Mexican High: A Novel (Hardcover)

by Liza Monroy (Author)

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal
Adult/High School—Mila, the daughter of an ex-hippie diplomat, has settled into her Washington, DC, high school very nicely after stints in Asia, Europe, and South America. She's a straight-A cheerleader heading into her senior year in 1993 when her mother drops the bomb: she has been reassigned to Mexico City. Although intrigued by the possibility of discovering her mysteriously anonymous father, Mila is resistant and resentful of the move. Feeling insecure when faced with the ultrarich cliques of her international high school and reeling from a date rape, her good-girl, preppy self disappears as pot, Ecstasy, acid, cocaine, and peyote become part of her routine; much of the narrative is taken up with drinking in nightclubs, procuring drugs, and bribing policemen. The famously corrupt political arena becomes personal in more ways than one. The prose is dense, full of details about daily life, and the teen packs a lot of living into her senior year (yet still manages to get into Harvard). The Mila that narrates from a later date is sometimes a little too wise and philosophical, and her attitude toward the drugs and sex that punctuate the teens' lives goes quickly from shocked innocence to world-weary nonchalance. Teens who enjoy reading about the exploits of the young, rich, and virtually parentless (think "Gossip Girl") will enjoy this book.—Jenny Gasset, Orange County Public Library, CA
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Review
Milagro "Mila" Marquez, "nationless" after spending her youth in seven countries, is furious when her single mother, Maggie, a U.S. Foreign Service agent, uproots their lives again, this time from Washington, D.C., to Mexico City, where Mila will spend her senior year at ISM, the International School of Mexico. Mila's arrival is traumatic: a date rapes her and then covers his crime by spreading ugly rumors at school. Some free-spirited, drug-using students offer her escape, and gradually she finds acceptance, and even love, amid ISM's cliquish, filthy-rich student body. Like Mona Simpson's classic novel, Anywhere but Here (1987), Monroy's debut explores with insight and rich detail a young woman's struggle for independence and her tangled, volatile relationship with her peripatetic, husband-hunting mother. Maggie has never revealed the identity of Mila's father, and Mila's private search for him parallels her reach for belonging and self-determination. Monroy's absorbing view of jet-setting Mexican teens raises the deepest questions about how young people piece together their cultural and personal identities and move with confidence into the adult world.

-- Gillian Engberg --Booklist, May 1, 2008

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 352 pages
• Publisher: Spiegel & Grau; First Edition edition (June 10, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0385523599
• ISBN-13: 978-0385523592
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.2 x 1.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars See all reviews (22 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #609,537 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars So real!, June 25, 2008

By	IR student in Texas (Houston, TX) - See all my reviews

I have to admit that I mainly bought this book because I actually went to the high school in Mexico City which Monroy attended, and on which the book's fictional high school is "loosely based." Still, I was pleasantly surprised to find a book that portrays beautifully the real Mexico City, not just the Mexico City that tourists "fall in love" with and then write about superficially. Monroy captures the addictive quality of Mexico city, while also telling an engaging story full of multidimensional characters. I bought it on the day it came out and could not put it down until I finished it that very night. Highly recommend it to anyone.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars How do you say "Hollywood-bound" en espanol?, June 15, 2008

By	a reader (new york, ny) - See all my reviews

If ever there were a book with cinematic potential, this is it. MH is a fantastic ride from beginning to end, but I have to add that Monroy's pacing is so perfect and her images, so sharp, that I hope the talent scouts are poised to make an offer before the producers of "Gossip Girl" ante-up. In any event, this debut novel is as hip and fun, as it is painfully raw and real. Monroy is the real deal, and she's poised for a brilliant career.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Destined to Become a Cult Classic, June 21, 2008

By	Esme J. "Esmeralda" (Los Angeles, CA) - See all my reviews

As someone who travels to Mexico City often for my work, I wanted to read this, but after finishing I felt like I got to look through a window into a whole new exciting world. I saw Mexican High described as similar to Prep, but a U.S. boarding school can't hold a "vela" (candle) to ISM, the fictional International School of Mexico, where students are confronted with political assassinations, every kind of drug imaginable, "lunch" parties (called "comidas") thrown by the school student council where there is tequila, rum, vodka, etc but no food. These teenagers may live at home, but they have drivers, maids, and bodyguards more present than parents.

Mexican High is an ambitious true-to-life portrayal of what it feels like to be the child of a diplomat, never really knowing the concept of home or a homeland. It also captures a rich landscape of a true 21st-century megalopolis. The "fresas" -- children of Mexico's small ruling wealthy minority, a handful of powerful people who actually run the country -- are very much more than Mean Girls; they embody an entire social class and type. I especially loved learning about the kind of life high schoolers lead in Mexico City. Set in the early nineties when the peso devalued greatly, Mila and her friends can get away with anything by bribing the police. There is no acknowledged drinking age. There is danger and crime, and nothing, not even kidnappings or robberies, are what they seem. These are teens with the freedoms of adults, which makes for tension, drama, and climactic scenes that blew me away and left me rooting for Milagro -- or Mila, as she prefers to be called.

I wondered whether Mexican High was a memoir disguised as a novel. What IS certain: whether fact or fiction, this debut is a literary gem that appears to be cleverly disguised as a breezy summer book. No senores y senoras, it is not. As the cover humorously shows the reader, this is a novel with legs, and they will take it the extra mile.

Mexican High is almost too real, too painful, too poignant, that I couldn't believe Monroy is only in her twenties. I thought she was older, though in her jacket picture she looks about nineteen. I am curious what she will come up with next! From her life seems she already has a big supply of material. If this book does not become a run-away best-seller, it will be noticed for its accomplished writing and original story that takes the reader to an incredible, exotic setting with characters that will stick in your memory.