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Title: I, Rigoberta Menchu: An Indian Woman in Guatemala by Rigoberta Menchu, E. Burgos-Debray, Ann Wright ISBN: 0-86091-788-6 Publisher: Verso Books Pub. Date: August, 1987 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $20.00 |
Average Customer Rating: 3.83 (29 reviews)
Rating: 5
Summary: An Essential Read
Comment: (This is both a review and a response to Michael J. Mazza's book review located above).
I think the above Mazza review is pretty smart and well articulated and would like to make one further point. Rigoberta is Quiche Mayan which means part of what others see as inconsistency is just her faith in an old but thriving religion that others know little about. The Maya are a highly spiritual people. They behave in a way that even after living in Chiapas and Guatemala (both Mayan areas) for two years I cannot truly understand or anticipate. So when you say that she mixes fiction and reality to arrive at an even greater truth I think you're failing to realize the depths of her commitment to the spirit. She wouldn't say that any of the things you term "fictions?are fictions at all. Here's an example: almost all Quiche women wear huipils ?a traditional dress. To the non-Indian eye this looks like it is decorated with geometric patterns. To the Mayan eye they see the history of the world. This mindset is real. The history of the world is a cosmic history.
I see the problem with readings of "I, Rigoberta Menchu" an unfortunate and underestimated cultural misunderstanding. The term itself makes me quiver because of its recent overuse and thus lack of meaning. But I think the mindset of the average Mayan and the average American are virtually irreconcilable. This difference, I suggest, is part of the cause for gross misunderstanding the CIA had of the Mayan Indians. With all this talk we fail to keep in mind that the violence was real, there was a CIA-coup that installed a dictator.
Regardless of what you think about her integrity, this book is an essential read. It's a shame that such an vital tale has been hindered by the political talk around it. Politics, namely the CIA in the 50s, caused this problem in the first place. See How Holocausts Happen or Bitter Fruit for more information on this.
The Maya do not get the exposure or credit they deserve. The Maya give civilization many things that we take for granted including chocolate and the tomato. So let's open our ears a bit and pay attention to the way other people think before we judge them. With a little more sensitivity the world might be a bit more peaceful.
Rating: 4
Summary: I, Rigoberta Menchu-Amy Tehan
Comment: This book is rich with cultural insights and details, and Rigoberta tells us her story with passion and an inner strength that can only come from years of persecution. Although her reasons for narrating her story are to enlighten the rest of the world to the situation of the Indians in Guatemala, she chooses to focus on her culture and their customs instead of the many mass attrocities committed by the "ladinos", landowners, and government in her country. In my opinion, this is a much more effective technique in gaining the audience's sympathy and respect, because she gives us so much to sympathize with. She gives her readers a base of understanding of her culture that the oppressors in her country do not have. Anyone who reads this book will be awed at the communal living of her culture, and I myself have the utmost respect for the Indians' hard work and love of the earth. If only we could all live like that...
Although she does tell us about the many deaths she witnessed at the hands of her oppressors and about the grief they have caused so many, these incidences are only a part of her life. She has an uncanny ability to take strength from both her defeats and her victories, and she uses this strength to drive her efforts to give the Indians an equal footing with the rest of Guatemala.
Rating: 4
Summary: possibly embellished but nevertheless inspiring
Comment: Despite the recent questioning of Rigoberta's honesty, I strongly encourage others to read this book, because it will open your eyes to the harsh side of life. Living in the United States, we are isolated from many human rights abuses, but Rigoberta Menchú's courage to overcome oppressors will inspire you. My criticism for this book - that Rigoberta's transcribed interviews do not read smoothly - is a minor one, especially when reading her actual spoken words can be so emotionally moving.
Summary:
This nonfiction book tells of how the Menchú family, members of one of the largest of the twenty-two ethnic groups in Guatemala, was oppressed by the Guatemalan government. The first few chapters of the book tell of their work conditions at the Pacific coast fincas, or plantations, where they were inhumanely transported and then malnourished, sprayed with pesticides, and underpaid for their work. The next few chapters present facts about Rigoberta's father, Vicente, who fought for years to keep landowners from taking the Indians' land in the Altiplano, only to have his crops and cattle destroyed, to be unfairly jailed and physically abused, and to be later burned alive in the Spanish Embassy. Meanwhile, Indian village after Indian village was massacred by soldiers, and hundreds and hundreds of women were raped by the army. The book also contains gruesome accounts of the murders of Rigoberta's mother and 16-year-old brother, who were unjustly kidnapped and tortured by the army. Rigoberta, too, was a hunted woman, but her supporters eventually smuggled her to Mexico, where she sought help for the freeing of her people.
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Title: The Rigoberta Menchú Controversy by Arturo Arias, Editor,Arturo Arias, Elizabeth Chin ISBN: 0816636265 Publisher: University of Minnesota Press Pub. Date: March, 2001 List Price(USD): $19.95 |
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Title: In Focus Guatemala: A Guide to the People, Politics and Culture by Trish O'Kane ISBN: 1566562422 Publisher: Interlink Pub Group Pub. Date: February, 1999 List Price(USD): $12.95 |
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Title: Rigoberta Menchu and the Story of All Poor Guatemalans by David Stoll ISBN: 0813336945 Publisher: Westview Press Pub. Date: January, 2000 List Price(USD): $19.00 |
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Title: Bitter Fruit: The Story of the American Coup in Guatemala by Stephen C. Schlesinger, Stephen Kinzer, John H. Coatsworth, Richard A. Nuccio ISBN: 0674075900 Publisher: Harvard Univ Pr Pub. Date: August, 1999 List Price(USD): $19.95 |
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Title: Silence on the Mountain: Stories of Terror, Betrayal, and Forgetting in Guatemala by Daniel Wilkinson ISBN: 0618221395 Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Co Pub. Date: 26 September, 2002 List Price(USD): $24.00 |
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