In the Yucatan: A Novel [Hardcover]

Earl Shorris (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 2000

In this stark, unsettling novel, set in a Mexican prison, present-day events resonate with the ancient history and wisdom of the Maya. Graham Greene meets Carlos Castaneda.

In the central Yucatan a group of Maya Indian workers revolt against the corrupt oligarchy of government, business, the official union, and the press. Two young men—a traditional Maya leader and a Mexican-American lawyer—are drawn into ever deeper commitment to the struggle. When they are caught in a trap and thrown into jail, the lawyer declares a hunger strike. The story of the Maya workers, and of their village, is narrated in a series of vivid flashbacks that alternate with the grim deprivations and interrogations in the prison. Day by day, the young lawyer approaches death, and in his discussions with his friend and cell mate, there emerge two different definitions of love, loyalty, and courage, each man's version determined by the culture from which he springs. One of the chief delights of this rich, intense storytelling is the introduction it provides to the Maya understanding of time, medicine, and proper behavior. Although everything that happens in the novel could have appeared in the latest news stories out of Mexico, nothing happens quite as expected, and the startling conclusion could only have taken place in the Yucatan.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Better known for his numerous nonfiction titles (Latinos: A Biography of the People; A Nation of Salesmen; New American Blues; etc.), this time around Shorris tries his hand at Latin mysticism and political commentary in fictional form. John Mendoza is a Mexican-American lawyer who marries a Maya woman and becomes involved in local politics. Andr?s Chay is a traditional Maya leader and mystic who enlists Mendoza's help when the pig farmers of the village of Sac May in the Yucat n peninsula mount a strike and attempt to start a Maya worker's union, independent of the corrupt Sindicato de Obreros Mexicanos. Twenty-one strikers, and then Mendoza and Chay, are tricked into jail, and in a fit of anger Mendoza swears to go on a hunger strike until all the strikers are freed. The narrative focuses on jail-cell conversations between the Maya mystic and the American lawyer about love, loyalty and courage, and is intercut with romantic flashbacks, sociopolitical commentary and scenes of torture, dysentery and death by starvation. Although the language is often powerful and poetic ("She was too young to speak words; she spoke to him through the dimple beside her mouth on the left side, above her heart"), the book has several flaws. The first-person narrator, Chay's cousin Ak, is superfluous; implausibly, no one goes to the American consulate until 36 days after American citizen Mendoza is detained; and the ending is too abrupt. One cannot help comparing this novel to Manuel Puig's The Kiss of the Spider Woman, another story of two men bonding in prison. Shorris's novel is impressively steeped in Maya culture and unflinching in its depiction of Mexican provincial political abuses but, in failing to establish credibility, it shortchanges the reader. (May)
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

Shorris's new novel is a stern indictment of how entrenched Mexican one-party rule can stifle dissent in the name of democracy. Los Angeleno lawyer John Mendoza, married to a local woman and living in the Yucat n, agrees, withMayan friend Andr s Chay, to negotiate with local authorities on behalf of 21 striking farm workers, jailed for the crime of trying to establish a "nonofficial" union. Instead of negotiating, the police jail them, confining them in a filthy, degrading cell. Mendoza wages an ineffective hunger strike, but the police are forced to cooperate when heroic Andr s commits suicide and the Mayan women gather for a protest outside the prison. Shorris knows scads about Mayan culture and uses it to good advantage, weaving politics, religion, natural medicine, spirituality, and beautiful language into an admirable political novel. Recommended, especially for Latino and Latin American collections.DHarold Augenbraum, Mercantile Lib. of New York
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 224 pages
• Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company; 1st edition (May 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0393049213
• ISBN-13: 978-0393049213
• Product Dimensions: 8.6 x 6.1 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,267,634 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Speaking Truth to Power, June 25, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: In the Yucatan: A Novel (Hardcover)

This is an brave and powerful book. It takes on profound issues facing all of us -- in the US as well as Mexico: economic domination, political corruption, and the meaning of courage in a world without empathy. There is no cynicism at the heart of this book; despite its sometimes gritty language and always too-accurate portrayals of the ways of power, at its heart this author must believe that there is a role for the lonely soldier of truth. Although this sometimes a hard book, I found lessons about life on every page. It should be read by anyone who cares about justice.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Brave and Beautiful, July 3, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: In the Yucatan: A Novel (Hardcover)

This is a brave and beautiful book. Hard and sometimes harsh, it uses the language and imagery of an ancient people to tell a modern and eternal story of courage in the face of corruption. Shorris makes excruciating the details of two men's battle against impossible odds, and by doing so, ennobles them. No one who cares about politics or social justice in Mexico -- or the USA -- should miss this powerful book.

5.0 out of 5 stars An Exceptional Book, December 9, 2001

By 

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

This review is from: In the Yucatan: A Novel (Hardcover)

This is a very moving story with characters that become real within the first few pages. It opens our eyes to the Maya ways of thought and to the modern struggles of all working people in a sometimes cruel and corrupt world. The ending took me by surprise but I didn't want to close the book or let go of the characters. I wanted to just begin reading this truely powerful story again. I highly recommend it!