Bruce Benderson

For this novel, the author of Kiss of the Spiderwoman invented an avant-garde narrative technique in which the two voices telling the story are actually fantasies of the main character. It's almost as if that character were witnessing a nonstop candid conversation about himself. We readers can see all the self-deception and vanity involved, and he can't. Puig was my friend and mentor, and we even worked together on a film project.