Oh, Mexico
It sounds so simple I just got to go
The sun's so hot I forgot to go home
Guess I'll have to go now.
I have been to Mexico. I spent a few months travelling around Oaxaca in my early 20s (quite a while ago now) but I never made it to Mexico City. Even then I was warned off because of the crime and polution. There is crime everywhere in Mexico - it is just the degrees that are different. When I was there I could never keep a pair of thongs longer than a few days. And I never cared because the kids everywhere lived in such poverty and by comparison I was so wealthy!
But enough about me - the subject here is a wonderful little book by a girl named Lucy Neville. I feel so protective of her now that I've read this heartfelt, revealing and lovely little story about her time in Mexico City teaching English and immersing herself in culture, food, language and people. She is an Australian with a famous parent, but that doesn't really mean anything as you read her story (the Australian part does, the famous parent doesn't). She traveled to Mexico to have a life experience and she certainly did. I was with her all the way and wanted to rescue her several times. I wanted to tell her to watch out and not to go there. But she went anyway and gives a very honest, without regrets and no apologies account. She is refreshingly candid about her time there without filtering the good from the bad, at least in what she would write about.
Neville has a real gift for capturing personalities and places on the page. It might have been a little bit angsty in the personal love life department, for me (she is only in her 20s I think), but I truly loved reading about the places she went, the food she ate, the school she taught at and her experiences with the social and political scenes. She is expressive and knows how to use adjectives. She made me smile a lot and cringe a few times. Overall it is an easy read but with enough substance to keep even the most nose-in-the-air reader interested. This girl has a real future ahead of her in writing if she keeps it up. I will absolutely read her next book - she is now on my list.
Oh, Mexico
I never really been but I'd sure like to go
Oh, Mexico
I guess I'll have to go now
James Taylor - remember?
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