Customer Reviews

Underdogs

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1 star:		(3)

 

 

This is a marvelous book, especially for Gringos who want to understand a major element of the psyche of Mexico.

But first, some background. In 1810, when Fr. Hidalgo issued his immortal `Grito del Dolores' that launched Mexico's War of Independence from Spain, the average Mexican was better off than most Americans. The American Revolution, then the French Revolution, ignited the fires of freedom throughout the Americas. Mexico was one of the first to raise the proud banner of freedom.

Conservatives fought back, as they did in the 13 Colonies, and turned Mexico into a savage battleground. In the United States, successful Revolutionaries exiled defeated "United Empire Loyalists" to Canada, the Caribbean and England; in Mexico, in one form or another, both factions fought for a century. More than half of Mexico, what is now the US Southwest and California, was lost. The continuous war, plus an invasion by France, plundered Mexico of its wealth. In 1876, Porfirio Diaz imposed order; by 1910, after 34 years of the increasingly brutal Porfiriato despotism, the "underdogs" were ready to explode.

In one form or another, Revolution lasted until 1929. Peace finally came to Mexico when the Party of the Institutionalized Revolution (PRI) organized a national government and held power until the year 2000, when the presidency was won by Vincente Fox Queseda of the National Action Party (PAN).

Los de Abajo, printed in 1915 as a serial in an El Paso newspaper, was the first novel of the Revolution of 1910. It is still the finest description of the mood of people who made the revolution; a blunt description of the sheer joy of total destruction by people who had been crushed until all hope was lost.

"Peace is respect for the rights of others," President Benito Juarez had said in the 1860's. The lack of respect for the Underdogs produced the Revolution; no respect, no peace.

The central character, Demetrio Macias, when asked by his wife why he fights, tossed a pebble into a ravine and watched it roll to the bottom. Alberto Solis, often regarded as Azuela's spokesman in the book, compared the revolution to a hurricane, "The man who surrenders to it is no longer a man but a miserable dry leaf tossed about by the storm."

Azuela writes about the futility of the conflict. A doctor, he served with Francisco Villa's famed Division of the North, "Los Dorados," but he criticizes the folly and brutality of the Underdogs as well as the cynicism and venality of Los Ricos. Once you understand this nihilism, it becomes clear why Mexicans accepted one-party rule and corruption from 1929 until 2000. It also explains why so much hope is now placed on the PAN presidency.

Prosperity is a product of freedom; but, there is no freedom without law. Before 1910, the Diaz tyranny was the law; the Revolution forever smashed the laws of tyranny. It takes time to build a new society -- too long and too self-serving for the PRI, say the critics. But, when you understand the Underdogs, you wonder if it could be any other way.

Democracy in Mexico? Azuela writes of wiping the slate clean, to give democracy a fresh start. The PRI restored order and allowed a peaceful transition of power. If it fails, as some say it has in Chiapas, this book explains the spirit of Mexico that will fight again until freedom is assured.

It's not just a novel of the past, it's a warning to the future of what happens to anyone who betrays Mexico. It's the best book ever written about the continuing Revolution that, slowly and irresistibly, is producing a modern free Mexico.

When I first started reading this book I thought it was really boring, but when I was finished I was glad I read it. I don't know that I like Azuela's writing style, but the message he was trying to convey was wonderful. His message was: power corrupts. This book is centered around a poor Mexican peasant named Demetrio, and his group of men rebelling against the Mexican government. At the beginning of the book the men all want a less oppressive government. Their goals are good, and their ideals are good. But as they gain more power and prestige they become more corrupt. They do cruel things to innocent people, they steal, and they are cruel to each other. Azuela makes the point over and over again that the men are poor and ignorant, they know nothing of politics, and they don't understand why they are fighting. Although I thought this book was boring, it has a very good message. It's worth reading just to understand that message.

Mariano Azuela's novel about a group of men fighting in the decade-long Mexican Revolution is a seminal work in Latin American literature. As the concluding essay notes, Azuela's ability to accurately depict all that is most surreal in reality was the starting point for more modern magical realist authors such as Gabriel Garcia Marquez. This is a stand-out novel written in a sparse, at times dreamlike style.

The Underdogs, or Los de Abajo, reveals Azuela's ambivalence about the Revolutionary movement. While it is clear that the men persecuting the hero, Demetrio Macias, are not the men one wants controlling the state, Azuela also doesn't hesitate to depict the revolutionaries themselves as bandits, stealing from the peasants they are supposed to defend. The conflict over whether the Mexican Revolutionaries were soldiers or bandits is one that may be found in history books. Azuela's semi-autobiographical novel doesn't offer an answer to that question, but it does provide what some of the most famous historical literature does not: a depiction of the hellishness of war. In that alone, it is a good companion reading to any nonfiction accounts of the Revolution.

Frederick Fornoff's translation is mostly well-done, though his decision not to keep in the dialect in which most of the characters speak is, in my opinion, a poor one. There was an enormous cultural divide between the average revolutionary and the Mexicans living in cities or haciendas. I feel that Azuela's original language reflected that divide. However, this edition is still worth buying, because the concluding essay on Azuela's place in Latin American and epic literature is both poignant and revealing. The Underdogs is a grand novel, for both literature and history buffs.

You have to know something about the Mexican Revolution and, specifically the early period from 1913-1915 to understand this book, because it is aimed at readers who are very familiar with that time period. It explains more clearly than any other book of the time what went wrong with the Mexican Revolution and why it turned out the way it did. The writing style is very innovative for the period in which it's written. It's experimental because it breaks with traditional narrative patterns and is very minimalist at times because it skips over details and presents only little glimpses of what's going on. Azuela chose that style because it conveys the chaos of being in the middle of a revolution, and it also shows the confusion of the characters. Demetrio represents a new trend in fictional characters, because he's got both good and bad qualities. He's not a traditional hero, but he's not a villain either. He's just a confused man who doesn't know what he's fighting for. There is a tragic quality to the story, because people are trapped in patterns they can't break. If you want to understand modern Mexico, this is essential reading. It's not a book you would just sit down and read for fun, but it's worth the effort to read and understand it because it will give you a good feel for what it was like to live in Mexico in the war years.

I was assigned to read this book for a Mexican Literature class, and I was expecting it to be just another boring history novel. However, this novel was a wonderfully metaphorical account of the hopes, yearnings, desires, and dreams of the "rebels," the poor common-man revolutionists during the Mexican Revolution. It is full of colorful similes that really increase the effects of the fight...the cause...that these people are working for. It is, by no means, "just another war-filled history story." It's an easy read, I finished it cover to cover in just a day and a half, and there's an actual story-line to follow, unlike with so many history tales which are merely accounts of battle. This story has more than its share of graphic battle scenes, but the plight of the revolutionists somehow stirs up empathy with the reader. A fine piece of Mexican literature. Recommended.

The book shows how a revolutionary ideal is brought about by injustice. It brings to the forefront the fact that if one is hungry there is nothing left to lose. From the bowels of inhumantiy there is only one way to go and that is up. Azuela shows that when pushed man will resort to violence to obtain the basics that are denied to him. An outstanding book. The lessons should be adhered to in our modern world.

The translation or something about the way it was written made it a bit confusing at first, but once you "get" the "writing style" of the book, you will be glad you kept reading.

This book is best read in its native language: Spanish. I had read this book while living in Mexico, and since then I've read it many times again. This book will engulf you! Follow the intent of the revolutionaries, and you will follow the book well.

Azuela's THE UNDERDOGS follows the spiraling descent of the Mexican peasant rebel Demetrio Macias from warfare with purpose to violence for the sake of violence, effectively capturing both the strange excitement and deep cruelty of guerilla warfare. In contrast with many reviewers, I found the prose in this translation elegant in its very austerity, the flow of the tale effortless, and the characters brilliant. In my opinion, this is war fiction at its best.

THE UNDERDOGS may well be about the spirit of the Mexican people, as some other reviews have suggested, but its conclusions are quite different. Don't think this is some inspiring story of the noble masses and their unconquerable spirit!

Azuela was writing in response to previous romantic depictions of the Mexican revolution -- you know, Pancho Villa the poor heroic figure of the countryside. Many had argued -- and still are, as you can see from some of these other reviews -- that the revolution was a turning point and created a new, more modern mexico.

In response, Azuela skewered the revolution. His story has almost no dates or locations -- you won't learn anything about the historical facts, as the encyclopedia would define them, of the revolution from this book. What Azuela does depict are the people and their spirit -- but he does this in shockingly unflattering terms.

Much of the book is a parade of violent scene after violent scene. Houses are ransacked, artwork destroyed, people casually killed, women casually raped. For U.S. audiences today, the book might remind us of the film NATURAL BORN KILLERS in terms of its consistent violence with little morality attached.

Moreover, these are not revolutionaries with much of an idea what they are doing. Yes, they are the underdogs of the title. But the underdogs do not want a better state -- a better nation. They mock Cervantes, the intellectual among them. No, the underdogs want to be top dog -- to exploit just as those they replace.

This devastating message is the one the book leaves us: the revolution meant nothing, achieved nothing, and was nothing but Mexico's underdogs lashing out savagely.

It is an easy and enjoyable read, but it can leave you with a Nietzchean feeling that none of this matters...

-- Julian Darius