ABOUT
THE BOOK

Highway is a late-in-life world traveller, yarn spinner, collector, and legendary auctioneer. His most precious possessions are the teeth of the ‘notorious infamous’ like Plato, Petrarch, and Virginia Woolf. Written in collaboration with the workers at a Jumex juice factory, Teeth is an elegant, witty, exhilarating romp through the industrial suburbs of Mexico City and Luiselli’s own literary influences.

Comments from the judges

Valeria Luiselli and Christina MacSweeney have created an extraordinary novel that addresses the value of art and authenticity. Narrator Gustavo “Highway” Sánchez Sánchez plays fast and loose with the truth in his job as “the best auctioneer in the world”, selling off anything and everything including his own teeth. The lots’ value, we learn, depends on the stories attached to them. Unfortunately, Gustavo’s past catches up with him and he ends up locked inside an art gallery, but he gets his own back in the end. Luiselli’s delightfully playful book was written in collaboration with Mexico City factory workers and genuinely sparkles in Christina MacSweeney’s lively translation. The translator has also appended her own chapter, taking an innovative and entertaining approach to the problem of cultural and historical references that might otherwise get lost along the way. A real adventure in writing with an affectionately drawn rogue of a hero.