Mexico: A Novel

Although clearly heavily researched, which is one of the things I like about Michener's novels, I found this book to be subtly racist, and not particularly well-written. Although set in Mexico, the story mostly involves white people, who tell the story of Mexico's past. He does talk about Hernan Cortes but leaves out a lot of the atrocities he and his men committed. Instead, he praises the beauty and nobility of the Spanish culture. In the plot that involves two rival bullfighters, one Spanish and one Indian, the Indian is always spoken of as someone without flair and finesse relative to the Spanish bullfighters, a resorter to cheap tricks, but with with a certain amount of begrudged bravery. This theme was alluded to throughout the book: the Spanish have their faults but they are basically beautiful and cultured, while the indigenous people are rough, small, uneducated, and lacking in nobility. There were some interesting elements, and I learned more than the average American about bullfighting, which was fascinating. But I eventually had to put it down because his attitudes got to be annoying. This is in marked contrast to what he did in his novel, Hawaii, where he clearly depicted the kindness and nobility of the Hawaiian people and the sweep and grandeur of Hawaii's history - so much so that I went there. I don't know what happened with "Mexico." Maybe he redeemed himself at the end, but I couldn't wait that long. And I am someone who's read Moby Dick 4 times.

I wasn’t sure what I was getting myself in for when I chose this book from Michener’s vast collection. I guess I thought this would be like his other stories and tell about Mexico’s origins, etc. with a personal story interwoven, like Hawaii. Well, it was that, for sure, but it was plainly a story of a bullfight. Now I know more than I ever cared to know about the intricacies of fighting and killing bulls. Oh well. I will still read James Michener but may look into the story lines before I put myself through an agonizingly long read like this again.

Typical Michener book, well written, well researched. In very good condition for an older book BUT: It's been bruited about that this was started in the 1960's but set aside for 30 years. Greatly needs aggressive editing to:1. Remove the rough edges of Michener's barely concealed conviction that WASPS are the superior human life form; others can approach IF there is some admixture of WASP lineage.2. Geatly diminish the bullfight verbiage (although very good) and totally remove the "Lost Cause" BS. Data show that Robert E. Lee's troop losses were march larger than U.S. Grant's and Lee was the real "Butcher".Of course we all know that's not going to happen, so just avoid this book entirely!

James Michener was an incredible author. Regardless of whether or not you liked the majority of his work, his research that he put into his books was simply breathtaking. Not only were many of his books in excess of 800-900 pages, but those pages were packed with information. His books were not for the novice, nor could one breeze through one of his works over a mere weekend.The majority of his books were actually about places as opposed to people. Note titles such as Alaska, Poland, Texas, Chesapeake, and this one as well. Although his work was fiction, he had the remarkable ability to use a location as the main character of his stories, and would tell stories of characters that lived in the particular location – sometimes stretching back over thousands of years. Usually the book would start in (or close to) present day, with some sort of historian, teacher, author, etc. arriving at a location, reflecting a bit about the particular place, and then Michener would propel us to the past and the real “story” would begin. Usually, Michener would tell about eight or ten different tales, each one jumping to the next by about a century, with mostly new characters (obviously), yet they were somehow connected (usually related) to players in the previous section. So 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 sadly, this isn’t close to being one of his best. Whether or not the man’s advancing age had anything to do with it, I’m not sure, but the majority of things I’ve read by him were much better than this one.This book actually starts out o.k. We meet journalist Norman Clay who, despite his anglo-sounding name, has strong ties to this country. It’s present day (or close -1961 I believe), and Clay has been assigned to the (fictional) city of Toledo to cover a bull fight. Michener uses the bull fight to begin to explore the various cultures and customs of Mexico, as we meet a few different bull fighters from different backgrounds. Example: one bull fighter is a “pure” Spaniard, whereas another is an authentic “Indian”. We're then treated to a nice primer of 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 bolted back to around the year 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 bull fighting. A lot of bull fighting. It seems as though Clay is now “entertaining” some Americans and begins a longwinded saga explaining bull fighting to his guests. There’s simply too much mundane information here to be of interest. I kept wanting Michener to go back several centuries and continue his normal story telling 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’s 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 simply have to wonder why the ratio was so screwed up for this book. Again, 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, in fact, 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 let-down, but there are masses of material from his catalog that are, in fact, quite satisfying.

If you had told me that I would read a book about bullfighting in Mexico I’d have laughed in your face. If it hadn’t been written by Michener, I’d have rejected it immediately. There is so much in this book all drawn from that wonderful imagination with which he makes a reality that is more real than life that it is almost impossible to not learn something about yourself and life. I love this book as I have loved any others written by this wonderful author. Please, indulge yourself, read about something bigger than yourself.

Good read, typical Michener.

I found this novel to contain wonderful knowledge of Mexico. My only complaint is that there is so so much about bull fighting. Far too much, I think. It is as though there is no other aspect of Mexican life that Mr. Michener cared to include. Mexico is also know for its food, music, dance, religous culture, and so much more.

This history of Mexico is very educational as all of Michener's books are. The Spanish were exceeding cruel to the Indians and made them their slaves. We are fortunate to be living in Canada. If you like history be sure to read it.

Haven't found time yet to read this one but if it follows the lines of all his other books I just know it will be a great read.

Not his best book, I can see why some publishers turned him down. The history does not do anything for the story it goes too far.