The Mexican Wife is a short story of 144 pages by author Consuelo Murgia. For me, it was an okay story. The protagonist Mayela is a bit of a superficial malinchist woman but who adapts very well when she faces hardships and comes out of her delusions about Jonathan, a red headed Italian boy she mistook for a Caucasian boy because of his fair skin. She has her eyes set on the boy, thinking he's a doctor and will take her to America. Eventually, he marries her after she pulls a fast one on him with a pregnancy he can't deny. Either he was very naive or he had a high sense of taking responsibility. Jonathan came up biased to me about anyone (Italians, Mexicans, Women, Muslims, you name it, anyone who has been accused by the media of doing something bad). At least, he was an equal opportunity discriminator. That said, he was also the typical man; frugal and careful but not bright enough to escape a woman's tricks.

There was a lot of talking in this story. The characters either seem to prattle on or ignore what the other is saying to them either on purpose or because they are self centered. The story moved quite a bit fast in some areas and they were a lot of change of POVs. Some sentences from the author native language didn't always translate well in English like when Mayela and her girlfriends had a chat, "...Anyways I want you to come with me and so it won't happen anything unsuitable."

I learned a lot from the Italian and Mexican cultures in this tidbit story. Now, if I eat at Chuys in Dallas, Texas I'll know it's an alternative to the name Jesus out of respect for the Prophet. Believers aren't that different. Many people use the name Ahmed instead of Muhammad because of respect too.

Not a bad read. The dry humour is there for sure. For instance, Mayela said to Johnny, "It's you who are cheap. You can't bring money when you die." I just died laughing. They are many more sharp replies like that between the characters of the book.

In conclusion, looks are deceiving but the patient wins. Now, for me who loves flowers, I now know that where they are cactuses, they are vipers. Makes sense right? I mean where there are beautiful gazelles, there are always lions lurking around...But that's a topic for another time.

Rating : 3/5

Thank you for reading,

Papatya*