Murder at the Dude Ranch is a thriller.  Love of family lands a young woman in over head with costly results.  I was drawn in by the hint of humor that lights the way through the red herrings that litter the canvas of drama. Carroll and company use your head to capture your heart and keep you guessing until the very end. 

DNF not quite halfway through. In the beginning I was impressed by the fine line this book walks between annoyance and charm. The word I thought of to best describe it was "rambunctious." Then I thought, "Will this 'rambunction' get old?" And it basically did. Or maybe I'm just not in the mood for satire of life 15+ years ago when the present is even crazier. Like, we're living a satire right now. I will say I enjoyed the physicality that Shteyngart revels in; that's rare. On the other hand, I could do without the meta quality, references to an author with a name like Shteyngart's who published a novel that sounds like his debut novel.

I wanted to like this book a lot more, however there's a male POV in it and of course he gets his Japanese name and a bunch of skills. He is basically the protagonist of the book even though we spend time with Spider Girl, who is not named.
The other girl in this book is also a monster and Katia of course is one of Shun former male classmates.
Basically women get screwed in this book. Could have had a female POV for the person that is going to be the hero.

It's no wonder that Yen Press even translated it as it's listed as Seinen. Since Yen Press hates women and hasn't even looked into any shoujo novels to bring over like Saiunkoku Monogatari, Earl and Fairy, etc.

I'm going to give this story one more book to get better. Otherwise I'm going to drop it.

So the mom had a stillbirth that made her unable to have any more children? Dude wrote this?

I mean I'm reading that yeah temporary infertility can happen but permanent? It just sounds like the author pulled something out of his ass because "women so mysterious!11" added to the fact that Japan has some of the BEST maternity care in the world and this just sounds fucking hokey.

This book put me in a bind: while I found the story and characters engaging, fun, even, there are aspects that offended me. As I read, I would wonder: "Is this attitude or behavior endorsed by the author, or just described by him in depicting this place and these personalities?" By the end, I decided that there are definite ideologies at work here, including the beliefs that when it comes to family, blood is all; that the younger generation is responsible for squandering the hard work of their parents'; and the conservative viewpoint that if one only works hard enough, one can be successful. Other troubling attitudes that are questioned by characters but nevertheless feel condoned by the narrative: blaming victims of rape or sexual coercion; treating women as objects; racism; masculine pride as more important than the lives of loved ones.

After I finished the book, I read several reviews as I tried to work out my opinion of it. These mention that Vargas Llosa won the Nobel Prize for Literature but that this may not be his best work; that he used to be a social progressive but became a conservative who ran for president of Peru; that some characters appear in other books of his; that some elements are based on real events and his own life.

The book is divided between two alternating and converging narratives with separate protagonists, both fitting the "discreet hero" label of the title. The stories take place in two different areas of Peru, one Lima, one provincial, and their plots appear to have no connection. When they link up, it's very satisfying, even though the connection is quite minor. Each plot has elements of a mystery-thriller that propel the story; I found it hard to put down. The characters are often charming and easy to root for (until they're not). In story one, a man who worked his way up from nothing and owns a transport company is anonymously threatened unless he pays for protection; he refuses. In story two, a man on the verge of retirement and a long-awaited trip with his wife and son finds his life upheaved when his wealthy boss decides to marry his servant to punish his errant sons; at the same time, the protagonist's teenaged son is being approached by a mysterious stranger who may or may not be real, the devil, an angel, or just the kid fucking with his parents (this last mystery is left ambiguous).

Other elements I enjoyed included the relationship between the second protagonist and his wife, his feelings about art's role in life, the police sergeant from the first story, and learning about Peruvian life across two settings.