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Type of bind: Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 917.204834
EAN num: 9780312199418
ISBN number: 0312199414
Label: Picador
Manufacturer: Picador
Quantity: 1
Page Count: 256
Printing Date: November 15, 1998
Publishing house: Picador
Sale Popularity Level: 191813
Studio: Picador
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Editor's Notes and Comments:
Product Description:
Traveling from the highland desert of northern Mexico to the steaming jungles of Honduras, from the seashore of the Caribbean to the exquisite highlands of Guatemala, Mary Morris, a celebrated writer of both fiction and nonfiction, confronts the realities of place, poverty, machismo, and selfhood. As she experiences the rawness and precariousness of life in another culture, Morris begins to hear echoes of her own life and her own sense of deprivation. And she begins, too, to overcome the struggles of the past that have held her back personally; as in the very best travel writing, Morris effectively explores her own soul while exploring new terrain and new experience. By crossing such boundaries throughout the pages of Nothing to Declare, she sets new frontiers for herself as a woman—and as a writer.
Amazon.com:
Great travel writing has always been about the person making the trip as well as the things he or she encounters, and Mary Morris's category-defying 1988 memoir was an instant classic as much for its candid revelation of the author's turbulent emotions as for its sensitive, unglamorous portrait of a Latin America most tourists never see. Living in a poor neighborhood of the small Mexican town San Miguel de Allende, Morris befriends a neighbor, Lupe, who is struggling to support her many children (fathered by three different men) and to cope with her current, openly unfaithful partner. Scenes of life in San Miguel alternate with Morris's voyages around Central America, from the historic ruins of Teotihuacán to the contemporary turmoil of Nicaragua under the Sandinistas. Memories of her past crowd in: her parents' tense marriage, which sparked the restlessness that keeps their daughter on the road; her difficult relationships with often cruel men; the desolation of the years prior to her departure for San Miguel. Neither her affection for Lupe nor her love affair with a Mexico City man can prevent Morris's eventual return to the U.S., but her eloquent, elegant prose makes it clear that the grim, grand landscape and its tenacious inhabitants have left an indelible imprint on her soul. --Wendy Smith
User popularity level:
Rated by buyers 
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I had just read Eat Pray Love and wanted to read more of the same. I was excited to find Nothing to Declare, but found it quite disappointing. She complains a lot about Mexico, how she hates to be alone, her new boyfriend (who takes care of her and makes her feel like the man in the relationship), and so on. If there was any self discovery in this story I missed it. Skippable. Read Eat Pray Love instead.
Rated by buyers -
I finished reading this book only because I'm on vacation and short of other books. Also, I couldn't believe that there wouldn't be more to it at some point. Ms. Morris does write fairly well. There are some errors in the text and she clearly is not a craftwoman - she doesn't do the research at various points to name animals (for instance the 'large rodent' in the Guatemalan jungle). The critiques of other reviewers are very correct - she is self-absorbed, but not in an interesting way. The entire book is of her taking from others what she can, with very little giving back, except to her generous neighbor, Lupe, and even in that relationship it doesn't feel as if she's really able to be humanly touched. Her travel descriptions are pathetically shallow and useless for those of us who are curious and want to know the flavor of places. The texture and description which bring the essence of a place to a reader are mostly absent. The whole book reads as a cryptic list of 'places I've been with the crummy places I stayed while there and how I didn't like it' saga. I would have given the book one star, except Ms. Morris does have some writing ability. I'm very surprised this book is still in print. Ms. Morris has now had a number of other books printed and I for one can't imagine ever picking one of them up after having read this one. If those books are better than this one, Ms. Morris, do yourself a favor and take this one out of circulation.
Rated by buyers 
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Although Morris would (and does) believe that she is a natural and effortless traveller, this text attests otherwise. Morris spends the majority of the work lamenting the inefficencies of Mexico and reminding us how bold she is for taking the journey. The other portion consists of her waxing lyrical about her indifference to love or how generous she is as the privileged and revered American. She continously struck me as bitter and egocentrical.
Similarly, I think she adheres to the stereotypes she seemingly casts away. I particularly loved when she decided that she felt more like a 'man than a woman' in her relationship with the pampering/cleaning Mexican man. I also shuddered when she declared that her aforementioned Mexican love was like an 'Indian' when drunk.
As others have suggest, the cast that populates the background are more interesting than Morris herself. Beautiful writing and landscape, but intensely annoying subject.
Rated by buyers 
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A better title of this book might be "Nothing Interesting to Write About". This book was a total disappointment. All the people the author meets and writes about are oafish, selfish and/or unlikeable, including the man she takes as a lover, as well as being thoroughly boring. The one exception is her neighbor Lupe, however her sad and hopeless situation is common refrain in any poor area of any country. Too many children, not enough money. I will say that her descriptions of travel, food and medical care in Mexico have convinced me it is not someplace I ever care to travel to.
Rated by buyers -
I was not so impressed with this novel and felt that the author was too caught up in her own drama to take the reader on an interesting voyage with her. It was a decent read, but I can't say that I would highly recommend it. To read a great book about a woman traveling, check out Rita Goldman Gelman.
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