Customer Reviews

Drama & Diplomacy: In Sultry Puerto Vallarta

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Jenny McGill, all-American Airlines stew, landed in Puerto Vallarta "back when every day was party day" and evolved -- in an equally outlandishly evolving town -- into the American Consular Agent. Which means McGill has seen a thing or three and has the stories to prove it. The descriptions of her (surr?)realistic assignments while employed in a tropical paradise by the U.S. State Department ("Death, Detention, Destitution and Disappearance") are comical, cutting, captivating and clever. Doing that job, in that place -- and just living there during those seminal years of the '70s through the '90s -- allowed McGill to become familiar (and sometimes friends) with crooks, cops, jailers, jet-setters (famous, royal and just plain rich), tourists (oh so many tourists), local citizens and ex-pats of all persuasions, of which she is one. The book is a chronicle of a time, a town and a woman, in which three things come shining through: McGill's love of Mexico and Mexicans. Her love of life. And her love of a good story.

I HAVE KNOWN JENNY FOR ABOUT 12 YRS. I MET HER ON MY TRIPS TO TALPA DE ALLENDE, THRU FRIENDS. KNEW WHAT SHE HAD DONE IN PUERTO VALLARTA, BUT IT WASN`T UNTIL I READ THE BOOK THAT I TRULY KNEW. I DIDN`T WANT TO PUT THE BOOK DOWN, I WANTED HER TO CONTINUE UP TO THE PRESENT. SHE IS AN EXCELLENT TELLER OF STORIES, AND TRUTHS. I WOULD HIGHLY ENCOURAGE ANYONE WHO WOULD LIKE A GOOD LAUGH, CRY, AND INSIGHT INTO A WORLD YOU THINK YOU KNOW, BUT REALLY DON`T TO PICK UP THIS BOOK, READ IT, AND THEN SEND IT TO A FRIEND. WHEN I FINISH THIS I AM ORDERING IT AND SENDING IT TO A FRIEND IN FLORIDA WHO HAD THE PLEASURE OF MEETING JENNY MCGILL. AGAIN, A GREAT READ.

I met Jenny when I was 'little' (17 years old in 1969). My mom Sue introduced me to her best friends/new neighbors in Puerto Vallarta: Jenny (Yinny) and Howard McGill. I've known Jenny while she lived in the experiences she shares in her fun book. This is realism of a tiny Mexican tropical, coastal hide-a-way village-town with only one traffic signal. A story of adventurous Americans living abroad, with courage, grace and a commitment to help their beloved country's citizens. Jenny is honest, hilarious, accurate and a teller of times gone by. And what amazing times they were. Thanks 'Yinny' for memorializing an important era in all our lives!