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Cargando... The Guaymas Chronicles: La Mandaderapor David E. Stuart
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This memoir of a young gringo's assimilation into the exotic street life of a bustling port on Mexico's Sea of Cortez is an eye-opening account of the area's working-class life. After months of anthropological field work in late 1960s Ecuador, David Stuart returns to Guaymas with broken bones and a broken heart, finding comfort in the cafés and nightspots along the waterfront. There he reveals his failings to people whose lingua franca is the simple wisdom of listening and understanding. The loyal barmen and taxi drivers adopt him into their tight-knit circle, helping him ride out the devastation of betrayal by a woman who is carrying another man's child. Dubbed El Güero ("Whitey") on the street, Stuart drifts into la movida, the Mexican world of hustlers, politicians, police officials, businessmen, and street urchins. In a 1970 Mexico where a $500 bribe and a two-year wait might get you a telephone, he needs help. A headstrong shoeshine girl, Lupita, becomes his mandadera (messenger) and then his confidante and junior business partner, working her magic by bribing customs officials and making deals for tires, fans, blenders, and other fayuca (contraband). A scrawny eleven-year-old, she is not just street-brilliant but complicated and utterly fascinating. This vivid, haunting portrait of a world many Americans have visited but few understand, is a unique examination of what Mexico means to one American and what America means to the everyday Mexican people who surround and protect him. No se han encontrado descripciones de biblioteca. |
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Google Books — Cargando... GénerosSistema Decimal Melvil (DDC)972.17History and Geography North America Mexico, Central America, West Indies, Bermuda Northern States SonoraClasificación de la Biblioteca del CongresoValoraciónPromedio:
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I appreciate the author's anthropological style of narration even though I find it jumpy at times. The frequent Spanish translations are a nice touch. In general I believe a strong story subject can make up for not-as-strong writing, and Stuart's story is a powerfully moving slice of his life. A few descriptions are permanently embedded in my mind: one favorite is of Lupita with her trophy fish catch, a three-and-a-half-foot yellowtail, which she caught on an outing to Kino Bay in the Sea of Cortes.
It's not often that I find myself so engrossed in a book that the world around me dissolves into a kind of tunnel vision. ( )