Helpful Score: 1
Another country heard from -- combining history, bullfighting and, of course, a wonderful story. Michener never disappoints.
Helpful Score: 1
If you like some history along with a moving story, Michener is your guy. A great novle about an early Mexican family with some flashbacks into earlier times about their heritage.
Michener is his ususal wonderful self
By James Michner, his narrative on Mexico.
This is a story about bullfighting. Not my type of book so didn't finish it.
Schematic plotting, tortilla-thin characterizations and lengthy digressions on bullfighting mar this lumbering multigenerational saga about Mexico's resilient spirit, which Michener began in 1961 and returned to 30 years later. Norman Clay, earnest American journalist born and raised in Mexico, is sent to his native city in 1961 to cover a potentially deadly showdown between two famous matadors who represent "the two faces of Mexico, the Spaniard versus the Indian." This bullfight festival, the book's centerpiece, is interwoven with more interesting historical interludes in which Clay grapples with his own mixed heritage. His diverse ancestors include a 16th-century Mexican Indian queen who leads a women's revolt against human sacrifice, a Spanish scholar burned at the stake during the Inquisition, a Franciscan soldier-priest who accompanies Hernan Cortes to Mexico, a Virginia plantation proprietor who loses his wife and sons in the Civil War, and Clay's father, a silver-mine owner who participates in the Mexican Revolution. The colorful novel cuts a wide swath through history but doesn't catch fire as a personal story. BOMC main selection.
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Typical Michener, slow to get started, but very interesting chronical!
An exciting historical overview novel of Mexico. James Michener is always a great read.
Overall average-to-good. Gives the background of Mexico from the Spanish and the Indian perspective with some American history thrown in. More about bullfighting than I ever wanted to know.
From Michener I liked Poland much better.
From Michener I liked Poland much better.
Per back cover: Architectural splendors, frenzied bullfights, horrific human sacrifice: James Michener weaves them all into an epic human story that ranks with the best of his beloved, bestselling novels.
"Astounding...Fast-moving, Intriguing...James Michener is back in huge, familiar form with MEXICO."
LOS ANGELES DAILY NEWS
Here is the story of an American journalist who travels to Mexico to report on the upcoming duel between two great matadors, but who is ultimately swept up in the dramatic story of his Mexican ancestors. From the brutality and brilliance of the ancients, to the iron fist of the invading Spaniards, to the modern-day Mexicans battling through dust and bloodshed to build a nation upon the ashes of revolution, James Michener weaves it all into an epic human story that ranks with the best of his beloved, bestselling novels.
LOS ANGELES DAILY NEWS
Here is the story of an American journalist who travels to Mexico to report on the upcoming duel between two great matadors, but who is ultimately swept up in the dramatic story of his Mexican ancestors. From the brutality and brilliance of the ancients, to the iron fist of the invading Spaniards, to the modern-day Mexicans battling through dust and bloodshed to build a nation upon the ashes of revolution, James Michener weaves it all into an epic human story that ranks with the best of his beloved, bestselling novels.
Not as good as many of his others, at least as I see it.
A story of an American Journalist who travels to report on the upcoming duel between two great matadors, but who is ultimately swept up in the dramatic story of his Mexican ancestors.
This book does tend to be long on narrative, but I loved it because of the richness of the history presented, it was like reading two different books at the same time.
Always love Michener, this too.
Like all of Michener's books that I have read, this book mixes history and fiction. Interesting and informative at the same time. Although this copy is not torn or dirty, the cover is a little worn.
A poor example of Michener's normally brilliant work. Although published later, I'm sure this book was written in the sixties. Romanticizing the beauty of bullfighting is a hard sell in the modern world. Unless you are on a quest to read all of his work, skip this one.
Great novel about Mexico
