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A novel that covers the same adolescent terrain as Prep, though in an entirely different landscape, Mexican High is an eye-opening, page-turning coming-of-age story about identity, belonging, and first love. In a setting rife with sex, drugs, and political corruption, it is also a revealing look at elite Mexican society, and its freedoms, dangers, and excesses. Monroy’s flawless evocation of the brink of adulthood, in many ways mirrored by the turmoil of Mexico City itself, makes this a truly memorable debut.
Monroy's spirited, overreaching debut tracks a rocky coming-of-age. Milagro Márquez's father is a wealthy, powerful Mexico City native, but her mother, a California-raised Jew, who works for the foreign service, won't tell Milagro who he is. As mother and daughter move from Clinton-era Washington, D.C., to Mexico City for her mother's latest posting, Milagro sees a chance to seek him out. Thrust into the heady, drug-fueled world of diplomatic offspring and Mexican rich kids at her exclusive private school, Milagro quickly transforms from a "good girl" into a rebellious club kid, spending chunks of time with fresas, or "Eurotrash with Mexican passports." Her late teen precocity soon puts her at odds with her overbearing mother, who embarks on a series of far-fetched schemes to get Milagro back on track. Monroy makes Milagro a terrific observer of telling details, but her voice isn't built for the larger points Monroy tries to make about the contradictions of teenage life and the economic fragmentation of Mexican society. The result is more a fictive diary than a satisfying novel. (June)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.Adult/High School- Mila, the daughter of an ex-hippie diplomat, has settled into her Washington, DC, high school very nicely after stints in Asia, Europe, and South America. She's a straight-A cheerleader heading into her senior year in 1993 when her mother drops the bomb: she has been reassigned to Mexico City. Although intrigued by the possibility of discovering her mysteriously anonymous father, Mila is resistant and resentful of the move. Feeling insecure when faced with the ultrarich cliques of her international high school and reeling from a date rape, her good-girl, preppy self disappears as pot, Ecstasy, acid, cocaine, and peyote become part of her routine; much of the narrative is taken up with drinking in nightclubs, procuring drugs, and bribing policemen. The famously corrupt political arena becomes personal in more ways than one. The prose is dense, full of details about daily life, and the teen packs a lot of living into her senior year (yet still manages to get into Harvard). The Mila that narrates from a later date is sometimes a little too wise and philosophical, and her attitude toward the drugs and sex that punctuate the teens' lives goes quickly from shocked innocence to world-weary nonchalance. Teens who enjoy reading about the exploits of the young, rich, and virtually parentless (think "Gossip Girl") will enjoy this book.-Jenny Gasset, Orange County Public Library, CA
This book is so different and so freakin amazing! i loved it so much. it was so thrilling and entertaining. if you like reading books about the world around them and not just about your own little world in the U.S then you should definitely read this book
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.Anonymous
Posted October 19, 2009
this book is very predictable - typical high school new girl goes from being awkward and disliked to getting into the inner circle and having "revelations" how they don't have it as easily as everyone else thinks. duh.
the author tries to enliven things by using languid, wandering prose to describe main character's drug trips but once in enough - not once every chapter! yes, i get it, the characters are using drugs as an escape - no, i don't need it written out 17 times.
this book is terrible.
0 out of 2 people found this review helpful.
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Posted December 25, 2009
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Posted October 19, 2011
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Overview
The daughter of an American diplomat, Mila has spent her childhood moving from country to country. When her mother is reassigned to Mexico City for Mila’s senior year of high school, Mila has no idea what to expect. Mexico seems to be a country with the ultimate freedoms: the wealthy students at her private international school—the sons and daughters of Mexico’s ruling class—party hard at exclusive clubs, dress in expensive clothing, and see more of their housekeepers than they do their globe-trotting parents. But Mila has more in common with them than they know: her father, whose identity has been kept from her, is a high-ranking politician with whom Mila’s mother had a one-night stand in her hippie days. Now Mila is