Book description
Set against the vibrant background of one of the world's most
dangerous cities, Oh Mexico! is not only a classic travel memoir, but
also contains great narrative and stuffed with amazing facts about
this country's colourful history, lit up by warmth, wit, wisdom and
pizzazz. With an eye for the bizarre and comic, Lucy's engaging
account of surviving life and love in a vast, bustling Central
American city is irresistible. After graduating from university with
an Arts degree, she is faced with a dilemma: find a job or disappear
to Latin America, the exotic land of her childhood dreams! Arriving in
Mexico City with little money and only basic Spanish, Lucy's To-Do
list is simple enough: 'Next morning I awoke and began writing a to do
list. Not that I am an organised person, but I was feeling overwhelmed
-- and I always find that a to do list gives me a sense that there is
a potential to cope with the situation. 1. Find something to eat, 2.
Wash undies, 3. Learn Spanish and 4. Get a job.'
Lucy promptly finds work as an English teacher and scores a room in
a sunny apartment. Her new flatmate, the well-connected Octavio, is
unnervingly attractive. So begins a cavalcade of comic challenges as
Lucy negotiates Mexico City's stratified worlds, meeting everyone from
street hawkers to crazy gringos, academics and socialites. Then, as
the two men she accidentally falls in love with discover each other's
existence, her extrovert family arrive for a visit! With a curious
mind and a knowing eye, Lucy's account of life in this riotous
third-world metropolis that is Mexico City is utterly irresistible.
"Neville's first book is a travel memoir written with all the
panache the pizzazz, the characters and suspense of a good
novel." Adelaide Advertiser
"At its very best, travel writing has the capacity to
illuminate not only the heart of a traveller, but of a country, too.
The page-turning journey that is Oh Mexico! manages to do both things
with considerable skill and frequent hilarity ... Neville has the
canny reserve of a born storyteller, capturing the dissonances as well
as the melodies of expatriate life in a country like no other."
Weekend West
"A vibrant account of life in Mexico. It is a typical tale of
an adventurous twenty-something ... Excellent when describing the
challenge of finding a place to live, being overwhelmed by the sex
appeal of her handsome flat mate, responding spontaneously to new and
alien experiences, finding a job teaching English to a group of women
she calls the 'First Wives' Breakfast Club', struggling with the
complexities of speaking a foreign language, unraveling the nuances of
class in Mexican society and learning the subtleties and texture of
daily life in Mexico City ... Neville is a talented writer whose easy,
warm style and very 'non-chick lit' calmness in the presence of
glamorous men makes for an entertaining account of two years and two
loves in a city little known to many." • -- Sydney Morning Herald
"Part love story, part adventure, Oh Mexico! is a fun, light
read, ideal for those eager to run away." Courier Mail
"Lucy takes you along as she deals with public transport,
shopping, the endless doubles entendres of the local language (almost
everything has a secondary, sexual connotation), male machismo, local
politics, a hilariously fraught visit by her parents and sister and
much more. Anybody who has ever been a 20-something traveller should
enjoy this engaging read -- think Holy Cow in Mexico." Bookseller
and Publisher
