Customer Reviews

My Lost Mexico

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For fans of Michener's book, "Mexico", this is an excellent little companion book to read the behind the scenes, "Making of" book. Lots of photographs, drawings, and copies of hand-written notes, tell the tale of the tale. Very interesting to see how even such a prolific author as Michener struggled to complete his novel of Mexico.

not our typical Michener book, it is more the making of a Michener book, in this case the making of Mexico, and how he overcame a 30 year writers cramp to do this, well worth the read to any fan of his Mexico novel or to aspiring writers, not for a casual read otherwise.

An interesting account detailing how Michener began the novel, 'Mexico,' abandoned the manuscript for 30 years, then came back to complete what became an international bestseller in 1992-93.

Ironically, though I admire Michener as one of Pennsylvania's stellar writers and have read much of his work and love Mexico, its history and culture, I've never read this particular novel. I can't really say why I've neglected this particular book, but I now will have to read it.

The interesting part of this book is how it provides insight into Michener's writing process. He was a prodigious researcher and a hard worker. He often spent 12-15 hours a day at his typewriter. He was a genius at plot construction. Yet his lengthy, complex novels came together on the barest of outlines. The examples he gives of his outlining in this book show that the term to him might be as simple as a single word defining the 'outline' of a chapter. Other elements he refers to as 'outlining' include drawings and photographs which he used to focus his imagination.

Since I haven't yet read `Mexico' I can't comment on the changes he mentions and his reasons for them. Other than the memoir, `The World is My Home,' this is one of the few opportunities to gain insight on Michener's creative process and I found it an interesting and worthwhile read.

This was not a novel about a place/ time or even really about Mexico. It was really about the writing process and how serendipity sometimes changes everything. It was good for what it was but for Michener fans craving more along the lines of Hawaii,Chesapeake, Covenant this will dissappoint. It is much closer to Iberia - my least favorite Michener.

MY LOST MEXICO, James A. Michener [Sharlet Liebel Reviewed]-[ASIN:0812534379 My Lost Mexico]

James A. Michener published his separate book-length guide to the novel MEXICO in the commentary MY LOST MEXICO. In his own Voice and Pen, he TEACHES the Art of Writing. I am reading it for the first time. He says he wrote 10 Chapters of MEXICO, with history & photos of his characters, became disillusioned, boxed it, and resurrected it 30 years later.

He shares his chapter outlines and the psychological world that controls the writer. I am out-of-my-mind thankful to have found this magnificent work of historical significance and inspiration. OMG !!! aka ~Sharliebel

This was not a novel about a place/ time or even really about Mexico. It was really about the writing process and how serendipity sometimes changes everything. It was good for what it was but for Michener fans craving more along the lines of Hawaii,Chesapeake, Covenant this will dissappoint. It is much closer to Iberia - my least favorite Michener.

This is one of the most-tedious, boring books I've ever tried to read. I love Michener's books, but this one, about the writing of "Mexico" is boring to the extreme. I don't think I'll finish it.