The novel is praised for its stylish prose and compelling teenage narrator, offering a hardboiled noir story set in Argentina with a richly depicted criminal underworld.
This review highlights the novel’s success through its stylish writing and vivid setting, especially emphasizing the teenage perspective of Ambar, which adds depth and authenticity to the narrative. The plot’s gritty noir elements and the father-daughter dynamic are compelling, though the father’s secrecy sometimes makes the story initially confusing, the unfolding narrative reveals a tense and violent quest for vengeance that is both gripping and impactful. The review appreciates the rawness and realism of the story, as well as the mythic reputation of the father in the Argentine underworld, which adds layers to the crime fiction genre.
Quick quotes
My Favorite Scar is a success, made memorable by its stylish prose, its foreign location, but mostly by its teenage narrator.
Victor has a fearsome, almost mythic, reputation within the Argentinian underworld as a violent survivor, but not as somebody who will ever hold real power.
Threats and actual violence do eventually get him the information he seeks – but not without bringing attention to himself.