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The Zigzag Way
Eric is a youngish man, self-conscious, awkward, a buttoned-down North American, a would-be writer, and a traveller in spite of himself. Susceptible to bossy women, he finds himself in the wake of one in Mexico, where he is overwhelmed at first with sensory overload, but is gradually seduced - by the strangeness, the colour
179 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2004
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About the author
Anita Desai
85 books890 followersAnita Desai was born in 1937. Her published works include adult novels, children's books and short stories. She is a member of the Advisory Board for English of the National Academy of Letters in Delhi and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature in London. Anita Mazumdar Desai is an Indian novelist and Emeritus John E. Burchard Professor of Humanities at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. She has been shortlisted for the Booker prize three times. Her daughter, the author Kiran Desai, is the winner of the 2006 Booker prize.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 95 reviews
December 31, 2019
This book hasn't rated particularly well on GR, but if you're already a fan of Anita Desai, don't let that put you off. Although it's quite different from other examples of her work that I've read, at least with regard to locale, it is up there with the best in terms of the gloriously descriptive prose she is known for.
Post-grad Bostonian couple Eric and Em travel to Mexico together; she to conduct field research and he to stave off the ennui of completing his dissertation on immigration patterns. Em's been there a number of times before and is now practically blind to its colour and charms, but for first-timer Eric it's almost overwhelming. Em worries about how Eric will occupy himself while she's in the field. He's not sure either, but a serendipitous visit to an ethnographic lecture (delivered in Spanish, which he does not even understand) triggers a memory and a sense of purpose for his visit.
A solo journey to the old silver-mining region of the early 20th century brings Eric to a most unexpected encounter on la noche de los muertos.
Although some parts of the story dragged - most unfortunate for such a short novel - it was worth continuing for the writing alone. Desai has given me such a vivid image of Mexico, a place I have not yet visited, from the sensory overload of Mexico City to the dry emptiness of the Sierra Madre Oriental. I liked the characters of Eric and his family, but not so much Em and Doña Vera, and while I found the ending quite abrupt it did at least leave me with a warm feeling.
Post-grad Bostonian couple Eric and Em travel to Mexico together; she to conduct field research and he to stave off the ennui of completing his dissertation on immigration patterns. Em's been there a number of times before and is now practically blind to its colour and charms, but for first-timer Eric it's almost overwhelming. Em worries about how Eric will occupy himself while she's in the field. He's not sure either, but a serendipitous visit to an ethnographic lecture (delivered in Spanish, which he does not even understand) triggers a memory and a sense of purpose for his visit.
A solo journey to the old silver-mining region of the early 20th century brings Eric to a most unexpected encounter on la noche de los muertos.
Although some parts of the story dragged - most unfortunate for such a short novel - it was worth continuing for the writing alone. Desai has given me such a vivid image of Mexico, a place I have not yet visited, from the sensory overload of Mexico City to the dry emptiness of the Sierra Madre Oriental. I liked the characters of Eric and his family, but not so much Em and Doña Vera, and while I found the ending quite abrupt it did at least leave me with a warm feeling.
February 26, 2013
Another winner from Anita Desai. The protagonist who initially seems to follow his girl-friend on a field trip to Mexico for lack of a better plan turns out to be investigating his family's past without quite realising it at first. Half-forgotten memories of short exchanges with his father lead him on a quest back to the mining village where his Cornish grand-father once worked, and lost his young wife. Although it's a short book it almost has an epic quality to it as the links between the past and the present are illuminated. A brilliant book about memory and roots.
October 11, 2010
Eric and Emily, he calls her Em' for short, live in a cozy Boston apartment, cozily pursuing their postgraduate work. Emily is a scientist. Eric is working on a dissertation on immigration patterns in the US. But Eric is not fulfilled by his research. He would rather sit and drink coffee and watch the world pass him by. He is tempted to throw his dissertation away.
Emily is not particularly pleased with Eric's growing lassitude. It contrasts sharply with her immersion in her subject. A point of crisis appears in their relationship when Em announces that she must go on an extended field trip to the jungles of the Yucatan to pursue her research. Eric is at a loss, but latches on to Emily's upcoming trip as a means to escape his doldrums. When they get to Mexico City, Eric is told he cannot follow Em into the jungle and must devise his own purpose for the visit. He is suddenly impelled to visit the part of Mexico where his father was born. His father is the son of a Welsh miner who was imported into Mexico in the early part of the Twentieth Century to work as a part of a colony of Welshmen. Eric decides his trek, in anticipation of an undefined novel he intends to write, will be to go where his father was born and that he will find his inspiration there.
The novella follows Eric on his wanderings as he makes his way to the remote mining town where his grandfather once worked. Em has told him that he will discover much more about himself while he is alone than he would with her and she is right. He is witness to the clash of cultures and the pomposity of an ancient, wealthy, European woman who has made saving the local Indian tribe from the ravages of the mining industry her life's work.
But it is when he arrives at the dusty, primitive town where his grandfather once lived that he truly comes to terms with himself. He discovers a world of mystery and magic that could not be a greater contrast to the finite, focused world that Emily inhabits.
The novella is slender yet full of Ms. Desai's mellifluous prose. She describes a world where magic and realism meet. The novel's title comes from the zigzagged routes that the Indian miners during the Spanish conquest used to make when they carried ore uphill from deep in the mines. Eric's zigzagged course brings him too into the light carrying, perhaps, a treasure just as precious of that of the Indian miners, self knowledge.
Emily is not particularly pleased with Eric's growing lassitude. It contrasts sharply with her immersion in her subject. A point of crisis appears in their relationship when Em announces that she must go on an extended field trip to the jungles of the Yucatan to pursue her research. Eric is at a loss, but latches on to Emily's upcoming trip as a means to escape his doldrums. When they get to Mexico City, Eric is told he cannot follow Em into the jungle and must devise his own purpose for the visit. He is suddenly impelled to visit the part of Mexico where his father was born. His father is the son of a Welsh miner who was imported into Mexico in the early part of the Twentieth Century to work as a part of a colony of Welshmen. Eric decides his trek, in anticipation of an undefined novel he intends to write, will be to go where his father was born and that he will find his inspiration there.
The novella follows Eric on his wanderings as he makes his way to the remote mining town where his grandfather once worked. Em has told him that he will discover much more about himself while he is alone than he would with her and she is right. He is witness to the clash of cultures and the pomposity of an ancient, wealthy, European woman who has made saving the local Indian tribe from the ravages of the mining industry her life's work.
But it is when he arrives at the dusty, primitive town where his grandfather once lived that he truly comes to terms with himself. He discovers a world of mystery and magic that could not be a greater contrast to the finite, focused world that Emily inhabits.
The novella is slender yet full of Ms. Desai's mellifluous prose. She describes a world where magic and realism meet. The novel's title comes from the zigzagged routes that the Indian miners during the Spanish conquest used to make when they carried ore uphill from deep in the mines. Eric's zigzagged course brings him too into the light carrying, perhaps, a treasure just as precious of that of the Indian miners, self knowledge.
June 1, 2010
I think Anita Desai is not my type.Picking up Anita Desai had been a very big mistake.I somehow cannot relate to her characters which seem phoney and superficial to me.
The last Anita Desai's book (Fire in the mountain)that I read was also a huge dissapointment and this one was no less.I think it will be unfair to compare Fire in the Mountain and The Zigzag way as they both have been a terrible experience but still if I have to choose between the two it will be this one which seems less boring.I feel that I may enjoy Anita Desai's work if she writes something about India. Probably I don't like Indian authors like her and Salman Rushdie write about other countries
The last Anita Desai's book (Fire in the mountain)that I read was also a huge dissapointment and this one was no less.I think it will be unfair to compare Fire in the Mountain and The Zigzag way as they both have been a terrible experience but still if I have to choose between the two it will be this one which seems less boring.I feel that I may enjoy Anita Desai's work if she writes something about India. Probably I don't like Indian authors like her and Salman Rushdie write about other countries
January 14, 2012
For some reason getting through this was a real slog, and I only started getting into this right near the end. A very slim novel, at about 180 pages, took me 10 days! I suspect it's more to do with my current knackered-ness, than the actual book, as it's beautifully written.
Even with the slogging, I managed to glean a couple of things out of the novel, but am left feeling like I've missed the point. Or maybe that is the point?
Even with the slogging, I managed to glean a couple of things out of the novel, but am left feeling like I've missed the point. Or maybe that is the point?
April 13, 2013
Not much of a Desai-type story.
Story about a young man Eric, who was a crumbling failure and his live-in partner Em, a booming success. While he was struggling, striving with no interest, to finish a thesis his professors had told him to, she goes on a field-trip to Mexico with her fellow doctors and scientists to do research. Bored, out of lost inspiration to continue the thesis, and out of need for fresh inspiration to write on something else, he, too, after some entreaty, joins their troop and parts with them in Mexico City. He on his way; she on her own. She was cocksure where she was going and what she was to do, while he stood unsure, uncertain.
It was then that he remembered his ancestry: his grandfather had once mentioned (he had seen his grandfather only once in his lifetime, for he was brought up in USA, while his grandfather lived in England) about mining in Mexico. He had fled the country when revolutions broke and mining company was reduced to ashes. As is the case, however, his father had come to America on a boat, met a fisher-folk woman, married her. From Maine, instead of fishing like his community, he had graduated and was doing research on Immigration practices.
Eric attends a lecture by the famous Dona Vera who, in her speech, mentions of some mining towns that vaguely strikes a memory to Eric: his grandfather had only once mentioned those names and he had not forgotten them. Eric goes to the mining town which had been reduced now to a ghost town. Learns things around; meets Dona Vera, a protector of the tribal community - we learn her past, about her, her flaws and her intentions. She loathed him; he too avoided her.
The annual festival day arrives when the community will provide food for the dead ancestors, clean and decorate their graves. It was believed that on this day, the dead would come to their house, eat the dishes and return to their grave. Eric came to know that her grandmother had died here, when his grandfather was a miner. So he goes up with flowers, as if to do some duty, unable to find her grandma's grave amongst a swarm of other human souls who set out to cleaning and adorning their respective ancestors' graves. He stood there; met two people; returned home. Who those two people are, is a shock to the reader, which, however, the protagonist naively fails to comprehend or even suspect.
This book covers a vast history of how Spaniards spread into Mexico, plundering the local community and such. Very educational, but not emotional.
Compared to Anita Desai's other two works that I had read, this is not at all good.
Story about a young man Eric, who was a crumbling failure and his live-in partner Em, a booming success. While he was struggling, striving with no interest, to finish a thesis his professors had told him to, she goes on a field-trip to Mexico with her fellow doctors and scientists to do research. Bored, out of lost inspiration to continue the thesis, and out of need for fresh inspiration to write on something else, he, too, after some entreaty, joins their troop and parts with them in Mexico City. He on his way; she on her own. She was cocksure where she was going and what she was to do, while he stood unsure, uncertain.
It was then that he remembered his ancestry: his grandfather had once mentioned (he had seen his grandfather only once in his lifetime, for he was brought up in USA, while his grandfather lived in England) about mining in Mexico. He had fled the country when revolutions broke and mining company was reduced to ashes. As is the case, however, his father had come to America on a boat, met a fisher-folk woman, married her. From Maine, instead of fishing like his community, he had graduated and was doing research on Immigration practices.
Eric attends a lecture by the famous Dona Vera who, in her speech, mentions of some mining towns that vaguely strikes a memory to Eric: his grandfather had only once mentioned those names and he had not forgotten them. Eric goes to the mining town which had been reduced now to a ghost town. Learns things around; meets Dona Vera, a protector of the tribal community - we learn her past, about her, her flaws and her intentions. She loathed him; he too avoided her.
The annual festival day arrives when the community will provide food for the dead ancestors, clean and decorate their graves. It was believed that on this day, the dead would come to their house, eat the dishes and return to their grave. Eric came to know that her grandmother had died here, when his grandfather was a miner. So he goes up with flowers, as if to do some duty, unable to find her grandma's grave amongst a swarm of other human souls who set out to cleaning and adorning their respective ancestors' graves. He stood there; met two people; returned home. Who those two people are, is a shock to the reader, which, however, the protagonist naively fails to comprehend or even suspect.
This book covers a vast history of how Spaniards spread into Mexico, plundering the local community and such. Very educational, but not emotional.
Compared to Anita Desai's other two works that I had read, this is not at all good.
October 17, 2013
'But how strange, Eric, not to know where your dad was born!'
'Well, you know my family is strange. You've always said that,' he teased her.
'But as strange as that! I never guessed. Why hadn't he told you before?'
'I suppose because he doesn't remember a thing about it. He was taken to England as an infant and brought up there. Mexico is just a fairy tale to him.'
'Oh,' Em yawned. There seemed no point in pursuing a conversation that had no substance. She settled deeper into the seat, putting her head back to sleep while Eric drove.
This slight but charming story of Eric is about the zigzag way that humans follow through the world, their paths diverging far and wide driven by social, political and economic circumstances. Em is annoyingly grounded and purposeful, striding onwards with career and life. Eric is lost and at leisure. We realise that his sense of not belonging in his own skin, his family and his life have something to do with his aimlessness. But alongside his lackadaisical rootlessness he still has the capacity for awe and wonder at the world in which he seeks to find his place. And so he is open to the enchantments of Mexico where he discovers a little about his ancestry through magic and reality.
Alongside Eric we learn about the Cornish and Mexican mining industries, the hocking of Mexico to foreign investors in the mid 19th century and the disastrous civil strife. We learn about the Huichol Indians and their pilgrimage for the peyote. The whole book is about pilgrimage, including a fraudulent pilgrimage which in reality an escape, the progress of Dona Vera.
Anita Desai does set pieces very well. The dinner at the hacienda, with the Indians sitting impassive within the gathering of chattering students and academics, feels like a scene from fable. The bustling Maine fishing family is convincing. The Night of the Dead is suitably gloomy and celebratory at once.
My reservation about the book is the element of magic and the spiritual solution to the problems it poses. Eric's quest is undoubtedly spiritual, but I felt cheated by the ghostly resolution. It is well worth reading, however, if only for the historical information well told.
'Well, you know my family is strange. You've always said that,' he teased her.
'But as strange as that! I never guessed. Why hadn't he told you before?'
'I suppose because he doesn't remember a thing about it. He was taken to England as an infant and brought up there. Mexico is just a fairy tale to him.'
'Oh,' Em yawned. There seemed no point in pursuing a conversation that had no substance. She settled deeper into the seat, putting her head back to sleep while Eric drove.
This slight but charming story of Eric is about the zigzag way that humans follow through the world, their paths diverging far and wide driven by social, political and economic circumstances. Em is annoyingly grounded and purposeful, striding onwards with career and life. Eric is lost and at leisure. We realise that his sense of not belonging in his own skin, his family and his life have something to do with his aimlessness. But alongside his lackadaisical rootlessness he still has the capacity for awe and wonder at the world in which he seeks to find his place. And so he is open to the enchantments of Mexico where he discovers a little about his ancestry through magic and reality.
Alongside Eric we learn about the Cornish and Mexican mining industries, the hocking of Mexico to foreign investors in the mid 19th century and the disastrous civil strife. We learn about the Huichol Indians and their pilgrimage for the peyote. The whole book is about pilgrimage, including a fraudulent pilgrimage which in reality an escape, the progress of Dona Vera.
Anita Desai does set pieces very well. The dinner at the hacienda, with the Indians sitting impassive within the gathering of chattering students and academics, feels like a scene from fable. The bustling Maine fishing family is convincing. The Night of the Dead is suitably gloomy and celebratory at once.
My reservation about the book is the element of magic and the spiritual solution to the problems it poses. Eric's quest is undoubtedly spiritual, but I felt cheated by the ghostly resolution. It is well worth reading, however, if only for the historical information well told.
January 4, 2010
The Zigzag Way- After reading I am assured the author literally wrote a zigzag fiction.
This book is really insightful if you wana know about Mexican history mainly revolving around silver mines during the time of revolution. Some books make me Google once I finish the book; this definitely made me read more on Mexican history especially the Huichols and their traditions. (The last book of this kind I read was “A long long way" by Sebastian Barry which even made me watch the movie “The wind that shakes the Barley” in order to know more of Irish revolution/civil war).
I feel the characters are well defined, you keep reading without getting bored as you are provided with real facts of Mexican history. The characters are woven together but loosely. I missed the larger picture or objective behind creating so many loose threads with well defined characters, just for example Ruth or Vera for that matter. You don’t well define the characters just for narration; they have to become the meaningful part of the story.
Above all I could not believe the way story ends. It is highly unrealistic and unreliable. I knew from the start that I am not reading a mystery thriller but the story progresses throughout in a manner which creates anticipation towards the end whereas the end itself makes the whole read disappointing and that is the impression left in the mind after finishing the book.
This book is really insightful if you wana know about Mexican history mainly revolving around silver mines during the time of revolution. Some books make me Google once I finish the book; this definitely made me read more on Mexican history especially the Huichols and their traditions. (The last book of this kind I read was “A long long way" by Sebastian Barry which even made me watch the movie “The wind that shakes the Barley” in order to know more of Irish revolution/civil war).
I feel the characters are well defined, you keep reading without getting bored as you are provided with real facts of Mexican history. The characters are woven together but loosely. I missed the larger picture or objective behind creating so many loose threads with well defined characters, just for example Ruth or Vera for that matter. You don’t well define the characters just for narration; they have to become the meaningful part of the story.
Above all I could not believe the way story ends. It is highly unrealistic and unreliable. I knew from the start that I am not reading a mystery thriller but the story progresses throughout in a manner which creates anticipation towards the end whereas the end itself makes the whole read disappointing and that is the impression left in the mind after finishing the book.
September 27, 2007
This feels more like a novella to me. The themes are overt: grad student stalled on his thesis about immigration patterns follows his driven scientist girlfriend on her field work, where he ends up trying to trace his own English family's migration from Cornwall to Mexico to work in the silver mines that boomed before the Mexican Revolution, and comes to a place where his perspective may be radically altered. However, Desai's writing is gorgeous, and her thinking about the themes she makes obvious is far subtler than a superficial look at the narrative would indicate. Her primary narrator, Eric, seems to function as a sort of straight-man, the fall-guy for the things being felt and lived by the incredibly strong women that surround him, both in his past and in his present. He's academically aware of, and simultaneously at the mercy of, all of the enlightened-traveler mystique that surrounds American travel in other countries. This novel(la) would be entirely too neat, however, if Eric found what he was ultimately looking for, as nebulously defined as it is; The Zigzag Way's ultimate triumph is in providing an ambiguous and narratively unsatisfying ending, in which Eric's foremother is left to her losses and Eric may never truly grasp the enormity of the individual tragedies that lie just beneath the notice of his scholar's wide eye.
April 17, 2010
Good book, but I may be biased. I typed the manuscript for the paperback edition when I was an intern at Penguin, so the author kindly signed a copy of the book for me. It was a very intimate way to read the story--literally letter to word to sentence to paragraph. I find myself wondering now if my experience of the book would be different if read as a whole rather than by the small parts of a whole.
November 10, 2014
Didn't quite understand the point of the book, given it's abrupt and supernatural ending. The writing and descriptions are great. The author's representation of Mexico are spot on. Not really sure, though, what ties the various vignettes together.
June 16, 2019
It was a struggle to finish and it is not even 200 pages!
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August 14, 2023The author writes well but it didn't work for me. It just didn't tie up as if they just couldn't be bothered continuing. Endless description.
Saying that, I have learnt that bat urine can sting like a scorpion on your skin; that adobe is clay; and that peyote are small spineless blue cacti. Fair doos.
Saying that, I have learnt that bat urine can sting like a scorpion on your skin; that adobe is clay; and that peyote are small spineless blue cacti. Fair doos.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
November 21, 2011
At university, with the incomparable Geoffrey Eathorne as our professor for our Commonwealth Literature course at Trent University in Canada, I read Anita Desai's Clear Light of Day. It was a stand out. I don't remember it perfectly but that it had beautiful writing and I enjoyed the story.
Two decades letter, I haven't read anything by her since and saw 'The Zigzag way' on the shelf of a favourite used bookstore. The story is set in Mexico, a young academic, aimless, looking for his past and something to do while his partner is doing research there. He zigzags into one story, an eccentric and mysterious old European woman who has gained a reputation on an expert in a local indigenous group. And then leaving her, he zigzags into the story of his grandfather, a Cornish miner who worked in the mines of Mexico.
I can see the richness of the original idea, and the threads did come together somewhat – but I also got the feeling of a writer who was trying to put some of her travel experiences into a story and perhaps got a grant to do so. Themes of displacement and belonging, travel and immigration, finding one's way and one's history: yes. But the story is not particularly deeply felt and the main character has a somewhat weak personality. If I was to climb aboard the idea of a zigzag story, I wanted more than what I got.
I also found that her writing could be beautiful at times, but other times overwritten. Waiting for the formidable Doña Vera to speak, she "considered her reply. Then it came, as ominous as a rumble of pebbles in a dry arroyo, heard at first from a distance, then gathering strength as it approached, finally crashing upon them."
Two decades letter, I haven't read anything by her since and saw 'The Zigzag way' on the shelf of a favourite used bookstore. The story is set in Mexico, a young academic, aimless, looking for his past and something to do while his partner is doing research there. He zigzags into one story, an eccentric and mysterious old European woman who has gained a reputation on an expert in a local indigenous group. And then leaving her, he zigzags into the story of his grandfather, a Cornish miner who worked in the mines of Mexico.
I can see the richness of the original idea, and the threads did come together somewhat – but I also got the feeling of a writer who was trying to put some of her travel experiences into a story and perhaps got a grant to do so. Themes of displacement and belonging, travel and immigration, finding one's way and one's history: yes. But the story is not particularly deeply felt and the main character has a somewhat weak personality. If I was to climb aboard the idea of a zigzag story, I wanted more than what I got.
I also found that her writing could be beautiful at times, but other times overwritten. Waiting for the formidable Doña Vera to speak, she "considered her reply. Then it came, as ominous as a rumble of pebbles in a dry arroyo, heard at first from a distance, then gathering strength as it approached, finally crashing upon them."
February 5, 2016
With his PhD thesis work going nowhere, Eric decides to tag along with his girlfriend for her PhD field work in Mexico in the hope of attaining sudden inspiration and some direction to a rudderless life. The sights and sounds of Mexico suddenly brings back a vague memory of his grandfather's confession of the fact that he had once upon a time toiled in the mines of Mexico and had left with the birth of his father. Armed with the curiosity of trying to locate the town where his grandfather would have once upon a time worked, Eric sets about on a mission.
The second part of the book takes us back to a Mexico in the throes of the Revolution with the Zapatista's fighting for the overthrow of the dictatorship of Porfirio Diaz. The grandfather's marriage, the days spent in the barren landscape and the eventual death of the grandmother during childbirth get covered.
The final chapter ends enigmatically though. Desai writes so hauntingly that one can literally breathe the air and feel the solitude and desolateness of the Mexican Sierra.
And I'm quite intrigued with the cover page and trying to find out the creator of the painting and its significance.
The second part of the book takes us back to a Mexico in the throes of the Revolution with the Zapatista's fighting for the overthrow of the dictatorship of Porfirio Diaz. The grandfather's marriage, the days spent in the barren landscape and the eventual death of the grandmother during childbirth get covered.
The final chapter ends enigmatically though. Desai writes so hauntingly that one can literally breathe the air and feel the solitude and desolateness of the Mexican Sierra.
And I'm quite intrigued with the cover page and trying to find out the creator of the painting and its significance.
February 14, 2016
I felt this story got off to a slow start, but halfway through it picked up and I really enjoyed it. Eric is a writer who has no problem with idleness, much to the dismay of his scientist girlfriend. Despite her apprehension that he will be bored in Mexico while she is working he tags along. At some point he remembers that his father, a fisherman in Maine, was born in Mexico. Eric's memory of a visit with his grandfather in Cornwall is jarred by a speaker he happened upon and he sets off on a journey to discover his family's history. He arrives in an abandoned mining village, now a ghost town, on the Dia de Los Muertos and the story comes full circle.
I felt the story got off to a slow start, but not the book. Desai creates a strong sense of being disoriented, but not lost, in an exotic, foreign land. The book is less the 180 pages, but she covered an era of history I didn't know about.
This is one of those books that is best read in one or two long sittings so you can get lost with Eric.
I felt the story got off to a slow start, but not the book. Desai creates a strong sense of being disoriented, but not lost, in an exotic, foreign land. The book is less the 180 pages, but she covered an era of history I didn't know about.
This is one of those books that is best read in one or two long sittings so you can get lost with Eric.
May 19, 2012
Like Fasting, Feasting not fantastic writing, but a well-woven story that feeds itself life and intimacy with the very interesting characters. That weaving of the story lines was the author's artistry that I was most impressed with. The story is of a young man who is flailing a bit post his graduate work. He is in a relationship, and if there is one gap in the story it was not clear to me at why these two are together! So while the story portrays them as a solid couple, I didn't feel it. His girlfriend goes to Mexico to do some of her research, and he tags along. Kind of for something to do, but more driven than that, he starts exploring his family history in the area that he knows very little about. I felt the book was rich with Mexican culture from the outside/ex-patriot point of view, including through some relatively recent history. I loved the portrayal of the Day of the Dead festivities at the end.
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February 5, 2009Desai invokes her renowned lush, and occasionally dense, prose to portray Eric's sensory overload here. She obviously speaks with intimate knowledge of the land, and this, combined with the wealth of historical detail, prompt several critics to sing her praises. More importantly, as The New York Times notes, The Zigzag Way is "not just a condensed course in 20th-century Mexican history but a meditation on the futility of our efforts to outrun the past." In other words, Desai does her job. Eric is a bit too passive as a narrator, and the slim novel does skip deep character development, but what's here is very good.
This is an excerpt from a review published in Bookmarks magazine.
October 15, 2017
I knew almost nothing about Mexico before I picked up this book. The novel brought to life certain aspects of its people, land, culture and history and that is what I enjoyed most about it. I was particularly interested to learn about the life of Cornish miners working in Mexico. However, I did not enjoy it as a novel. I felt the plot was somewhat disjointed and the magical realism element unsatisfactory. I also found the writing style annoying - particularly the long sentences with multiple clauses and sections in parenthesis which were not always easy to unpick and understand. And don't get me started on the use of similes - at least one per page - overkill. My advice - read about Mexico & its history in a guide book, and don't bother with this!
July 2, 2008
Certain fiction set in Mexico – Night of the Iguana, Touch of Evil, novels whose titles I’ve lost - seems to remind me of Under the Volcano, which I read when I was about 12 and read again as an adult and found the same sort of bleak enchantment. The Zigzag Way evoked that kind of understated – even unstated – spiritual landscape that strongly affects the personnel of the story (and me). Like those spare folksongs we resurrected in the ‘60s, there’s more than meets the ear and the eye, and it’s all the more intriguing and somehow satisfying than a detailed explanation would be.
November 1, 2013
after reading anita desai's FAST AND FEASTING.........HAD high expectations from this one........alas.........more like a travelogue.....but yeah KUDOS!!!!.........to her for picturesque and vivid.....DESCRIPTION....!!!i was not glued to it throughout.....but yeah last pages definitely evokes interest......the protagonist........ERIC and his quest emanates...interest to a certain point...FIND dona vera's CHARACHTER INTRIGUING.........!! WORTH TURNING pages.......NOT FOR ANITA DESAI'S HARDCORE FAN'S...!!!!!!! ESPECIALLY.......IF YOU HATE SAD ENDINGSSSSSSSSSS...............!!
February 14, 2008
I can't figure this book out.
Three different but interconnecting stories linked fairly loosely by the silver mines of Mexico and the Cornishmen and native Americans who worked in them. I enjoyed the descriptions and the stories but was left wondering "why write it?"
I found it a little anti-climactic and still haven't understood the common theme between the various threads in the story (other than mining and Mexico)
Three different but interconnecting stories linked fairly loosely by the silver mines of Mexico and the Cornishmen and native Americans who worked in them. I enjoyed the descriptions and the stories but was left wondering "why write it?"
I found it a little anti-climactic and still haven't understood the common theme between the various threads in the story (other than mining and Mexico)
November 21, 2013
This book wasn't bad, but it wasn't great either so I guess it was a decent, good book in my opinion. There were some parts that were interesting and a bit suspenseful through out the book, but my interest did not last and I got bored here and there. I don't want to say anything and spoil parts of the story, but if you're interested or a fan of culture, traveling, or/and with a mix of modern fiction, then I recommend this book.
November 14, 2017
3.5/5.
A slightly feverish story of 20th century colonialism that goes both ways, of Cornish miners emigrating to Mexico and fleeing the revolution, and of their children returning as rich tourists two generations later in search of Themselves. Peyote used more as an established metaphor than an actual drug. I really like Desai's writing, but the novel feels underdeveloped for all the different viewpoint characters she introduces.
A slightly feverish story of 20th century colonialism that goes both ways, of Cornish miners emigrating to Mexico and fleeing the revolution, and of their children returning as rich tourists two generations later in search of Themselves. Peyote used more as an established metaphor than an actual drug. I really like Desai's writing, but the novel feels underdeveloped for all the different viewpoint characters she introduces.
December 17, 2017
An American, Eric, goes to Mexico accompanying his girlfriend but finds there so much more than he expected. Concentrating on the lives of three different people: Eric, Dona Vera and Betty Jennings; the last chapter is the culmination of all the stories which were started in the previous chapters.
I think this is the first book by an Indian I'm reading that has nothing to do with India. it was certainly a fun read and I look forward to reading more of Desai's works.
I think this is the first book by an Indian I'm reading that has nothing to do with India. it was certainly a fun read and I look forward to reading more of Desai's works.
July 12, 2008
A touch of magical realism, a nice bit of cultural and historical background, a gorgeous setting that provided me with some imaginary vacation memories since this isn't the year for real ones (and their real costs). A very short book, The Zigzag Way was a whisp, a tease that *poofed* itself out of my world when I wanted more -- much like the spirits the Mexicans seek on dia do los muertos.
September 30, 2008
No conocía nada de Anita Desai, y no se si este fué lo mejor para empezar. Me gusta que mexico sea un elemento en la historia, pero no me parece nada del otro mundo la historia ni a donde la lleva. No pasa nada realmente importante, y ningun personaje llega a una conclusión.. las historias que se entremezclan tampoco llegan a ninguna parte.
December 4, 2011
Although the writing is beautifully crafted in a way one rarely finds in romantic novels today, I found it hard to connect to the characters. There was no one character that drew me in; it felt more like a review through a filter of nostalgia. I hoped to learn more about the indigineous people and the Cornish miners and the Spanish, but their characters remained elusive and vague.
May 17, 2014
vivid. memorable. something about one of the main characters, Dona Vera, annoyed me tremendously, made me just want to be done with the book altogether. but I pressed on, and there is a haunting beauty about it. I would have enjoyed one more chapter, to see what Eric does with this journey, how he brings his journey back to his prior life.
March 19, 2017
I only wish this were longer! It is wonderfully atmospheric, but spare in detail. When you read it, you will wish there were more pages, so that the interstices of the story could be filled in more fully. I wanted to buy a ticket to Mexico, and just disappear there for a while like the narrator did.
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