pceboll's review
adventurous
challenging
informative
reflective
3.0
A twisting literary map of the densely populated Mexico City, "Horizontal Vertigo" is a unique and enjoyable read! Villoro takes us on a tour of a city that is chaotic, beautiful, and elusive even to those who understand it the most. Villoro's personal accounts of living in Mexico City are laid out amongst essays on revolutionary history, portraits of traffic jams, and explorations of 1970 wrestler films creating the titular horizontal vertigo effect in the reader-sometimes this really worked and sometimes it didn't. This loving yet critical portrait of a "monster" held my attention for most of the time...but I got lost repeatedly on the way.
emmaliborski's review
I might return to this, but had a lot of other interesting reading in my queue and my trip to Mexico City was canceled, so the motivation to learn was slightly lessened. Knowing the tone of the book now, I think it makes more sense to read after visiting, or at least if you have more familiarity with the city
timhoiland's review
5.0
“After a tragedy, language is like the mixed-up alphabet of a typewriter: it first appears as disorder, but little by little it takes shape in order to give meaning to something devoid of meaning. We speak in order to understand something that challenges understanding. Exercising more superstition than certainty, we think that if we can say something, we can also overcome something. Words heal.”
gpapp's review
4.0
The title refers to the sensation one gets when traveling through the sprawling, infinitely varied Ciudad de Mexico. It also perfectly desribes what it's like to read this book.
A sprawling set of essay-like chapters, written by a native of the city, this is a fascinating insider's tour of a strange, wonderful city. City characters, layers of history, inside jokes...it's all here.
Dip into this when you feel the need to go somewhere new.
A sprawling set of essay-like chapters, written by a native of the city, this is a fascinating insider's tour of a strange, wonderful city. City characters, layers of history, inside jokes...it's all here.
Dip into this when you feel the need to go somewhere new.
gypsynyx91's review
challenging
informative
reflective
sad
slow-paced
3.75
A challenging read for me especially because some of the references went over my head and there were some rather verbose sections but overall I found the book poignant and insightful even funny at times. While some of the chapters I connected with more than others, there was something to glean in almost all of them I enjoyed it.
bloodravenlib's review
3.0
Quick impressions: A collection of essays about Mexico City. The essays take readers from indigenous antiquity, the rise and fall of the Aztecs, the Spanish conquest, independence to modern times up to the 2017 earthquake. Overall, I liked the book. It could be a bit slow at times, but it is a nice and immersive narrative of the city.
(Full review on my blog later.)
(Full review on my blog later.)