Product Description

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #74757 in Books
• Published on: 1998-11-15
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 256 pages

Amazon.com
Great travel writing has always been about the person making the trip as well as the things he or she encounters, and Mary Morris's category-defying 1988 memoir was an instant classic as much for its candid revelation of the author's turbulent emotions as for its sensitive, unglamorous portrait of a Latin America most tourists never see. Living in a poor neighborhood of the small Mexican town San Miguel de Allende, Morris befriends a neighbor, Lupe, who is struggling to support her many children (fathered by three different men) and to cope with her current, openly unfaithful partner. Scenes of life in San Miguel alternate with Morris's voyages around Central America, from the historic ruins of Teotihuacán to the contemporary turmoil of Nicaragua under the Sandinistas. Memories of her past crowd in: her parents' tense marriage, which sparked the restlessness that keeps their daughter on the road; her difficult relationships with often cruel men; the desolation of the years prior to her departure for San Miguel. Neither her affection for Lupe nor her love affair with a Mexico City man can prevent Morris's eventual return to the U.S., but her eloquent, elegant prose makes it clear that the grim, grand landscape and its tenacious inhabitants have left an indelible imprint on her soul. --Wendy Smith

From Publishers Weekly
Author of short stories and the novel Crossroads, Morris here writes a memoir of her solitary travels through Latin America. Covering the peregrinations of approximately 18 months, she first describes arriving in a fugue-like state at the tiny Mexican village of San Miguel where she was befriended by the extremely poor Lupe and her children. The story continues with Morris's disclosures of sexual affairs, a particularly absorbing account of her stay in Nicaragua, recollections of brief companionships with people she met. The writing is lyrical but often histrionically self-absorbed and so personal that the reader feels voyeuristic. The most memorable part of the book focuses on Lupe, who endures life's meanest blows and remains hopeful.
Copyright 1988 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Review
"[Morris] is a fascinating guide, with an eye for the brutal, the garish, the silly, and the bizarre . . . The energy of her motion carries the reader with her."—Time

"The union of a travel book and a journey into the self. The vibrancy of that union is on every page . . . A true story and an artfully told one . . . Compelling . . . Nothing to Declare is impeccably, internally timed."—The New York Times Book Review

"The most memorable travel writing, from Marco Polo on Kubla Khan's concubines to Bruce Chatwin on aborigines, is about a different kind of journey, one that takes the reader on an exploration of the jungles of the soul. Mary Morris's account of her travels is very much in the tradition of these interior voyages . . . Morris does best when she writes about what she does and sees."—Chicago Tribune

"Stunning . . . Evocative, reverberant, powerful, and moving."—Kirkus Reviews

"Remarkable . . . Always completely honest . . . Morris's book is positively inspiring."—New York Woman

"Morris is one gutsy woman and one fantastic writer . . . A riveting account of living in Mexico and traveling through Latin America."—Cosmopolitan

"Morris captures well the climate of unpredictability and timelessness that exists [in Mexico] . . . She paints a deft and devastating portrait of bored, sidetracked American expatriates, passing year after year in the bars and restaurants of San Miguel."—Joyce Maynard, Mademoiselle

Customer Reviews

an empty read
I finished reading this book only because I'm on vacation and short of other books. Also, I couldn't believe that there wouldn't be more to it at some point. Ms. Morris does write fairly well. There are some errors in the text and she clearly is not a craftwoman - she doesn't do the research at various points to name animals (for instance the 'large rodent' in the Guatemalan jungle). The critiques of other reviewers are very correct - she is self-absorbed, but not in an interesting way. The entire book is of her taking from others what she can, with very little giving back, except to her generous neighbor, Lupe, and even in that relationship it doesn't feel as if she's really able to be humanly touched. Her travel descriptions are pathetically shallow and useless for those of us who are curious and want to know the flavor of places. The texture and description which bring the essence of a place to a reader are mostly absent. The whole book reads as a cryptic list of 'places I've been with the crummy places I stayed while there and how I didn't like it' saga. I would have given the book one star, except Ms. Morris does have some writing ability. I'm very surprised this book is still in print. Ms. Morris has now had a number of other books printed and I for one can't imagine ever picking one of them up after having read this one. If those books are better than this one, Ms. Morris, do yourself a favor and take this one out of circulation.

Ho hum...
Although Morris would (and does) believe that she is a natural and effortless traveller, this text attests otherwise. Morris spends the majority of the work lamenting the inefficencies of Mexico and reminding us how bold she is for taking the journey. The other portion consists of her waxing lyrical about her indifference to love or how generous she is as the privileged and revered American. She continously struck me as bitter and egocentrical.

Similarly, I think she adheres to the stereotypes she seemingly casts away. I particularly loved when she decided that she felt more like a 'man than a woman' in her relationship with the pampering/cleaning Mexican man. I also shuddered when she declared that her aforementioned Mexican love was like an 'Indian' when drunk.

As others have suggest, the cast that populates the background are more interesting than Morris herself. Beautiful writing and landscape, but intensely annoying subject.

Nothing to care about
A better title of this book might be "Nothing Interesting to Write About". This book was a total disappointment. All the people the author meets and writes about are oafish, selfish and/or unlikeable, including the man she takes as a lover, as well as being thoroughly boring. The one exception is her neighbor Lupe, however her sad and hopeless situation is common refrain in any poor area of any country. Too many children, not enough money. I will say that her descriptions of travel, food and medical care in Mexico have convinced me it is not someplace I ever care to travel to.