Jun 04 2008
The best book EVER. Or at least this week.
Like involuntary cocaine-fueled drinking binges with heavily armed Mexican cops? Mountain gorges deeper and longer than the Grand Canyon that you’ve never even heard of just a hop, skip, and a jump from the US? Psychopathic hillbillies out to restore their clan honor by killing anyone remotely related to/in the drug business with their family enemies? Hospitable people willing to share what little they have in an unearthly natural setting? Indigenous tribal rituals crossed with Roman Catholicism that lead to extremely drunken men in devil masks beating equally drunk passersby with giant penises during Holy Week?
Then read God’s Middle Finger: Into the Lawless Heart of the Sierra Madre by Richard Grant. It’s funny, informative, and personal but mostly just funny in that black hearted, I’d-cry if-this-was-happening-to-me-but-it’s-not-so-I’ll-laugh genre. At loose ends after a devastating divorce, Grant makes the decision to to travel down the Sierra Madre mountain range, Mexico’s 1000 mile-long spine that occupies the heart of the country’s forbidden zone. An area that for centuries has kept outsiders out with its incredibly rugged terrain and well-armed, very paranoid population; it was the home base of legendary figures like Pancho Villa, the destination of polygamous Mormons fleeing from the reach of the US government, and the present day spawning ground of many of the drug clans that dominate the Mexican underworld. The area can currently be seen in the headlines of your newspaper’s international section battling their government on the streets. It was, shall we say, an eye-opening, if extremely foolhardy, decision. Ignoring the advice of those who, Grant admits, know better, he traverses the range in a series of trips by foot, horse, truck, and donkey. There are no great realizations or accomplishments, no discoveries for the ages, just one man’s entertaining and informative travelogue and journey into his own somewhat battered psyche.
Read more: A to Z, Bestsellers, Book Reviews, God's Middle Finger, Mexico, News, Travel WritingWill is a political junkie, the only native born Bostonian on the staff (do not ask him for directions, his guess is as good as yours), a rabid Boston sports fan who hearts Kevin Garnett in a totally non-creepy way, a terrible surfer, a bon vivant, and a burrito connnoisseur. He dreams of the beach at Punta Uba and is often hit by Lisa for unfortunate remarks about her hair.
