Exactly how steamy is this story?
NC-17
There is an entire compound of half naked, overworked prostitutes that the narrator constantly visits in this novel. How do you think it should be rated? Even though there's no actual sex, it's actually at the center of everything that happens in this novel. Besides Angela's deflowering, there are the prostitutes we already talked about and the intergenerational molestation and rape of the women in Victoria Guzmán's family.
So yeah, a lot of sex. But despite that, none of it is actually very sexy or romantic. That might be because love is not a very large part of this book. We're not saying that love is a necessary part of sex, but the characters don't even seem to be enjoying all of the intercourse that they are having. If that's the case, what's the point?