From Francis Levy Heartwood is really a work of "magical realism," aided and abetted by the elements of the plot dealing with the Ladino culture out of which its title character Gaspar Castillo is created. A la Marquez et al, the terrain is vast encompassing the pogroms of Russia and Eastern Europe, Jewish culture (including Cabalism), Romani culture (in the form of a sex siren named Minette) the Spanish Civil War and eventually Gaspar's immigration...