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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
Author needs an editor,
By
This review is from: Barefoot in Yelapa, Once Upon a Paradise (Paperback)
This is a most difficult book to read. For just one example, the author does not know the difference between "there" and "their" and uses both incorrectly, sometimes within the same sentence! He does not know when to use and not use the possessive apostrophe, quotation marks and other punctuation. His spelling of Spanish words is atrocious which often leads to a whole new meaning (tango for tengo). His spelling of huaraches (sandals) isn't even close. He spells people's names differently throughout the book and often in the same paragraph. Words are split into two words then they should be one word and vice versa. He and his wife got their "closes" wet when they rode in the front of the boat. If I had used a pink highlighter to mark the mistakes, each page would be marked up, some would be half pink. He considers himself funny when he is not. He says that he is writing another book. I sure hope he gets an editor this time and the publishers do not allow such an abomination to the English language to get out to the public who might pay good moeny to read such grade school writing. I bought it because I am moving to Mexico and because I had been to Yelapa years ago and was interested in what he might have to say. I would not recommend this book to anyone unless it was cleaned up as it is too difficult to read in this condition.
5.0 out of 5 stars
Rolling a Paradise,
By Clifford Barney (San Anselmo CA, CA United States) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Barefoot in Yelapa, Once Upon a Paradise (Paperback)
Around the turn of the century, a pair of adventurers from Scottsdale, Ariz., John and Jules Greer, cut a large swath through Yelapa, a small Mexican pueblo, and now John has told their side of it in a scandalous tale of rum and rapacity, Barefoot in Yelapa. Never has the underside of Yelapa, the deals and the scams and the ever-present alcohol, been so thoroughly explored. John and Jules came to town with a few hundred dollars in their khaki shorts and the need to stretch it a long time. They did what they had to do and seemed to have a pretty good time doing it, although they were frequently in crisis and in the process many feathers were ruffled. John is still ruffling back.
They were refugees in Yelapa, victims, John writes, of a real estate deal gone sour and a mailing list adventure that bordered on fraud. They were suing and waiting for their ship to come in, and it was proving a long voyage. Yelapa, a dropout haven an hour south of Puerto Vallarta, offered a relatively cheap place to stay, though not quite cheap enough for John and Jules, who were constantly in difficulties over living quarters. They met these crises head-on with tequila; every time they were evicted, John's first response was to sit down and pour them each a stiff one, or two, for, as he notes, you can't walk on one leg. Many people have written about Yelapa, but none so far has chosen to do so by telling such pungent tales and using the real names of the participants. Many of the stories Greer relates, such as the sub rosa renting of the Texas Towers, the dismantling of Casa Delfin, and Jules's long-suffering hip, are part of the local lore, but they are told here from a much different angle and no small amount of accusation and self-justification. Greer is not about to go quietly, and he constantly portrays himself as a softy forever victimized by customs he doesn't understand and people who do. To show his true heart he reveals himself as a doglover devastated by the death of a pet. One has to take this book with a package of Muffin Tom's crystalized sea salt. These events, or something like them, did occur, and yet...you had to be there. It is well to remember that the author saw them through an alcoholic haze and that his portraits of local residents are hopelessly partisan. With that in mind, the book is an outrageously funny read. It offers a view of Yelapa not often seen by outsiders, the underside of a tropical paradise. Greer even takes a stab at explaining Yelapa politics, something few outsiders (or even community members) can do lucidly. But Yelapa's not a theme park, it's a real place, as John and Jules found out the hard way.
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