Located across the U.S Mexican border in Ciudad Juarez, Mariscal Street otherwise known as the Boulevard of Broken Dreams harbors Donald O Donovan s quintessential character, Jerzy Mulvaney, as he unsuccessfully courts the Tarantula Woman a prostitute named Ysela with a tattoo of a tarantula on her left shoulder blade She is just one of many women in one man s unapologLocated across the U.S Mexican border in Ciudad Juarez, Mariscal Street otherwise known as the Boulevard of Broken Dreams harbors Donald O Donovan s quintessential character, Jerzy Mulvaney, as he unsuccessfully courts the Tarantula Woman a prostitute named Ysela with a tattoo of a tarantula on her left shoulder blade She is just one of many women in one man s unapologetic and aimless existence in Mexico where each day brings another round of whorehouses, drunken stupors, odd jobs, eruptions of violence and encounters with equally directionless individuals.Not since Charles Bukowski s Factotum has a transgressive autobiographical novel touched upon with such rawness the everyday realities of a modern day American desperado Yet somewhere in the midst of all the strident nihilism, O Donovan s alter ego, Jerzy Mulvaney, manages to stumble upon an ambition of sorts to become a real Mexican I wanted to destroy whatever remained of my identity, my American identity to melt down into a primal being, because the greatest thing is to be unknown, anonymous, and truly free Rather than a work of fiction, Tarantula Woman is a refreshingly honest document that subtly addresses such essential subjects as life, love, death and the challenge of simply being.