Summary

The novel’s protagonist and narrator, Gustavo Sánchez Sánchez, nicknamed “Highway,” introduces himself as “the best auctioneer in the world” (5), and he says that the story of the novel is “the story of my teeth” (5). Gustavo was born in Pachuca, Mexico, with four teeth already in his infant mouth. Shortly after his birth, he and his parents moved to the Mexican city of Ecatepec. His mother worked as a cleaning woman, and his father did not work at all. Gustavo recalls his father’s habit of chewing off bits of his fingernails and spitting them across the room. Gustavo would save these pieces of fingernails in an envelope. Gustavo says that his father is now dead, his ashes scattered in Pachuca. Gustavo recalls his first job working at a newspaper stand at the age of 8. Gustavo was often tasked with checking on...