisco Ramirez. He's besotted with love for Violeta Cruz, a village coquette, though Brinkley eventually seduces her away from Francisco by giving her a job at his radio station. He claims to see in her the makings of a seer, so he sets her up with her own radio show, where she tries to help callers with their personal problems. Along the way we meet a variety of small-town characters, like cantina owner Carlos Hernandez, who develops a problem with impotence; Madame Felix, owner of the local bordello, "The House of Gentlemanly Pleasures"; and Miguel Orozco, the mayor of Corazon de la Fuente, who senses Brinkley chipping away at his political power. Hough manages to take all of these characters beyond stereotypes and invest them with humanity and humor. Eventually, Brinkley impregnates Violeta and then takes it on the lam back to North Carolina, leaving her both seduced and abandoned. Hough slyly presents a cast of characters largely taken in by their own folly and gullibility.

COPYRIGHT(2012) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

November 15, 2012
The prosperity an American doctor's broadcasting service promises to bring a Mexican brothel town instead produces disaster in Dr. Brinkley's Tower. Novelist Hough has created a town of memorable individuals in the desert dust, replete with both personal and shared history. It's 1931, and con artist Dr. John Romulus Brinkley, purveyor of a goat-gland cure for impotence, builds the tower, bringing the first flush of hope to the town still bearing the scars of the revolution. There's a dignity to the people in the town, despite their poverty, so readers care desperately when the tower brings its changes. We come to inhabit the town, walking its avenues and smelling the cooking. Hough's employment of Spanish in context is not a barrier to understanding but, instead, enhances the flavor. Fans of Gabriel Garc-a Mrquez will recognize a touch of his lyricism, but this book is firmly grounded in reality. At the core of the richly interwoven stories is the search for the difference between false promise and real worth. Memorable historical fiction.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2012, American Library Association.)