Chez Robert Giron

C. M. Mayo, editor of the collection Mexico: A Traveler's Literary Companion, has done Mexico and English readers a grand service, and she also gives us a short story of her own entitled Rancho Santa Inés: Fast.





In this compact book of 256 pages, with twenty four authors, one can find a variety of voices from leading Mexican writers, mostly living, with the exception of Inés Arredondo and Jesús Gardea. Most American readers will probably recognize Carlos Fuentes and Laura Esquivel, who continue to add to the wealth of Mexican literature but there are so many more who warrant reading. Agustín Cadena's story Lady of the Seas, translated by Mayo and who also translated five other stories in addition to editing the collection, draws the reader in immediately. Twins by Ilan Stavans, translated by Harry Morales, not only gives us another look at Mexico but practically gives us a taste of its food and drink as we read.

Here in this book we have the rich textures of Mexico, its peoples with hopes and traumas, all which leaves the reader wanting more, craving to revisit the land from the deserts to jungles to the seashores, which so many Americans know in passing but not really. This book, a gift to us from Mayo, is a means to connect before traveling to that land from which so many are currently leaving to come to the USA. Perhaps one can surmise about the pull the USA has for Mexicans but one can certainly begin to understand why the pull back to Mexico is equally strong.

As Mexicans say: Like Mexico there is no other.

To purchase a copy, click here:
Mexico: A Traveler's Literary Companion