Customer Reviews

Muerte!: Death in Mexican Popular Culture

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

"Muerte!" is not for the faint of heart. As the more comical reviews of this book might indicate, it packs a wallop with its graphic depictions of murder and gore in modern-day Mexico. No, this book is not about creating a business plan (unless one is aspiring to be an undertaker). But it does touch upon a not-too-well-explored area of Mexican culture: crime tabloids. There are no similar publications in the United States. Part Enquirer, part "True Detective," these tabloids graphically show the end results of brutal slayings throughout Mexico. "Muerte!" could use a second or third edit. It does tend to ramble into other areas that are inappropriate for the topic. Given that the book is relatively small, the lack of cohesiveness does stick out. However, the book is important simply because it explores a significant aspect of Mexican culture that has been ignored. If you liked the book "Death Scenes," you probably will appreciate "Muerte!" There are a lot of pictures in this book, most of good quality. Obviously, parents must use good judgment in keeping control of this book while children are about. Further, persons who are unstable or easily affected by this sort of material should think twice about opening this book.

.This book is a harsh glimpse into reality in the form of graphic death scene photos and commentary on Mexican death tabloids such as Alarma! Someone said the title was misleading - I do not think so - it says exactly what it is, and has several bloody photos right on the cover. It is not a sugar-coated day-of-the-dead book, although the subject is covered - nor is it meant to be a complete commentary on Latin culture. It is a study of magazines that have been around for years and sell millions of copies each week. The publisher reports on this subject but seems to be blamed for the existence of these tabloids in some reviews I have read. No one seems to mind if Alarma! publishes death scene photos or if people put stickers of peeing kids on the back windows of their cars and say it's about Latino culture. As far as intellectual content is concerned, that is a matter of opinion. I f you are familiar with any of this publisher's other books, then you must know they do not publish shallow material. This is a serious study about a serious subject and it's exploitation and is not for the faint of heart. This book is about death in Mexican popular culture and it's exploitaion and is a subject few have chosen to discuss in detail. I recommend this book to anyone wanting to know more about the workings of Mexican death tabloids and death scenes in general.

The typos in this book drove me nuts, but if you can get past them (if I can, anyone can) it's an entertaining--and stomach-churning--read. Not too deep, not too thorough, but rather a light overview of the subject. Great to have on hand if you don't have access to actual issues of Alarma! magazine. Which most people in North America probably do not. Gorehounds will not be disappointed. People looking for "cultural enrichment" probably will be.

This is an amazing book. The images are grotesque and disturbing, yet, they make you wonder how and why something like that would happen, and what the situation was. One thing that bothered me, however, was the fact that under most images (especially the ones that striked my interest) it would say, "Unidentified incident". Being as curious as I am, I want to be able to read about each picture, but in MUERTE!, do not expect to get detailed explanations of every image.

I was very disappointed in this book. I found the text boring and the photos uninteresting. And I read a lot of books like this. "Nuff said.

Based on the information I read about this book, I thought it presented a serious scholarly treatment of how death is viewed in Mexican culture, a subject which I am interested in. However, I found this book to be completely sensationalist and without an ounce of any serious (forget about scholarly) consideration of the subject. It also perpetuates negative stereotypes Americans already have about Mexican culture and they way they view death. It's all about pictures the author discovered in some trashy magazine and nothing more! So what? What's worse is how the author exploits theses photos to further his career as an artist (and not a very good one, I might add). The writing is sloppy and self-absorbed and the author is so completely uninformed about this topic (is including Posada and Diego Rivera all the cred you need?)it is almost comical. It makes one wonder if the editors were themselves corpses!! What a shame and a complete disgrace to an aspect of Mexican history and culture that deserves serious and respectful consideration.

Wow, is this book horrible! Not only are the graphic pictures disgusting, I could handle that if they meant something, but the writing is arbitrary sensationalistic tripe! Along with the gruesome body count, there's suddenly an exerpt on Michael Jackson! What this is doing in the book, I have no idea! I bought this book in hopes of gleaning something about Mexican culture, possibly related to their "Day of the Dead" and other honorings of the dead. Boy, was this book way off base!

...it isn't just that the crime photos it republishes are problematic, but the book has NO INTELLECTUAL WEIGHT and in fact, uses the essays by Medina and Fox (commissioned for another publication, edited and republished without their consent) to "validate" the author's egocentric/gringocentric visions. The TITLE IS TOTALLY MISLEADING and the text offers no ideas that are worth remembering. The first book I ever wanted to really really trash.