The Mutations, written by Jorge Comensal, is a funny book set in Mexico. The story is about Ramon Martinez. Ramon is 50 years old, a lawyer, an atheist, a married man and the father of two teenagers. He goes to the doctor because his tongue is painful and swollen. Eventually he finds out he has a cancerous tumor on his tongue and it has to be removed. Without his tongue he cannot speak or taste. He cannot work as a lawyer anymore. The story includes the reactions of his family, his maid, Elodia, his physician, his pathologist, and his therapist. This story sounds like it should be sad but it wasn't. Some parts were laugh out loud funny. His maid, Elodia, is very religious and she prays hard for him. To cheer him up she buys him a gift of a parrot that is missing half of it's feathers. Ramon's wife wants to get rid of the bird because of the potential for germ exposure. The parrot can talk and proceeds to utter a string of curses. Ramon thinks it is hilarious that his pious maid gave him a swearing bird and he really enjoys this gift above all others. The story of how Ramon faces his mortality is compelling and engaging.
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