Header image with four cats and the text: Pussreboots, a book review nearly every day. Online since 1997
Now 2025 Previous Articles Road Essays Road Reviews Author Black Authors Title Source Age Genre Series Format Inclusivity LGBTA+ Art Portfolio Purchase Art WIP

Recent posts


Month in review

Reviews
Adventures of Rusty & Ginger Fox by Tim Ostermeyer
Anton and Cecil: Cats at Sea by Lisa Martin
Bird & Squirrel on the Run by James Burks
The Calling by Kelley Armstrong
Crunch Time by Diane Mott Davidson
The Day the Crayons Quit by Drew Daywalt
Daylight Moonlight by Matt Patterson
Demons are a Ghoul's Best Friend by Victoria Laurie
The Drowned World by J.G. Ballard
Graceling by Kristin Cashore
Gringa in a Strange Land by Linda Dahl
I Love My New Toy! by Mo Willems
I Thought You Were Dead: A Love Story by Pete Nelson
Ill Wind by Nevada Barr
Into the Unknown by Stewart Ross
Miss Rumphius by Barbara Cooney
My Side of the Mountain by Jean Craighead George
Naomi and the Horse-Flavored T-Shirt by Dan Boehl
Nicking Time by T. Traynor
Phantom Eyes by Scott Tracey
Rifka Takes a Bow by Rebecca Rosenberg Perlov
School Spirits by Rachel Hawkins
So Thick the Fog by Catherine Pomeroy Stewart
Storm Warning by Linda Sue Park
Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston
This Happy Place: Living the Good Life in America by Bentz Plagemann
The Time Fetch by Amy Herrick
A Timely Vision by Joyce Lavene and Jim Lavene
Tourmaline by Joanna Scott
Vespers Rising by Rick Riordan
What Color Is My World? by Kareem Abdul-Jabbar

Previous month


Rating System

5 stars: Completely enjoyable or compelling
4 stars: Good but flawed
3 stars: Average
2 stars: OK
1 star: Did not finish


Privacy policy

This blog does not collect personal data. It doesn't set cookies. Email addresses are used to respond to comments or "contact us" messages and then deleted.



Gringa in a Strange Land: 10/11/13

cover art

Gringa in a Strange Land by Linda Dahl is a historical novel set in and around Merida, Mexico. The novel covers approximately one year in Erica's life as an expat artist.

Now this book's blurb offers an exploration of the 1970s counterculture. Within the context of the Vietnam War, one would expect a protester, maybe with a boyfriend (or two) who are draft dodgers. Maybe some meditation to go with the mind altering drugs.

Instead, we get a washed out, well off, white chick going to the jungles of the Yucatan peninsula to drop acid, get laid and basically drop out of society. Sure, she sometimes slaps some paint on a canvas and sure she has learned the language well enough to get by, but she's basically there to make trouble.

She was a completely un-relatable character. The book is one long extended spring break. After struggling through the first fifty or so pages, I went into full skim mode. Although the location changed near the end of the book, Erica's behavior did not.

One star

Comments (0)


Name:
Email (won't be posted):
Blog URL:
Comment:




Tumblr Mastadon Flickr Facebook Facebook Contact me

1997-2025 Sarah Sammis