Life on Mars

by Alexander Stuart

Is Miami, with its Spanish-speaking neighbourhoods, its trendy Deco beach scene, its heat, dust and drag queens, truly a part of America - or is it more like Mars? Is it simply the home of vice, violence and Mickey Mouse - paradise with a lobotomy - or might it be a spiritual place? Alexander Stuart left Brighton for Miami six years ago to rebuild his life following the death of his son. What he found when he got there was a land of transformation, a place where people come to reinvent their lives, to escape from the past or themselves, or even reality. This book explores the eccentric extremes of Florida, and paints a skewed, off-beat portrait of where the world may be heading.

300 pages, Paperback

Published January 1, 1997

Reviews

[Ian · Rating 5 out of 5]

An entertaining well written time capsule of 1990s Miami (and Cuba!) from the viewpoint of an self-exiled Brit. It looked trashy from the cover but once I settled into it I thoroughly enjoyed it. Written with empathy, warmth and humanity. Highly recommended!

[Liam Ostermann · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read this book back in 2020 when, due to lockdown, I was reading anything I could lay my hands on. Whether this book was a considered choice, I don't know. How I came to read it is also a mystery. It has left no trace on my memory, I only know I read it because I used to keep a running list of the books I read and I noted that it was 'fun but not great'. Some books I revisit, I will never revisit this book so that 'fun but not great' will stand as my epitaph on it.