Author: Vicka Markov Surovtsov

Publisher: PublishAmerica

ISBN: 1-4137-5545-3

 

The following review was contributed by:  Lily Azerad-Goldman &CLICK TO VIEW Lily Azerad-Goldman's Reviews

 

Pull up a chair, have a cup of coffee and a conversation with author Vicka Markov Surovtsov. She will tell you of her experience of building an apartment complex in La Paz, The pitfalls and rewards of dealing with a new culture and the process of making new friends. 

Narrated in a journalistic style and conversational chatter, AMIGOS, FRIENDS reinforces the old adage of “Buyer Beware”.  Vicka and her husband were duped many times by hungry and not so hungry Mexicans, while they were purchasing and building their apartment complex in La Paz. 

The expansive personalities of Mexicans and their culture of close family and “Amigos” were quite a lesson to be learned by the naïve American couple. For example, if they met villagers and were called “Amigos” they were required to bring them “encardas”, presents for the whole family, whenever they returned to supervise the building of their new house. If God forbid, they were named “padrino” (godfather or godmother), then they would lose their shirts on presents for the new godchild. Vicka and her husband even inherited a house- guest for a while, who came to live with them in El Norte (US) on a very short notice! 

Then, there were incidents with the renters of their new apartment complex that were quite amusing.

The narrative moves quickly, jumping from one friend to another acquaintance.  Stories remain on the surface, without going into depth with any character, except for Vicka’s. 

The best story was the one with her Russian-Mexican friend to whom she revealed that she was born in Egypt from Russian non-communist descent.

The pace of reading is quite fast and entertaining. However, the characters need to be more fully developed. The repetitiveness of the preposition “as” should have been avoided.  

The cover picture also painted by the author is very attractive with its blue water and lovely white house which in all likelihood was Vicka’s.