Querida Elena Poniatowska.
Leyendo su historia de Lorenzo, de sus pasos para convertirse en el astr'onomo mexicano por excelencia, dos caracter'isticas de su personalidad no me son convincentes. Despu'es de luchar tanto por adquirir conocimiento, como es posible que se haya mantenido al margen de la evoluci'on de la computadora, herramienta fundamental en la ciencia moderna, tanto para c'alculo o para las comunicaciones. El otro aspecto "increible", es como una persona de la inteligencia y sensibilidad de Lorenzo, lleve una vida "privada" tan rudimentaria, que justamente se hace mas evidente al finalizar el libro. Lorenzo me defraud'o!

Una "ficción histórica" de la señora Poniatowska, que lo mismo introduce como personaje a José Revueltas que a un mundo de científicos mexicanos - algunos con sus nombres reales - en un intento de transmitirnos el mundo interior y exterior del voluntarioso Lorenzo De Tena. Seguramente aquellos que son científicos, o conocedores de la historia de la ciencia mexicana, saborearán el retrato "ficticio" que hace esta genial escritora y periodista del (¿nacimiento del?) México científico de hace unas décadas. Aquellos que no lo somos, aún así (y quizá por eso, pues habremos conocido "aún otro" México) seguramente disfrutaremos la manera como va trazando la personalidad de Lorenzo, sus tropiezos, triunfos y lecciones en el contexto de un México que le duele a los dos, al protagonista y a la escritora.

This book won the 2001 Alfaguara prize for a Novel, something I think should be told somewhere in this site.

Get to know -yet- another Mexico.

I really liked this book because it shows the real religious, political, academic, and social life in Mexico. The way details are exposed and how real the characters are make the book very interesting.

This book provides an excellent account of the Mexico city earthquate. Yet what is most poignant about it is that it describes the events through the eyes of the urban poor. IT is very detailed in description, and at times graphic. Some of the accounts are inspiring, while many of them reveal the true nature of the Mexican ruling class. If anyone is interested in urban poor in South America, this book is a must read. It will have you cheering the silent heroism of so many poor Mexicans, while at the same time arousing a feirce anger towards the government that let so many of them down.

The book also conveys to the reader a sense of the magnitude of Mexican city and how devasting the earthquake was. It reveals how the poor are so dramatically affected by such an event, yet how they are so often forgotten. Literally, to the point of death. This is an excellent book.

I personally think that Sandra Cisneros wrote this book for the female audience. She seems to be some sort of a man hater. I guess she really does not like men in any kind of fasion. So for all you man haters this is a good book for you. Everyene else stay away. A better book would be the dictionary

Lo que ami me gusto sobre el libro fue que tiene en algunas partes muchas canciones bonitas. Tambien que esta facil para leer para personas que se les hace mucho trabajo leer. Esta historia que yo lei se trataba de una senora que tenia 6 hijos y su marido la abandono. La senora ya no queria a los ninos porque eran muchos y la enfadaban, y por eso ella se iva a trabajar y los dejaba solos en la casa sin nadie que los atendiera, Ms.Hernadez decia que ya estaba enfadada de ellos. Yo pienso que si talvez el senor no los huviera abandonado su padre y que los ninos fueran ala escuela para que no fueran tan mal educados fueran una familia feliz sin problemas.

I have read this book aloud, in English and Spanish, to students grade 3-5 and they were all MESMERIZED by it. The reason is that they had never heard a book written in a child's voice, about everyday experiences similar to their own. The part about one of the girls being tempted to kiss the bum for a dollar got a great discussion going, with many students giving their opinion about what the girl should or should not do. Also, Elena Poniatowska did an amazing job of translating from English to Spanish. Nothing was lost, not even the voice. Poniatowska is an author in her own right, and therefore was able to achieve a perfect translation.

Elena Poniatowska's new novel achieves the remarkable: it presents, in a very few pages, a rather in-depth look at Mexican society following the Second World War, doing so not as dry commentary but purely in terms of the personal. Ashby Egbert, scion of one of Mexico's most privileged families, accidentally touches a high-tension wire and as a result spends two years in various hospitals, in one of which he comes in contact with a part of Mexico which he has never seen before. This is only the beginning of his interior change, one which the reader follows avidly page by page. Poniatowska, as usual, utilizes an extensive vocabulary and elegant writing style to create characters one can never forget and invites the reader into aspects of her country's social fabric which bear closer scrutiny. This is not light reading. It has all the marks of a book that will last.

This is a book about a very rich guy named Ashby, but because of some unfortunate accidents his life gets turn up side down. Eventually his life gets fixed but after meeting Amaya his life changes all over again. It is a good book but the endings is just too happy, it looks like a fairy tale or something like that

"Paseo de la Reforma" demuestra el paralelismo entre clases sociales atravez de su protagonista Ashby Egbert. Poniatowska usa sus personajes para pintar una lectura que te forza a tener que evaluar los estereotipos y lo predispuesto. El descubre que su vida es su lucha, de nadie mas. El experimenta la intoxicacion de el dominio propio ante tragos amargos y golpes de la vida,ambos acaban haciendolo un tipo listo. El rechasa el lugar que se le fue dado en el estratus social de la burgesa por uno que, aun por humilde que sea,lo deja ser quien el verdaderamente anhela ser sin antifaz de el materialismo cinematico. Ashby descubre que el placer propio no es razon de sustancia que pueda justificar el proposito de la existencia propia.

"A mind that is stretched to a new idea never returns to its original dimension." -Oliver Wendell Holmes