Mexican Enough: My Life Between the Borderlines

This book is a well written share of a group of people’s life experiences that so many are unaware of. Yes we know racism is alive and wrong, but we tend to see it as something that only affects African Americans. This book shows how it truly impacts so many more cultures, ethnicities, and people. The writer opens the readers eyes to so many unknown situations that we all should know about.

Stephanie Elizondo Griest tells the story of her experience journeying through Mexico with such a down-to-earth tone, you feel as if you are right there with her. I think that anyone who is interested in discovering their roots would find it both interesting and entertaining. It is a very easy read, and most definitely a page-turner. You have to admire her guts.

I'm 63 and it has been a long time since I've seen anything new and refreshing in the writing field. I seldom ever finish a book anymore because it starts to look like the same ole thing after a few chapters. Not this time! If you are the kind of person who visits a place and wonders what it's like to live there, this book is for you. It doesn't matter if Mexico is not one of those places you would visit, it doesn't matter how old you are, you will find a refreshing writing style that transends the location and ages. The author transports you to the Mexico where ordinary people (I didn't say typical people although some are) live, but that's not the only message I got from this work. The author went to places that most Mexicans would avoid. The message I got was that the human spirit is the same in all places and I got a new understanding of what it like to live on the fringes in Mexico in addition to the mainstream. The book was fun. Sure it was about a youngster traveling in a foreign country but it was a lot more than travel story, it was story for all ages.

When she finally buried her shovel in Mexican soil she had no idea how rich the ground might be. No longer satisfied with simply being considered a Latina on applications, Griest, who learned Russian to travel in the former Soviet Union and Chinese to live in China, decided it was finally time to learn Spanish by traveling Mexico. In her best and most heartfelt book yet, Griest documents both her amazing process of embracing the wild, dangerous, loving, and enthralling calliope that is Mexico and its volatile political and social atmosphere. Along her way, Griest meets farmers and activists, gay men and macho wrestlers, revolutionaries and victims of violence. Each encounter changes both writer and reader. All the while the main question is hovers in the sky: What does it mean to be Mexican? Can a woman from Texas with roots in rural Mexico and the Kansas prairie find her reflection in brown eyes or blue eyes? Read the book. Griest's journey resonates with all of us who struggle to define ourselves in a complicated world. --

I found this amazing book to be very compelling. This author always gets to the very core of the people, visiting areas where tourists do not tend to tread. In Mexico, she not only does not hide the bad and ugly, but also takes us into the private lives of the good and the beautiful. Reading her book was like being her travel companion on her personal quest for the holy identity Grail. I highly recommend this book for anybody interested in Mexico. We all share in its history, its people and its culture. I also highly recommend this book to anybody wanting to take a journey of discovery into their own ancestral motherland. Stephanie inspires one to do so.

I loved this author's other books, so I was really looking forward to "Mexican Enough." It does not disappoint. She routinely throws herself into the craziest situations (like sneaking into a prison in Oaxaca, or spending the night in a Zapatista camp in Chiapas) and finds the most amazing stories. I learned so much about Mexico, from the impact of NAFTA and immigration, to pop culture like lucha libre (think: Nacho Libre). Some of the stories are pretty heartbreaking, but there is a lot of humor as well. Even though I am not Latina, I can relate to her questioning her cultural identity, and whether or not she is "enough." It also reminds me of this ongoing debate about Obama being "black enough." That makes this an especially timely book.