God's Middle Finger: Into the Lawless Heart of the Sierra Madre

The account of Grant's journeys into the Sierra Madre is humorous, poignant and chilling, all at once. Having traveled there myself, I can say that it is also an honest look at that magical, mystical, terrifying place filled with indigenous peoples, outlaws and certifiable characters. His prose is graceful and he keeps his finger on the pulse of each moment. I recommend this book to anyone even harboring a thought of traveling into the Sierra, and to anyone who admires those who travel into forbidden places, filled with curiosity and foolhardiness. A truly engaging read!

This is a nice read, told without pulling punches. It certainly doesn’t make you yearn to visit this area of Mexico, some may swear off Mexico totally. It is a lawless, dangerous place due to the harsh land and cruel people. The worst example of the people the author runs into is women won’t report being raped to the police out of fear of being raped again: by the police. People get killed, bodies dumped, never heard from again. Excessive drinking among the men is the rule. Much of these tough conditions is blamed on the drug trade that feeds the U.S. The danger and bleak conditions can be hard to stomach, but it is truthfully told. The author also spends time on the history and natural beauty of the area, as well as the dangers he faced, which is well told.

Richard Grant is a great storyteller. Highly recommend this real account of his adventures in La Sierra Madre.

Loved his Dispatches from Pluto. This was somewhat disappointing. Kind of droned on about the danger and unpleasant people. After awhile I kept asking myself “why are you here?”

I have become a huge Richard Grant fan and have read his books on Africa, Mississippi, American Nomads.. and this one. Grant is a good writer and an observant, honest journalist. He describes his experiences in a readable and entertaining way and always puts them in an historical context. He really does make the history come alive and for this alone I am indebted to Grant All books I have read have a common theme. He launches himself into adventure with a minimum of planning and a maximum of faith and most of all a sense of adventure. But he lacks the gigantic ego and self-aggrandizement that one might expect from this kind of book. He is actually more interested in talking to people and getting an honest take on the culture he is experiencing. He is a very different writer than Hunter S Thompson but he reminds me of him. A large part of each book consists of him drinking or doing drugs with locals. That is one way he makes friends and gets beyond the surface of the culture. Having said all this, God’s Middle Finger was the book I found the least interesting. It had the most personal danger for the author but the Sierra Madre culture stayed pretty impenetrable to me and not one I wanted to learn more about. There was one trek after another but I didn’t get the same sense of curiosity about place and culture that I did about say Africa or Mississippi. Still he is a very good writer and anything he writes is worth reading.

Books that explore the true culture of various parts of Mexico are fairly rare but Richard Grant's book does it really well. This is not the story of a quick trip through Mexico's Sierra Madre. It's obviously based on the author's long exploration and good research of the region. Even though the author discusses just the Sierra Madre region, this book hits into hundreds of perfect examples of how the culture of all of Mexico works. Some readers, and some reviewers, will find it hard to accept that Grant's story is entirely plausible and represents the authentic, chaotic, lawless, smoke-and-mirrors, unique culture of the country and its people in general. Americans want to think that Mexico is just a little bit different than back home. The truth is unveiled in this book. I don't mean that all of Mexico is filled with rowdy drug runners and blood thirsty gangsters like this book discusses. But the story beneath Grant's story is of the extremely different and highly complex culture that makes up Mexico and which very few Americans or other foreigners understand very well. I've lived all over Mexico on and off for 40 years...if you want to be fascinated by Mexico's real story, take my word for it and read this excellent book. On top of that, Grant is a fine writer and has put this book together in a way that grips the reader. It can't be put down.

This was a very interesting book to read. I enjoyed reading it before going to sleep every night. I have spent many months living in Mexico, and I have lived in Brownsville, TX, where there are many Mexicans living. Now I understand some Mexicans better. I have lived in other parts of Latin America too. I had a similar life experience as the author, in that I had been warned about Mexico, but I couldn't pull myself away from Latin America. Unfortunately, I eventually had the terrifying experience of having a Mexican drug dealer tell me that he was going to kill me; that was a VERY BAD night. The non-terrifying part of the book (almost all of the book) was interesting too.

The first parts of the book are full of the kind of stories you expect to read. But the prologue puts the expectations too high.

I bought this book because I am a fan of Born to Run by Christopher McDougall. As a reader, and also as a traveller to the Copper Canyons of Mexico, I felt that this book and its story were gross exaggerations from an obnoxious author trying to have a sensational story to tell. This does not pay justice to the beautiful People of the Copper Canyons or denounce the state of violence and unrest that they suffer due to the presence of drug traffickers. It is not informative, nor, in my opinion, untertaining.

From the blurb on the cover I expected something more than this, the authors experiences arent that amazing apart from his last one which drove him out of the Sierra altogether. He meets up with some interesting characters, relates a lot of second hand information about the drugs trade, but rarely gets into the heart of things, a few people trying to sell him drugs is about as about as deep as it gets. Granted it would have been pretty hard to get into the scene much further without getting killed, but I kept expecting him to do so. (Go deeper, not get killed.) Recommended though overall, and did make me want to go see for myself.

Beware...this is the same book as "Bandit Roads" by the same author, its just a different title. Not sure why its published under two different titles but Amazon doesn't tell you ! I bought both by mistake.

From an early age I was fascinated by native american indian culture,this book explores the territory of the apache peoples the Sierra Madre and Dragoon mountains.The book evokes images of people then and now as wild and fierce as the landscape.Now there are very few apache that inhabit the region but instead a wild bunch of assorted characters from folk healers to itinerant mexicans.The book captures the sense of latent menace that is always pervading even in the most seemingly harmless of situations.I had visions of one day visiting myself,but this book telling it like it is shows just how dangerous and lawless it can be.Never the less it is a fascinating read that will have your heart racing.