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Summary: "Why I am Better than Almost Anyone Else," A Summary, March
Review: "Why I am Better than Almost Anyone Else," A Summary, March 11, 2003
Reviewer: A reader from San Diego, CA This review reminded of a bigot with all manner if ill-conceived notions about Mexico. The book in question was not only one of the more well written ones on the subject of living in Mexico but was most accurate. I know because after reading the book my wife and I went there to the city, San Miguel de Allende and verified it for ourselves. We've spent time in the country studying the language and culture. The book was good. The author was good. You should go and see it for yourself.
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Summary: "Why I am Better than Almost Anyone Else," A Summary
Review: The book's first chapters are written in an annoying poetic style, which does more to convey Cohan's belief that he is a poet than it does to convey information about the town. The other annoyances of this book are well-described by other reviewers, but I have one to add, in question form: Why do these self-important tourists always believe that they are better than other tourists? Cohan disparagingly describes other Americans as "retirees" and ridicules their activities. When benign grey-haired persons in white shoes who enjoy card games and amateur theatricals serve as objects of derision in a book, I know that the writer lacks imagination and real depth. Has he spoken to any of these people? Is he aware of their histories? Does he know whether they fought in any wars, lost their brothers in wars, came to the US as immigrants, perhaps, and built business out of nothing? It's very nice to flee the USA when you have enough money to buy a house in a warm dusty town with good eats. I love Mexican food as much as the next person does, and would be happy to have this existence. But people like Cohan fail to recall that millions of people flee countries like Mexico, not finding the untrustworthy governments quite so quaint as he does. They come to the USA because it's better to be penniless here than penniless where they came from.
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Summary: You can tell by the other reviews who has lived in Mexico...
Review: IBM sent me on onternational assignment to Guadalajara, Mexico for a year. I thought I spoke Spanish until I arrived. I listened to this book on tape on the drive down and remember thinking that "these Mexicans seem crazy". One year later, driving back to the states, I listened to Tony's book again and was crying and laughing the whole time. The people who gave this book bad reviews clearly have lived in the US a little too long. Unfortunately, the only way you can understand this book is to have lived down there for a period of time. I guess the real point of this book is to say, "there's a different world out there and the United States is NOT at the center of it".
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Summary: Captures the "smell of the place"
Review: The goal of a travel book should be to convey to readers far away the physical and emotional feeling of a specific locale. For San Miguel de Allende, Tony Cohan does this perfectly. His portrayal of the challenges and experiences he faced when he uprooted from the US and moved to Mexico are colorful, lively, and filled with detail. His stories and accounts give real insight into the way myth and tradition blend with everyday life in modern Mexico. As someone who recently spent his first month in southern and central Mexico, I am struck by the degree to which he captured the feeling of San Miguel and other small towns like it. Cohan's sense of joy and wonder at what he's seeing and learning spill out of the pages, leaving the reader anxious as hell to experience Mexico. A bunch of reviewers trashed this book for being too self-centered, too generalist, and too focused on shopping trips. Those people miss the point. Part of the joy of living in Mexico, for Tony Cohan and for other Americans and Europeans who move there, is precisely being able to buy your vegetables, tortillas and shoelaces from a person you know rather than a faceless corporation. If you don't understand this, visit Mexico (not Cancun or Acapulco, but Oaxaca, San Cristobal, Guanajuato and the like) and you will. It's a micro-book, and it makes no pretentions to be otherwise. While the author at times gets a little carried away with his romanticization of San Miguel, he brings a perspective that really resonated. If you go in expecting one individual's personal account rather than a travel guide or an anthropological study, you'll be more than satisfied. Well-written and fun, it's a fantastic read, and a must if you don't know much about Mexico.
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Summary: Pretentious? !Si!
Review: ...This book is horrid. It strikes a pretentious, patronizing, self-congratulatory tone from the outset and keeps pouring it on... I will simply say that this book, without any alteration at all, could just as easily have been a parody, intended to skewer the NPR-ish, pseudo-artistic, oh-so-sensitive Gringo who jets down to San Miguel and becomes the first white man ever to become One With The People due to his super soulful sensibilities. Yeeech.
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Summary: Call Me Mr. Sensitive
Review: Horrid garbage of the most pretentious kind. Our Hero, a fragile soul whose nerves are all a jingly-jangly because of the evil ways of the US of A, jets down to San Miguel (first class? who can doubt it?) with his oh-so-artistic wife and together they become One With The People as few Gringos have before. Hmmm, smell that mole cooking. They don't have mole in LA, do they? Hey, nice shirt on that woman, let's buy it off her back! Wow, no home burglar alarm systems here in Quaint and Soulful San Miguel. Yeah, not more than about 10,000 of them -- after all, we have to protect the $$$$$$$$ of the mega-rich Gringos from California and Texas who populate this place. Hey, forget about a plastic toy for little Jonny, let's buy him this wooden donkey. Won't we look artistic and sensitive and soulful when it's unwrapped? I suppose this book could have been more patronizing, but it would have taken some work. As we say in San Antoinio, eeee-ho!
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Summary: As warm and colorful as the author's garden
Review: Very affectionate as memoirs go, as the author's appreciation of San Miguel grows with the passage of 15 years. We see nervous visitors develop increasing resourcefulness as they become contented residents, while they introduce us to a parade of beguiling acquaintances. Familiar ground to those who love Mexico already, a worthy introduction for others curious why we do.
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Summary: subtle and exquisite
Review: I'm writing this review from Oaxaca, where I just finished reading On Mexican Time and I found it a subtle and beautiful description of a life developed in Mexico over fifteen years. As the writer's Mexican life winds deeper around him, and as he comes to speak Spanish, the perceptions become deeper too. This book isn't for the margarita and RV beach crowd. This is for people who are sensitive to the art and the culture they find in a foreign place. Cohan isn't confused about who he is, gringo or Mexican, and he confronts the invasion of Americans to his town and other parts of Mexico with his eyes wide open. It's a poetic and insightful journey. I've spent many years visiting Mexico, and I loved the book. Jeanette
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Summary: An interesting look at Mexico
Review: I read this book about eight months or so ago and found it a very pleasant read. It is above average, but not great writing. The book does succeed wonderfully in transporting one from the armchair to San Miguel... having never been there (or farther into Mexico than the border cities - but that's not the Mexico I hear of from people who travel farther south), I had an open mind. Thus, I was not constantly comparing the book against my own experiences or preconcieved notions. While reading the reviews posted here I came up with a few thoughts that might be relevant. First, this is a book by a couple who traveled to Mexico to live, NOT to Louisiana. In my reading I found nothing that claimed that it is necessary to leave the US to achieve a calmer lifestyle. I am certain there are plenty of books about places in the US where similar features of living can be found. Second, while Cohan does at times come across as a bit patronizing, I found his documented actions to be pretty typical of American travelers... who tend to try to "help out" whenever confronted with a situation seemingly needing assistance. I don't think Cohan is perfect... but this is a book about one couple's somewhat unexpected decision to leave LA for a very different place. Anyway, I am not really wanting to rebut other reviews... I did find this an interesting book. As an architect I was fascinated by the Cohan's tales of restoring their crumbling hacienda... particularly the way they actually decided to buy the place. I have seen couples divorce over far lesser challenges right here in California... I'd like to see what the place is like now. This is not really a travel guide. There seems to be plenty of information that would be useful to a traveler to San Miguel, but it really is a chronicle of a time of major transition and interesting new frontiers. These are pretty "everyday" people who decided through a process of traveling to Mexico to pull out of a life that was unsatisfying and try something new. It takes a little bravery, some resources and a lot of that ability to laugh at ones' self to make something like that work. The author seems to have done a fine job. Worth the time to read.
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Summary: Very Pretentious
Review: Halfway through I began to really dislike this couple for their ridiculous attempt to give their move to San Miguel the tone of a british colonialist in India. They and their new acquaintances take a housewarming dinner party and try to imbue every little detail with signifcance. The overall effect is nausea. I give him 2 stars because his genuine love of the place does come through and the writing isn't all bad. If you like reading the travel section of the LA times you might actually enjoy this.
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