Not much is written about bullfighting in this book, and that's why it gets 3 stars.

If you have read Michener before, you'll know that many of his books trace the history of a family. In this case, the family has Spanish, Indian, and American roots. The historical aspect is truly fascinating, although the part about bullfighting is not as engaging.

The American connection comes from an expatriated Confederate from the Richmond, Virginia area. Overall, it's a decent read, but it just seems to be missing something. Maybe it's a more in-depth exploration of the characters or a more detailed account of the historical events. Nevertheless, it's still an interesting book that offers a unique perspective on history and family.

Because I have Mexican heritage. My father was born on the border of Mexico, in Brownsville. I am extremely curious about my heritage. I even had my DNA analyzed, and it turns out I have a significant amount of Spanish ancestry. This book is quite informative. It's a historical novel about Clay, a journalist who also has half Mexican ancestry.

I found it a bit too verbose and overly bloody. I was already aware of human sacrifices and bullfighting, but I really had to skip through some of the vivid descriptions. I truly don't understand how anyone could rationalize the killing of an animal that has no choice but to fight for its survival. This was also something done by the Spaniards. The protagonist was a descendant of Lady Gray Eyes, a matriarch and the first Christian, who believed in the love and gentleness of Jesus and Mary and felt betrayed when she discovered that the Spaniards were as brutal as the Mexicans. It is a very good book, but I find it disheartening that our ancestors, and perhaps all cultures, were and still are so bloodthirsty.

When American journalist Norman Clay departs for Mexico to cover the highly anticipated major bullfight in the city of Toledo, little does the world know that he is, in fact, returning to his roots.

Clay is the grandson of a Confederate soldier who fled to Mexico and married an Indian/Spaniard woman. He was born in Toledo, where his family owned and operated a prosperous silver mine.

As he covers the event, Clay weaves a captivating narrative, recounting the rich history of Mexico through a series of seemingly disparate juxtapositions. The ancient pyramid stands in contrast to the imposing basilica, the silver mine against the powerful volcano, and the Union against the Confederacy.

These contrasts build up to a climactic moment when two of Mexico's finest bullfighters, one of Indian descent and the other of European origin, square off in what is predicted to be the greatest bullfight of all time. Through Clay's eyes, we witness the ongoing struggle between the Mexican Indian and the European emigré, a struggle that has shaped the nation's history and continues to define its present.

As the bullfight unfolds, we are left on the edge of our seats, eagerly awaiting the outcome and the resolution of the many conflicts that Clay has so masterfully presented.

I started reading this book before embarking on a trip to the Copper Canyon section of Mexico.

The book is a typical James Michener work - it is long and combines elements of history with a present-day story.

The current-day story in the book focuses on bull-fighting, which is an interesting aspect.

However, the historical part of the book deals with native Mexican (Indian) communities, Spanish immigrants and conquerors, and a few ex-pat Confederate soldiers.

Although these stories were engaging, they didn't provide any specific insights into the areas I was planning to visit.

As a result, it took me a rather long time to complete the book, and it also dampened my initial enthusiasm for it.

I was hoping for a more in-depth exploration of the Copper Canyon region, but unfortunately, this book didn't quite meet my expectations in that regard.

Nevertheless, it still offered some interesting perspectives on Mexican history and culture in general.

Perhaps if I had read it without the specific context of my upcoming trip, I might have enjoyed it more.

Overall, it was an okay read, but not one that I would highly recommend for those specifically interested in the Copper Canyon area.

Yet another Michener book of the historical epic variety, Mexico stands out with an unusual distinction. Despite its early sixties setting, which is rather late compared to some of his other works, it combines a conventional plot with the typical historical overview. It's not just a frame narrative like in Centennial and Poland. Instead, it has an actual story of its own, set in a modern if not quite contemporary context. This provides a unique perspective on the other stories from throughout Mexican, Spanish, and American history that make up the rest of the book. For veteran Michener readers, it's like what would happen if Centennial and Caravans got chocolate and peanut butter in each other's chocolate and peanut butter. It took me three months to get through this book, but that's my fault, not the book's. Like any Michener book worth the effort, it should be read with respect and a great deal of free time. The narrative experiment was interesting, and I learned more about bullfighting from this book than from nine years of reading Hemingway. Highly recommended for any non-faint-of-heart Michener fan.

Ever since I met James Michener at Liz Carpenter's house in the Westlake neighborhood of Austin, I've been intrigued. I was 15 or 16 and a playmate of Carpenter's nephew. I once heard Lady Bird Johnson and Jimmy Carter sing and play the piano there. Michener seemed so legendary, like a relic in a good way, a walking memento of a better time. He was a contemporary of John Huston, which made me think of some of my favorite movies set in Mexico, like "Night of the Iguana" and "Treasure of the Sierra Madre". All those stars lived in the lovely village of Taxco southwest of Mexico City. So I thought I'd give Michener's "Mexico" a try.

I was in Guanajuato for three weeks last summer. Coincidentally, the fictional town of Toledo in the novel is partly modeled on that picturesque old mining town. I was in the right frame of mind, that nostalgic American or tourist colonial state of mind. But I was pretty disappointed. I was hooked for the first 150 pages or so, but then it wore me down. I couldn't understand why he made up so much stuff, not just about Toledo but also most of the history and geography. He clearly loved and respected Mexico, so why not engage with the real place more?
His writing style is good, engaging and not brash or chauvinistic like Bellow's. His narrative weaving is sometimes interesting. But the whole is much less than the sum of its parts. I never could muster much sympathy for the project or his method of piecing it together, whatever that was.

It's a shame, really, because I wanted to like it. Maybe I'll give Michener another chance with a different book. But for now, "Mexico" just didn't do it for me.

I truly enjoyed reading about historical events through the lens of the lives of a few families.

It was a fascinating experience as it allowed me to see history not as a series of dry facts and dates, but as a living, breathing story.

The struggles, joys, and triumphs of these families brought the past to life in a way that textbooks never could.

I was able to understand the impact of historical events on ordinary people and how they coped with the challenges and changes that came their way.

It also made me realize that history is not just about the actions of great leaders and generals, but about the everyday lives of countless individuals.

By reading about these families, I gained a deeper appreciation for the complexity and richness of the past.

It was a wonderful way to learn about history and I would highly recommend it to anyone who is interested in understanding the world we live in today.

Imagine you pen a grinding, repetitive novel. The characters are as flat as cardboard, and the theme revolves around bullfighting, which is supposed to be a metaphor for the blending of Spanish and Indian culture in Mexico. This goes on for hundreds of pages.

Now, fast forward thirty years. Bullfighting is not only illegal in many places in Mexico but may soon be illegal nationwide. Some would say you couldn't have been more wrong. And that's precisely what James Michener did with this plodding novel that leans on sentimentalism and clichés to depict Mexico. It's an utter mess.

Then, to make matters worse, all of his characters - and I truly mean all of them - are virtuous, innate geniuses with superior insights into human nature. They are the most tedious and annoying bunch you'll ever encounter in Michener's work. Take, for example, the American oil millionairess from Oklahoma, the ever-petulant Penny, a 17-year-old know-it-all who miraculously matures while witnessing men slaughter bulls and bulls maim men. And there's also Mrs. Evans, 65 years old, always on the lookout for some young outcast to rescue and mold into what she imagines as great potential.

Finally, there's Michener himself. In this book, he reminds me of the irritating tourist who returns from a foreign country with his nose in the air, eager to tell everyone how he knows the "real" Mexico, which the rest of you timid cowards, afraid to follow in his footsteps, will never understand.

James Michener was an outstanding author.

Whether you favored most of his work or not, the research he dedicated to his books was truly astonishing.

Not only were many of his books over 800 - 900 pages long, but those pages were filled with丰富的 information.

His books were not for beginners, nor could one quickly read through one of his works over a weekend.

The majority of his books were actually about places rather than people.

Notice titles like Alaska, Poland, Texas, Chesapeake, and this one too.

Although his work was fictional, he had the remarkable ability to use a location as the main character of his stories.

He would tell stories of characters who lived in the particular location, sometimes stretching back thousands of years.

Usually, the book would start in or near present day, with a historian, teacher, author, etc. arriving at a location, reflecting a bit on the place, and then Michener would transport us to the past and the real "story" would begin.

Typically, Michener would tell about eight or ten different tales, each jumping to the next by about a century, with mostly new characters, yet they were somehow connected to those in the previous section.

In a sense, we would almost get a family history.

Again, though, it was the geographic location that was really the main focus and served as the foundation for the stories throughout the pages.

Mexico was one of Michener's last books.

He was well into his eighties, and unfortunately, this isn't one of his best.

Whether his advancing age had anything to do with it, I'm not sure, but most of what I've read by him was much better than this.

This book actually starts out okay.

We meet journalist Norman Clay, who, despite his anglo-sounding name, has strong ties to Mexico.

It's present day (or close - 1961 I believe), and Clay has been assigned to the fictional city of Toledo to cover a bullfight.

Michener uses the bullfight to begin exploring the various cultures and customs of Mexico, as we meet a few different bullfighters from different backgrounds.

For example, one bullfighter is a "pure" Spaniard, while another is an authentic "Indian".

We're then given a nice primer on the different races of people and their customs.

After about 100 pages or so, Michener puts us in the customary time machine, and we're sent back to around 600 A.D., and the real adventure begins.

Everything is great until around the end of the first quarter of the book.

Michener then takes us back to present day Norman Clay, and we get more bullfighting.

A lot of bullfighting.

It seems as if Clay is now "entertaining" some Americans and begins a long-winded saga explaining bullfighting to his guests.

There's simply too much mundane information here to be interesting.

I kept wanting Michener to go back several centuries and continue his normal storytelling journey.

Alas, we spend too much time in the present day, and by the time you're halfway through this book, you realize this isn't going to be a typical Michener.

Yes, we eventually do go back in time, but there are too few pages learning about the country's ancestors, and he keeps bouncing back to the present day bullfight.

It kind of reminded me of watching an interesting special on PBS, only to have it interrupted every 15 minutes for their annoying pledge drives.

A normal Michener consists of about 15% "present day" and 85% "the rich authentic past", whereas this book seems about 60 - 40.

The 40% that gave us the history lesson is quite pleasant, but you have to wonder why the ratio was so off for this book.

Maybe the author was losing his touch.

I would recommend "skimming" the present day pages once you're about 200 - 300 pages into the novel, but it's worth it to take the time when we do travel back several centuries.

It should also be noted that there are several important things about Mexico's history that are obviously missing from this book, and you have to wonder why they're not included.

We must remember, however, that Michener did write a novel on Texas (one of his best and longest), which was actually part of Mexico until the 1840s.

So maybe the author didn't want to duplicate certain events of history that he already covered?

Regardless, this one was a bit of a letdown, but there are masses of material from his catalog that are, in fact, quite satisfying.

I attempted to read a James Michener book several years ago, namely "Alaska". It still stands as one of the extremely few books that I started but failed to finish (the list is at most a handful). The author is rather verbose and long-winded. Halfway through "Alaska", I simply couldn't endure it any longer and had to set it aside and walk away.

Maybe I'll have to give it another shot after reading "Mexico". "Mexico" was actually quite excellent. It's a story about a fictional town, a family, indigenous culture, and a bull-fighting festival. It takes the reader on a whirlwind journey through time and presents the narrator's perspective on his life and family. The characters come alive vividly. The imagined history of the town of Toledo is colorful, and I feel as if I've perhaps learned something about bullfighting. It's a compelling and enjoyable read, although perhaps it could have been a shorter book than its 580 pages. At times, Michener's love for words and his need to put them to use made me give some funny looks at the text.

However, unlike my experience when I tried to read "Alaska", the story in "Mexico" was captivating enough to keep me (pleasantly) turning the pages until the book was completed.

Finally, I am through reading this book!

This book initially started out in a great manner. However, it got bogged down in the middle with the rather lengthy and perhaps overly detailed bull fighting saga. It seems that Michener really needed to rewrite the middle part of this book and condense this particular section.

Thankfully, later on in the story, it picks up speed. After that dull middle, it becomes a good read once again. The history of Mexico is indeed a long and complex epic. It is not easy to cover comprehensively as there are so many different factions involved in the intense fighting for control of Mexico.

Michener has done a relatively fair job of describing all of the various cares and concerns of all the factions involved. This includes the Indigenous people, the Spaniards, the French and Germans, the North Americans, the priests and nuns, and the political power, specifically as to where and how that power was utilized.

Interestingly, I was able to recognize certain themes, events, and places in this book, despite it being about fictional places. It shows that Michener's portrayal had some elements that were relatable and connected to the real history and culture of Mexico.

Overall, while the book had its flaws, it still provided an interesting exploration of Mexico's history and the diverse forces at play.

Unlike the majority of readers, I don't harbor a hatred for bullfighting. In fact, I firmly believe that the bullfighting scenes were the absolute best part of the story. Having said that, I must admit that I would have awarded it a full 5 stars if it hadn't presented such an anglocentric and distorted perspective on the history of Mexico. Whether this was done intentionally or not, the author's supremacist views significantly mar a large portion of the overall reading experience. Despite having to contend with such unpalatable views, the book was well-written. For the most part, the pages seemed to turn effortlessly, captivating the reader's attention. While I probably wouldn't pick it up and read it again, I would still recommend it to enthusiasts of historical fiction. They might be able to overlook the flaws and appreciate the other aspects of the story that make it an engaging read.