I was truly anticipating reading this work as I had heard numerous positive things regarding Michener's books. However, I was extremely disappointed to discover that he had crafted a character who was the most dreadful sort of "explainer." This character never trusts the audience and perpetually requires an ignorant follower to elucidate the concepts within the book.

Just like in "The Paris Wife," this is a non-character who has secretly been at the core of all matters - yet also has to assert legitimacy by at various times claiming heritage from proud Spaniards of a noble lineage, to being a descendant of one of the princesses. He also happens to be related to a distinguished general from the civil war... and was present when General Gursa... Anyway, you get the gist.

I would not recommend this book. It fails to live up to the expectations set by the praise I had heard. The character's flaws and the convoluted nature of his backstory detract from the overall reading experience.

I must admit that after reading this book, I don't truly believe I have gained a profound understanding of the history or origins of Mexico.

While I did find the storytelling quite engaging, I was rather disappointed to notice that the way the story was presented seemed to have a somewhat ethnocentric perspective. It failed to comprehensively capture the essence of what it means to understand Mexico.

The ancient native cultures and civilizations that thrived in Mexico for countless centuries were merely a minor aspect of the narrative.

However, on a positive note, I did feel that I learned a great deal about bullfighting in the comprehensive manner that I had initially hoped for from this book.

Overall, the book had its strengths and weaknesses, but it left me longing for a more in-depth exploration of Mexico's rich history and diverse cultures.

Disappointing

After delving into a plethora of truly outstanding books, commencing with my very first, "Hawaii," and progressing through "Centennial" and "The Tales of the South Pacific," this particular work was a major letdown. It failed to captivate my attention to the same extent as its predecessors. I had anticipated a more in-depth exploration of history, rather than the predominant focus on bullfighting, which I have never regarded as a "noble" sport. The matador confronts an animal that has endured multiple stabbings by two distinct groups and is already debilitated by significant blood loss. It would be far more interesting to witness a confrontation with a truly healthy bull that has not been bled. This lackluster portrayal left me longing for a more engaging and informative narrative.

Finally, I have completed this book.

At the beginning, it was really great, but then it got stuck in the middle with the bullfighting saga. He really needed to rewrite the middle part of this book and condense it.

However, at page 400, the story picked up again and became a good read after that dull middle section.

The history of Mexico is a long and detailed epic, and it's not easy to cover because there are so many factions involved in the fight for control of Mexico.

Michener has done a relatively good job of describing all the cares and concerns of all the factions involved, including the Indigenous people, the Spaniards, the French and Germans, the North Americans, the priests and nuns, and the political power, as well as where and how that power was used.

Even though this book is about fictional places, I still recognized some themes, events, and places in it.

Overall, it was an interesting read despite its flaws in the middle.

This book is not about Hawaii.

The story takes place in a fictional town in Mexico, with characters who haven't even been born yet.

Just like Hawaii, the story and characters are fictional, and very few people in this world know the early history of Hawaii.

Regarding Mexico, many of us have some knowledge of its history.

However, this book wasn't even good historical fiction.

Michener is a talented writer, and I have read several of his books, but this particular one failed to excite me.

If someone enjoys teen silliness and bullfighting, then this might be the book for them.

Happy reading!

Extremely dark and gory, this work fails to provide a good overview or a favorable portrait of Mexico. If Michener's characterizations of the populace are accurate, it leaves one with a sickening feeling about Mexicans. The book consists of 646 pages filled with depictions of human sacrifice and torture, and then half of it is dedicated to the torture and sacrifice of bulls. Michener appears to take pleasure in the bloodshed of both, presenting them as essential to the history and life of Mexico. It's truly revolting.

One wonders if this is an accurate representation or if Michener has exaggerated these aspects for the sake of drama. The continuous focus on such gruesome and violent acts makes it difficult to see any redeeming qualities in the portrayal of Mexico. It makes one question whether there is more to the country and its people than what is presented here.

Perhaps a more balanced and nuanced view would have been beneficial, highlighting not only the darker aspects of Mexican history but also the rich culture, traditions, and the many positive contributions of the Mexican people. As it stands, this work leaves a rather negative impression and may deter some from further exploring the real Mexico.

We have heard about the famous bullfighting festival Ixmiq in the city of Toledo, Mexico. There, the local newspapers soar in the sky, regarding it as a potential culmination duel between two matadors. This duel could result in only one survivor, as one will strive to defeat the other with increasingly dangerous tricks. The journalist Norman Clay's superiors sent him to cover it and present it to the New York public.

The Ixmiq festival is not just an ordinary event. It is a display of courage, skill, and a test of wills. The matadors, with their red capes and sharp swords, enter the arena, ready to face the powerful bulls. The crowd holds its breath, eagerly anticipating the thrilling moments that are about to unfold.

Norman Clay, with his敏锐的观察力 and excellent writing skills, is determined to capture every detail of this exciting festival. He will document the intense battles, the emotions of the matadors and the crowd, and bring the essence of Ixmiq to the readers in New York. Through his reporting, people will be able to experience the excitement and drama of the bullfighting festival from afar.

What a b---S--t book!

I can understand the characters being fictitious, but the whole book is made up.

The historic native Indians are made up, and the city it all revolves around is completely made up.

The General Gurza character, who is so central to the action, is also completely made up.

Worse yet, this book is not about Mexico; it's about bullfighting.

On top of that, it's all about the made-up history of the fictitious central figure and his family history, which is so contrived as to be ridiculous.

There is no reason he could not have built his story around real history and given us something at least educational about Mexico.

I was so disgusted that I threw this book in the trash when I was finished.

This book fails to deliver on any level. It lacks authenticity and fails to provide any real value or insight.

It's a waste of time and money, and I would not recommend it to anyone.

Authors should strive to create works that are both entertaining and educational, and this book falls far short of that mark.

Hopefully, future books will do a better job of engaging readers and providing them with a worthwhile reading experience.

Perhaps the one book that took me the longest to read was this one. It took me three weeks of active reading.

But one thing I wouldn't do is stop. It has 646 pages of grandeur, history, and a vivid journey through geography, folklore, bullfighting terminology and the fights, and much more.

At times, it made me pause and retrace the journey through Google maps. I wanted to find out how the Spaniards travelled to Mexico for colonization and read more about the Spanish Inquisition.

History has always been barbaric, and we never seem to learn. Man has always been in a quest to rule completely, encompassing the entire population.

The first part of the book revolved around bullfighting, introducing me to a whole lot of splendor and visual cinematography.

The second section was more all-encompassing. It was almost as if you were with the generations witnessing all of the happenings. Especially the unimaginable lives led by tribes down in the caverns at the Mineral, the conquests, the Inquisition and its shocking consequences, and the tribes evolving from the Builder people, Altomecs to the current generations.

A very long book, no doubt. It may be difficult for some, but it is interesting, informative, and engrossing nonetheless. I will definitely be picking up more of Michener's works, but after a break!

October 15, 2008

This is temporary I hope - I haven't finished this yet, partly due to an unwillingness to go on to watch a bullfight even on paper, what with the very evocative writings of this author.

He truly brings alive the history of the continent, of the indigenous and their encounters with the invading marauders who assumed supremacy due to colour and size. The change from a once flourishing civilization that not much is known now about, to one in a constant state of flux with various military and other regimes and neighbours looking down on the nation that was once great in various achievements is vividly described.

But reading this made one aware of much of the world that one is generally unlikely to know about, and the history is sometimes - often more often than not so, amazing; and then again a little off-putting in the concepts about bloodshed.

And then the fights themselves, while reading this I found an unasked question being answered, though it was not mentioned here - not as far as I read. One always wonders why torture an innocent animal like this, one that can be far more useful and friendly too, unlike dangerous ones that can turn into human-hunters, although mostly even they do so usually by accident.

And I wondered if it was not a necessity of food, and the difficulty of killing a bull in prime without a fight, that began as a needful activity and turned into a spectator sport. Else it makes very little sense really.

Various people that go throwing paint on fur coats have not paid attention to this and other cruelty to animals on an everyday basis is also due to this - it is easy to shout against a luxury of a few that kills a few animals, but difficult to protest against the food of many. This is all the more so, especially when huge financial interests are involved, the butchers (who have taken to call themselves farmers, as if they and not the animals are responsible for the cattle reproduction, which is not a sowing and harvest, it is a mammal reproduction of the species) and the markets that sell and the chains that serve it.

So the protest against mink coats that makes no sense to a vegetarian might be really a token by an awakening mind and consciousness that nevertheless weighs carefully the consequences - if you protest against any chains serving burgers, you might be thrown in jail or worse, asylum; while throwing paint on a coat you couldn't afford anyway is treated lightly, the rich one might be induced to buy another one after all!

It is a fight they pick carefully, and do not even protest the leather shoes or bags or briefcases when those have become unnecessary. And of course those are the least of it all - if you are going to eat a huge quantity of animals in a culture what do you do with the leftovers? The least is leather goods manufacture, which in fact can be done even without the eating part - after all the animals are going to die one day, on their own.

It is far easier to protest the killing of foxes in distant regions where their roaming is not a threat to your children and your pets and your barn animals.

October 15, 2008
............................................

December 9, 2010.

Finally one gets over the reluctance to go through a gory death or two, certainly of the innocent animals involved who are bred and brought up only so that they can be murdered for sport, never mind the honour of being mounted on walls of owners and breeders with pride about how they fought well, but also of the men involved in the killing of the animals, occasionally - after all it is an honourable way to kill the poor animals tricked into the arena to be killed, only with swords and other similar weapons rather than with a bullet at a distance safe enough for the killer.

Having sealed oneself to any sensibility of the gore involved, one proceeds to go through the rest of the book and it proves more rewarding with a history of Mexico along with the related parts of history of Spain, US, church, and so forth. It is a letdown to accidentally read the acknowledgement at the end to find that a good deal of it is "fiction" as stated by the writer, but then again, that is about specific people and names mentioned, including that of the city of Toledo in Mexico. Other parts however are perfectly true, such as the inquisition in Europe in general and Spain in particular. Palafoxes might be fiction, but the burning of dissenters by the church is as real and historical as bullfights or the civil war of the US.

That being the case, the initial uncanny feeling one gets while reading the history of Mexico, (with the history of its primitive and beastly nomadic tribals from northern parts creeping closer to and overtaking the far superior civilisation of the Builders who have grown too peaceful to resist the vicious onslaught due precisely to the vastly superior civilisation they have achieved - they have built, are peaceful, have civil administration, and other amenities and achievements more than comparable to any other of the period in the world - and the subsequent subjugation and massacre of the superior civilisation by the wilder tribes from the north before the wild tribes settle down, adopt ways of the subjugated ones and absorb their culture and achievements and proceed to be civilised and build on top of the ruins they brought about), that it is all too similar enough to the history of Asia (what with tribes of Mongolia and central Asia descending on India and reigning havoc with destruction and massacres before settling down and adopting much of Indian culture including superior buildings albeit built over the destroyed older ones), is all too easily explained after all. It is perhaps a coincidence of history after all, with similar events occurring clear across the world, but it is just as likely a history of another land written by someone more familiar with the more famous history of a much older civilisation overrun by tribes of Mongolia, central Asia, Arabia and then Europe, just as it happened perhaps in Mexico. The Goddess described by Michener with revulsion might be a fact of Mexican history, and then again his description might just be the reaction of Europe to images of Kaalie the Mother Goddess worshiped in India, a reaction that stems through a total absence of perception and comprehension. Certainly the description and the reaction is all too similar, with the difference of the thought that all such images stem from imagination rather than a greater perception of reality, for how could anyone with a more than feeble colour of visage and less than totally vicious lack of regard for others have any superiority of mind and spirit, goes the reasoning.

All this from a source that has historically brutal massacres of any dissenters merely for the reason of dissent, massacres held valid while dissent held abominable even now with the usage of words and terminology describing the inquisition, the burning at stakes, the subjugation and conversion of other people, and so forth including the enslaving of almost three continents and the looting of their wealth while sneering at the people impoverished thereby. It is almost a vicious satire on the thinking of the dominant races that preach of their supposedly superior idols and the murders, massacres and slavery of others in the name of a philosophy of love and kindness, all the while boasting of their horror at idols of others who in fact are far more of the civilised and achieved people in terms of mind and spirit.

.....................................................

Europe had gunpowder - from China - while Mexico and southern civilisations had astronomy, architecture, and much more; the meeting of the two civilisations resulted in havoc reigned on the latter by the former. Admission of all this is covered with equivocation by the descriptions of human sacrifices by a fictional tribe in a fictional city and building of structures of civil society over an already established city while stealing its valuable minerals - silver in this case - in the book; much of the fiction is only fiction re specific names, while the general history is all too real, only taken from various sources in Mexico and perhaps subconsciously from Asia as well.

The greatest virtue of the book is in the fact that one wishes to go on reading about the history of Mexico and various other parts of the continent of what is so falsely termed "New World" - twenty thousand years of life in the continent, including nearly a millennia of familiarity to Nordic Europe what with Viking settlements in Canada and as far south as Boston, is hardly what one would call "new", unless compared to far more ancient civilisations of Asia such as India or China - and this even apart from the dismay at the discovery of the author's declaration that the specifics herein are "fiction". So next one finishes the other book, not declared fiction by the author of that one but on the contrary one that questions the popular and assiduously propagated versions of history, by Hancock.

One nice point is the beginning of a consciousness in humans of the brains of cattle with the fast learning ability, all too similar to humans; another is about the genealogical relationship of qualities received from the parents - physical abilities from father, courage from mother. Put the two together, it is not difficult to understand how those that live with cattle in harmony rather than a relationship of slavery have a regard for the cattle, brought about by the perceived and understood qualities of gentle and yet strong, courageous species with an ability to understand, an ability to learn and love and more, all too like humans. And if this perception is allowed to filter through the ego it has to lead to the destruction of misogyny - for a clear evidence of qualities of cows compared with bulls has to lead anyone not too stupid to question if the inferiority of the human female is not an invention of male institutions of church and other sort to subjugate and enslave half of humanity for selfish purposes rather than an actual perception of qualities and differences thereof.

**"More Fiction Than History"**

This statement implies that a particular work or account leans more towards the realm of fiction rather than being a strictly accurate portrayal of historical events.

It suggests that the elements of imagination and creativity have been given more prominence than the adherence to historical facts.

Without sex, violence, or foul language, the piece likely presents a more tame and perhaps even sanitized version of the story.

It might focus on other aspects such as character development, relationships, or the exploration of ideas.

However, this lack of certain elements does not necessarily mean that the work is any less engaging or interesting.

It could offer a unique perspective and allow the reader to focus on the essence of the narrative without being distracted by more sensational or graphic details.

Overall, "More fiction than history" with the absence of sex, violence, and foul language can still provide an enjoyable and thought-provoking reading experience.

Michener is known for using certain plot devices to focus his epic tales on a specific region. In this instance, he makes use of the bullfight. To understand the impact of the indigenous people and Spaniards on the fictional town of Toledo, located northwest of Mexico City, the reader has to immerse themselves in the background of Mexican bullfighting, especially the events of a three-day festival in 1961. Just like his other books, Michener's research is thorough and detailed. However, he takes a step that this reader finds hard to accept: romanticizing such a brutal sport. Although he does include the violence, the emphasis on the bravery of the matador and the bull still makes this a rather problematic narrative. It seems that while Michener attempts to present a comprehensive picture, his glorification of the bullfight overshadows some of the more disturbing aspects of the sport.