Aztec

• Author: Gary Jennings
• Full Title: Aztec
• Tags: #Inbox #books
• Recommendation: 8/10
  • I picked this up because I've always been enchanted by what it would have been like "discovering" the Americas (I know I know) and by what the Americas were like before that
  • Whenever I googled about that, this was the highest recommended book, with the caveats that it is very graphic (violent and sexual). Those caveats were true. Nevertheless, I did find it a captivating read.
  • I particularly enjoyed the sections on the Aztecs meeting Cortes, and seeing how the Mexica and Spanish cultures and languages came together
  • Also there is interesting commentary on the power of the stories we tell ourselves as a culture.

Highlights

• In our time there were few laws—deliberately few, so that every man might hold them all in his head and in his heart, and have not the excuse of ignorance for flouting them. (Location 377)
• “Yes, at your age, many possible lives await. Go whichever way you choose. Go alone or in company. The companions may walk with you a long way or a little. But at the end of your life, no matter how crowded were its roads and its days, you will have learned what all must learn. And that will be too late for any starting over, too late for anything but regret. So learn it now. No man has ever yet lived out any life but one, and that one his chosen own, and most of that alone.” He paused, and his eyes held mine. “Now then, Mixtli, which way do you go from here, and in what company?” (Location 2166)
• Indeed, I believe that memories are the only real treasure any human can hope to hold always. That was her name. Always. (Location 8219)
• Death, said the priests, is merely one’s awakening from a dream of having lived. Perhaps (Location 9747)
• Canaútli went on, “Those were the first of our people to be evilly influenced by the stranger, and they began to change. The stranger said, ‘Worship Huitzilopóchtli,’ and they did. The stranger said, ‘Give blood to feed Huitzilopóchtli,’ and they did. According to our Rememberers, those were the first human sacrifices ever made by any people who were not outright savages. They held their ceremonies secretly, in the seven great caves in the mountains, and they took care to spill only the blood of expendable orphans and old people. The stranger said, ‘Huitzilopóchtli is the god of war. Let him lead you to conquer richer lands.’ And more and more of our people listened and heeded, and they offered up more and more sacrifices. The stranger urged, ‘Nourish Huitzilopóchtli, make him stronger yet, and he will win for you a life better than you could ever have dreamed.’ And the misbelievers grew more numerous, more dissatisfied with their old ways of life, more ready and avid for bloodshed….” He stopped talking and stood silent for a moment. I looked about us, at the men and women passing by on the street. The residue of the Aztéca. Dress them a little better, I thought, and they could be the Mexíca citizens on any street in Tenochtítlan. No, dress (Location 13032)
• “So you see,” the old man continued, “those Aztéca who left Aztlan were not the best and the bravest. They were the worst and the unwanted, and they went because they were forcibly expelled.” (Location 13076) (if you are reading this and you feel like this is a spoiler, I don't feel bad: My philosophy on spoilers).