Mexico, A Love Story: Women Write About the Mexican Experience [Paperback]

Camille Cusumano (Editor)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 4, 2006

Mexico has long cast a spell over its neighbor — and alter ego — to the north. Americans share its history, exalt its food, and honor its artistic luminaries. They cross the border in droves, heading to warm waters, busy city centers, open-air mercados, language classrooms, cousins’ living rooms, and majestic temples. Mexico inspires passion and adventure — and love. In this eloquent collection, women share firsthand experiences with the people, history, and landscape of this rich country. Transcending the ordinary travelogue, these articles capture the ways in which Mexico has shaped lives or influenced decisions, how it has affected each woman in profound ways. In expressing their love for the country, these diverse writers share intimate stories as visceral as they are poignant, as entertaining as they are endearing. This compelling collection offers a new way for seasoned visitors, armchair travelers, and anyone interested in Mexico to appreciate an old friend.

Product Details

• Paperback: 256 pages
• Publisher: Seal Press (May 4, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1580051561
• ISBN-13: 978-1580051569
• Product Dimensions: 7.4 x 5.4 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #737,297 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

I was born in New Jersey, in a big Sicilian family. I moved to San Francisco in 1973. I wanted to be a travel writer. Because of my love of food, I became a food writer first. Then a travel writer. I've lived abroad twice--in France, in 1976, where I did some graduate work. And most recently, I spent the last year and a half in Buenos Aires, a place I never expected to like so much---but tango took hold of me, and there I found myself, dancing away. The book contract came after I was there six months and realized I had a story to tell.And so I did, in Tango, an Argentine Love Story.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Wonderful Book for Those Who Know and Love Mexico, August 8, 2007

By 

Deborah "Deborah" (Atlanta, GA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Mexico, A Love Story: Women Write About the Mexican Experience (Paperback)

I absolutely loved this book, but then I absolutely love Mexico like most of the writers of these essays. I didn't need maps or help with pronounciation. It was all very touching, true and familiar to me and I think this book would appeal most to those who have traveled in Mexico and especially away from the usual tourist destinations and already know and love the country and especially the people. The common thread in all the stories seems to be the people and their effect on the writer's lives or way of seeing the world. Everyone came away changed in some way and that is what travel is about. If you already know and love Mexico, you will enjoy this book. If not, then maybe it will inspire you to dig a little deeper next time you travel.

13 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Women in love reveal the most about Mexico, April 26, 2007

By 

Anastasia Ashman "founder of expat+HAREM, the... (Istanbul, Turkey) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Mexico, A Love Story: Women Write About the Mexican Experience (Paperback)

Perhaps because Mexico is within reach of multitudes of traveling norteamericanos there is a familiar air about this collection. There's no map, and within the stories small effort to orient the reader geographically, socially, politically and historically. Where's Ciudad Obregon or Cuchefauche, and what are they known for? A few tips on pronunciation would have been useful - like the tongue-twisting Quetzalcoatl, the lizardy Aztec god of chocolate! 22 backpackers, artists, teachers and volunteers contribute, with the most finely observed entries from women in love with Mexicans. My favorite writer was Sophia Raday, a Stanford University grad now working on a Mexican memoir. She spent six weeks with an "alternative to the Peace Corps" in border-town Tijuana. Living in an abandoned school bus on the grounds of a squatter settlement, she washed dishes at a metal recycling plant employing some of the country's poorest people. There she fell in love with a charismatic and one-legged man. Poignant, and picaresque at the same time!

Like Raday's, many pieces touch on the social frictions at play when superpower gringas go south. Once again, writings by women in love evoke the true sadness of Mexico's economic inequality.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Experience the "real" Mexico missed by the travel guides, November 4, 2009

By 

Katie Pickard Fawcett (Washington, dc) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Mexico, A Love Story: Women Write About the Mexican Experience (Paperback)

It is very rare that I enjoy all of the essays in an anthology, but I loved every story in this one. It's also one of those books that I will pick up and re-read, dog-ear, and check out the authors' websites. I liked it that much!

The stories here are to savor -- whether it's the lingering taste of Reyna Lingemann's chocolate chip cookies and Laura Fraser's Oaxacan mole amarillo or the sweet feel of Mexico's sugar sand beneath Charish Badzinski's toes and Susan McKinney de Ortega's first delicious dance with a student who would become a central player in her life.

This exploration of Mexican life and culture skips about from Oaxaca to Mexico City to San Miguel de Allende to the Pacific and Caribbean coasts. There are stories set in small villages, in slums, in historic colonial cities, in wealthy neighborhoods, and along beautiful stretches of beach.

All of the essays have a woman's touch, but every woman is different -- some written by young women (or about a time when the writer was young) and some written by more mature folk. Emotions run high in several of the stories, many a particular mix of love, excitement, and fear. Some women fall in love with one person; all of them fall in love with the place. Suzanne LaFetra is at first unafraid (and naive)as a young, female teacher in a Mexican prison, while Mary Ellen Sanger learns what it's really like on the other side -- to be incarcerated in a Mexican prison.

I can't believe I didn't discover this book earlier and would highly recommend it to anyone who loves Mexico, enjoys reading about personal experience with other cultures, or who is planning a trip south of the border. The experiences and insights shared in this little tome are better than the sort of sterile guidebooks that cannot offer even a hint of the "real" Mexico.