Poor Man's Wealth

If I enjoyed author Rod Ushers A Man of Marbles then I enjoyed this one just as much. This is an easy read that contains “a wise and witty tale” just as the cover blurb says.

Told in the first person by the mayor of a poor, dusty, small and obscure village called Higot that has little going for it in an unnamed Latin speaking country. El Gordo, the mayor, perpetrates a hoax to try and get the village heading towards a wealthier future. El Gordo is the benefactor of a 23,000 book library left to him by an upper class Englishman who lived in the village for 7 years with his butler. This led to friendship between them, with El Gordo learning English from what little he understood of the strange utterances of both the Englishman and via the books left to him.

This leads to a very wittily told tale that mixes, for example, English poetry and colloquialisms with some Spanish words that had me laughing out loud on several occasions, such was the clever wit. This was not meant to be making fun of a Spanish speaker attempting to speak English by the author. Of an Australian background with a Spanish wife and living in Spain, Rod Usher has I suspect noticed that English is not that easy to understand for those of another lingo.

Thematically there is a lot covered from depression, the power of the written word, a changing world, greed and love.

There is one other theme that would in fact give the plot away, and I am certainly not going to do that other than recommend this very good book to those that wish to know what poor man's wealth is.


I sprang to the stirrup, and Joris, and he;
I galloped, Dirck galloped, we galloped all three;
‘Good speed!'' cried the watch, as the gate-bolts undrew;
‘Speed!' echoed the wall to us galloping through;
Behind shut the postern, the lights sank to rest,
And into the midnight we galloped abreast.