It’s a good story and I did enjoy it.

However, having read a few other Mitchener novels, it’s not the book about Mexico I was anticipating.

As expected, there is a lot of research involved.

But there are some fictional elements that I was disappointed in.

Mexico has an incredibly complex history of events and characters, and I was really looking forward to learning about them.

So I’m not sure why there was so much fictionalization.

Nonetheless, I did enjoy the description of the art of bullfighting and the Matadors.

I wish I had had this understanding and appreciation when I saw my one and only bull fight 40 years ago.

Cheers.

Overall, while the story had its merits, it didn't quite meet my expectations in terms of presenting the true essence of Mexico's rich history.

Perhaps if there had been less fictionalization and more focus on the real events and people, it would have been a more satisfying read for me.

Nevertheless, I still appreciate the author's efforts and the interesting aspects that were included.

Maybe I'll give another Mitchener novel a try in the future to see if it can better fulfill my expectations.

Finished “Mexico,” by James Mitchener. I found it truly fascinating.

It has been a long time since I last read Mitchener. He was incredibly prolific and wildly popular in the last century!

His books always manage to encompass the extended histories of people, places, and times. Yet, his writing has this unique quality that always seems to hold you firmly in the particular moment.

The setting for this book is Mexico in the early 1960s. As a result, some of the language, attitudes, and actions may come across as a bit dated. However, the deep immersion in the history of Mexico is timeless.

Here's a warning: bullfighting is an essential element of the plot. But Mitchener uses it in a very interesting way to drive home the wonder and complexity of the conflicting forces that have shaped Mexican history up to this day. It makes you think about how the past continues to influence the present and how different aspects of a culture can both clash and coexist.

I have a profound love for historical fiction and have delved deep into the annals of Asian, African, North American, and European history. My particular interest lies in the 20th century, especially World War II. I thoroughly enjoyed the movie adaptation of Hawaii, yet for some unknown reason, I never got around to picking up a Michener book, despite hearing numerous great things about them.

I have been facing great difficulties in completing the first quarter of this book. It centers around the narrator, Norman Clay, a half-Mexican journalist covering a bullfight in the fictional city of Toledo. Clay recalls a bloody incident from his youth under the tyranny of either Huerta or Diaz (unfortunately, I can't quite remember), which occurred sometime before WWI. He then moves to the U.S. to attend an Ivy League college, following the tradition of his paternal side of the family. His father, an American Southerner, bought a ranch in Mexico in the late 1800s and married a local woman. After college, Clay remains in the U.S. as an employee of a prestigious newspaper and thus returns to his homeland.

If you have a penchant for bullfighting or Hemingway, this novel might be for you. However, I have no interest in either, and I was eagerly awaiting to learn more about the Aztecs and the Incas. Sadly, they are only briefly mentioned, with the only information being that they were very advanced peoples and did not incorporate human sacrifice until much later (but when exactly and why remains a mystery). Then it's back to the bullfighting.

As a result of my disappointment and lack of interest, I turned to Amazon to understand why I wasn't captivated by this story. It turns out that I'm not alone. Many reviewers have expressed their disillusionment with this tale. One reviewer speculated that since Michener completed this work in his 80s and it was his last before his death, perhaps he wasn't able to give his best effort. He had started it 30 years earlier and abandoned it. I suspect this might be the reason, as the story seems to meander without a clear direction, especially when it comes to Mexico's history, aside from the significance of bullfighting. Many of Michener's fans have also expressed disappointment in the lack of historical facts and cohesiveness. I must concur. I was anticipating a rich and detailed history of the people of this region, who had a profound impact not only in Central America but throughout the Americas. Michener, through Clay, makes a similar point and offers a few sentences about how Mexico was advanced in its functioning before the arrival of the Spaniards. This is precisely what I was hoping to hear about!

I may return to this book at another time, but after listening to more than 3 discs, I find myself distracted by more interesting stories.

I liked the narrator of the audio book, but I wasn't intrigued, which I suspect has more to do with the content he was reading rather than his storytelling ability.

Mexico was an incredibly interesting place.

I had the opportunity to learn about the diverse makeup of the people, which was truly fascinating.

The way Michener incorporated bullfighting into the narrative was also very intriguing.

It made me view this traditional rite from a different perspective.

Surprisingly, I came away with a feeling of appreciation for the rite itself, something I had not anticipated before.

The rich culture and history of Mexico, as presented through Michener's work, left a lasting impression on me.

I now have a deeper understanding and respect for this beautiful country and its unique traditions.

I look forward to exploring more of Mexico in the future and continuing to learn about its people and their way of life.

Not really bad, but different from other Michener's novels.

This is mostly a novel about bullfighting, with little historical sketches here and there. It seems that the historical details aren't quite right. For example, see this review from 1993: https://archive.seattletimes.com/arch...

The story mainly focuses on the world of bullfighting, delving into the lives and experiences of the bullfighters. However, the incorporation of historical elements feels a bit disjointed and inaccurate.

Perhaps Michener was more interested in exploring the drama and excitement of the bullfighting arena rather than presenting a completely accurate historical account.

Nevertheless, the novel still manages to capture the essence of bullfighting and its cultural significance.

It may not be one of Michener's best works in terms of historical accuracy, but it offers a unique perspective on a fascinating subject.

Readers who are interested in bullfighting or are fans of Michener's writing may still find this novel worth reading, despite its flaws.

I truly relished this book.

The plot line was extremely captivating. It had a certain charm that kept me hooked from the very beginning.

Not only that, but the writing was superb. The author, Michener, had an incredible talent for weaving in numerous different stories.

He managed to do this in a cohesive and utterly fascinating manner. It was as if all the individual storylines came together to form a beautiful and seamless tapestry.

I am absolutely certain that I will read more books by Michener. His writing style and ability to create engaging and complex narratives have left a lasting impression on me.

I look forward to delving into more of his works and experiencing the wonderful worlds he creates.

I highly recommend this book to anyone who enjoys a good read. It is a must-read for fans of literature and those who appreciate a well-crafted story.

I read a significant portion of this book during my very first week in Mexico. It offers a fascinating exploration of the unique culture of Mexico by intertwining the combined histories of its native and Spanish peoples. The author makes extensive use of the art of bullfighting as a powerful metaphor to convey various aspects of the culture. This book is truly more captivating than the other works of his that I have had the pleasure of reading. What I particularly appreciate is that, for once, the moral that typically emerges in the last 50 pages feels more personal. It involves the narrator, who bears a resemblance to Michener himself, acting upon his own inspiration. Now, I find myself having to be cautious and catch myself before referencing his fictional city of Toledo and other fictional elements as if they were historical realities.

Well, I guess I was truly the perfect audience for this book. I've perused numerous reviews where people were let down by Michener in this particular work, but I couldn't hold a more contrary opinion.

You see, I was approximately 14 when I delved into this book, and at that time, my appetite for all things literary was insatiable. I would often get lectured by my teachers for paying less heed to my current lessons and more attention to the current chapter of whatever book I had clandestinely stashed in my desk.

Who knows? Maybe I was simply easily captivated and charmed by the intricate narratives and vivid characters, not fully grasping what kind of technical writing does or doesn't make a great book. Perhaps I simply need to reread it through the eyes of my currently disillusioned, hard-to-please adult self, rather than the wide-eyed and curious kid eager to learn about the world around them. Although that seems to speak more to the crime of adulthood slowly strangling the wonderment and simple joy of childhood out of people than to acquiring any worthwhile knowledge.

But I digress.

I adored this book. The only instance I put it aside was when I was too fatigued to keep my eyes open. Maybe I had the advantage of this being the very first Michener book I ever read, and thus I wasn't consciously or unconsciously comparing it to some literary behemoth of a book that was impossible to live up to. I still have no inclination to compare it to his other works. The only thing they have in common is the author. It's not a series, it doesn't share any characters or storylines, so why make the comparison? Perhaps it's inevitable, but if you attempt to read it, not because you want to see how it measures up against his other books, but simply because you read the dust jacket and found it fascinating, if you view it from that perspective, then perhaps you'll discover that you love it as much as I do.

I'm aware that some people are bored by certain parts of it, but I just know that when I read this book as a child, I could sense Michener's love for the real people and places through the fictional ones he crafted. And so, I fell in love with a culture and people in this book that were so markedly different from my own. It made me view real people with a broader perspective, realizing that what I thought was "struggling" was nowhere near genuine suffering. It conveys that difference should be celebrated and embraced, and that cultures should be shared rather than segregated.

I can't provide a detached, impartial review of this book because I fell in love with it, and I did so through the eyes of a child whose vision was widened a little for the better by it. Maybe the viewpoint of a child regarding his book wouldn't have mattered to Michener compared to that of some renowned book critic, but if it did, I would say that if an author can offer that to someone, then they can consider their work a success.

I’m a big fan of James Michener. His works have always fascinated me with their in-depth exploration of various cultures and histories. However, I have to say that this book was not his best.

Michener had a remarkable ability to seamlessly blend history, geography, and culture into engaging stories. He did a great job with Mexico, and I initially enjoyed the result of his efforts. But I have to admit that this “novel” didn't reach the high standard of excellence he achieved in works like _Alaska_, _The Caribbean_, _Hawaii_, and _Space_.

It's difficult to imagine that a subject could be too big for Michener, but perhaps the history of Mexico is just that vast and complex. He tried to make the story personal for his North American audience by creating an American journalist in 1961 with a convoluted ancestry. This journalist was supposedly a descendant of a scholar executed by the Inquisition in Spain, an Indigenous Priestess who led her people to Christianity, and a family famous for their fighting bulls in Mexico. The whole setup felt a bit forced.

Moreover, the explanation of how this American with such a complex ancestry ended up in Mexico was also a stretch. His grandfather was an American Confederate soldier who fought in Mexico under Winfield Scott and then fled to Mexico after the Civil War to avoid living under the Union. It all seemed a bit too much.

In some ways, time has not been kind to this book. Michener's Mexico is stuck in the 1960s, and the past 50 years have brought significant changes to the country. His fascination with bullfighting and his apparent admiration for certain aspects that I found jarring, such as the Confederacy and the Mexican upper class, made the book feel a bit dated.

This was written late in his career, just a few years before his death. Maybe he had indeed lost some of his extraordinary storytelling powers. Overall, while I still respect Michener as a writer, this book was not one of his finest achievements.

This epic story penned by James A. Michener revolves around an American journalist. He is dispatched to Mexico to cover the annual festival.

This festival will incorporate bullfights starring two renowned fighters. These fighters hail from the two disparate cultures of this land. The Spaniard and the Indian stand as representatives of the two cultures that have clashed throughout history.

The reporter, Norman Clay, who was born and raised in Toledo, Mexico, where the festival occurs, seizes this opportunity to reflect upon the stories that have been handed down through the ages. Through them, the reader is transported back in time to bear witness to the often brutal history that has shaped the culture.

This is a long book, yet it is eminently worth the time invested in reading this captivating story. It offers a profound exploration of the complex tapestry of cultures and their intertwined histories, making it a truly engaging and thought-provoking read.

I didn't truly peruse the entire book.

I only read the initial 100 pages, yet it was all centered around bull fighting.

I have no affinity for bull fighting.

Consequently, I gave up reading it.

Perhaps if the subject matter had been more to my liking, I would have continued.

However, the description of the bull fighting scenes just didn't appeal to me.

I found myself losing interest quickly.

It's a shame really, as the book might have had other interesting aspects further along.

But based on what I read in those first 100 pages, I simply couldn't bring myself to continue.

Maybe another time I'll pick up a different book that catches my attention more.

In the 1980s, as James Michener was in the process of finalizing a novel in Austin, where I also resided, I penned a letter to him. In that letter, I earnestly requested if he would kindly consider writing about Mexico.

I had spent several years living in Mexico and was perpetually captivated by its multi-faceted history. I firmly believed that it had the potential to serve as an excellent subject for a Michener novel.

Shortly after dispatching the letter to him, his book on Mexico was published. As it turned out, the manuscript was largely complete, and thus it didn't require a significant amount of time to finalize. I like to entertain the thought that he heeded my advice, although he never responded to my letter, and perhaps he didn't even read it. Oh, well. Nevertheless, I still choose to think that way.

"Mexico" is indeed an interesting book, worthy of a solid 4-star rating.