David Lida’s First Stop in the New World

695 Words2 Pages

In David Lida’s journalistic chronicles of Mexico City, he divulges a wealth of information to the reader through a number of sources and in a variety of ways. Lida paints the picture of Mexico City for the reader using anecdotal evidence, statistical data, and knowledge gathered from his own research of Mexican history and other published works that complement his work. And ultimately, his goal is to let us all in on what the city that he calls home is all about.

The way that Lida breaks his work down eases the reader into the world of Mexico City, with all of its nuances and subtexts, little by little. The format that he chose for the chapter arrangement works particularly well. By interspersing very short stories of his various experiences in taxicabs and tequilas and colorful characters, with longer, more technically informative chapters written in a tone of journalist at work, Lida unfolds his analysis of Mexico City in a non-linear manner. In fact, it is quite the opposite. In his book, there is no beginning or end, only now, what was, and what might soon-to-be. By using this ...

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