My Heart Lies South: The Story of My Mexican Marriage (Young Adult) [Paperback]

Elizabeth Borton de Trevino (Author), Elizabeth Borton De Treviino (Author)

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 14 and up
  
• Paperback: 228 pages
• Publisher: Bethlehem Books (September 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1883937515
• ISBN-13: 978-1883937515
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 5.5 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.7 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #543,241 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Her heart lies south of the border, November 25, 2004

By 

E. A Solinas "ea_solinas" (MD USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: My Heart Lies South: The Story of My Mexican Marriage (Young Adult) (Paperback)

It would be hard to resist a person who asks, "Shall I sing you a song about love?", and so it's not difficult to see why Elizabeth Borton de Trevino fell for her husband. Their unusual courtship and often hilarious marriage is chronicled in "My Heart Lies South: The Story of my Mexican Marriage," a story of clashing cultures and hysterical family.

She first met her husband Luis in a hotel lobby, while on a writing assignment. After courting her with love songs in a taxi, Elizabeth Borton ended up going home with him to meet his rambuctious family and adoring parents, who approve of the young American "mees" as Luis's future wife. Suddenly Borton found herself living in Mexico -- but with a lot to learn.

At first, Elizabeth struggles to deal with the cultural barriers and how she is being snubbed by the neighbors. But soon she adjusts to her new life, and runs into an ultra-religious cook, troubles with the legality of her marriage, a playboy in-law who falls madly in love with a very proper girl, and finding out how much fun it is to be pregnant in Mexico.

Surprisingly, "My Heart Lies South" is not just an autobiography about Borton de Trevino's "Mexican marriage." It's also a portrait of 1930s Mexico, which was very different from anywhere in the United States -- a place solidly entrenched in old traditions. It wasn't backward. They just did not see any reason to change things like the "Tia" aunts who care for a whole family.

Borton's brisk writing goes pretty quickly, telling stories of young Romeo-and-Juliet lovers, authentic Mexican food and getting drunk in front of her husband's clients. She's funny and self-deprecating, not to mention unafraid of telling the world when she committed some social sin. It's almost like a sitcom, except it was all real.

Perhaps the most endearing thing she shows us is Luis's family -- a sprawling, warm bunch of people who immediately take her under their wings. Particularly likable is Luis's mother Mamacita, and her playboy brother-in-law Roberto. But Borton de Trevino brings everyone to life, right down to the eccentric cooks and kindly judges.

"My Heart Lies South: The Story of My Mexican Marriage" is a thoroughly charming look back in time, where an American woman clashes with Mexican traditions. The results are funny and heartwarming.

12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars That fortress, the Family, February 5, 2003

By 

Gabriel Toscana Videgaray (Monterrey, Mexico) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: My Heart Lies South: The Story of My Mexican Marriage (Young Adult) (Paperback)

This book is an autobiography of an American woman who came to Mexico on what she thought was going to be a brief assignment and ended marrying with a Mexican and staying in Mexico for the rest of her happy life. But the book is much more than this. It describes the clash between the very different cultures of Mexico and the USA which result, almost always, in hilarious situations.

Almost everything described happens in Monterrey, Mexico where she lived with her husband and eventually with her children, but as she mentions in the book, the extended family is extremely important in Mexico and she got to love and respect her "Mamacita" and "Papacito" (mother and father-in-law) as much, or maybe even more, than her own parents. "To Mamacita and Papacito I dedicate this book in loving memory."

The Treviño Borton family is, in my humble opinion, "every family of mankind, the archetypal family about whom all mankind is dreaming." (Quoting from a review of Finnegans Wake). As such, anyone may appreciate this book, but... for Regiomontanos (people from Monterrey) it means much more: it describes the inner workings of the social fabric in the city, it brings to life the infinite subtlety of their ways, it gives a microscopic historical view of the 1930's that you can hardly find anywhere else, it creates a deep longing for a beautiful past.

I, like Borton, married with Monterrey. Her husband was Luis Treviño. My wife is Olivia Treviño and through Borton I finally understood why "the Family" is of such overwhelming importance for my wife.

The interest that this book generated in me was so great that I decided to journey through Elizabeth's world... 70 years later.

I have built a web site where you can see how her house, her Mamacitas house, and many other places she mentions in the book look TODAY... 70 YEARS LATER. ...

Many things have changed during the years but writing from Monterrey I can say, as she once said, "I was then, as now, so safe, so happy, within that fortress - the family."

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Reminiscent of Matamoros... and childhood memories, September 18, 2007

By 

Delfee "Kids Can Relax" (West Coast, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: My Heart Lies South: The Story of My Mexican Marriage (Young Adult) (Paperback)

This wonderfully authentic depiction of Mexican life and culture was a true joy to read! It took me right back to my childhood.