Review by nikkyteewhy -- Gringo

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nikkyteewhy
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Review by nikkyteewhy -- Gringo

Post by nikkyteewhy »

[Following is a volunteer review of "Gringo" by Dan "Tito" Davis.]
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3 out of 4 stars
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Gringo: My Life on the Edge as an International Fugitive by Dan “Tito” Davis with Peter Conti is a biography story. It was about the life and experiences of Dan Davis better known as Tito. Allow me to start by saying this is inevitably an exceptional biography that becomes more and more enticing as the plot thickens and the tale unfolds.

Dan “Tito” Davis was born in the year 1953 in Pierre, South Dakota. His parents were conservative, and they did their best to provide for five of their children. He and his siblings grew up in a sound, drug-free, and gang-free environment. Dan wanted to become a horse racing trainer. He enjoyed school and took it seriously, knowing that school was privileged for him since his parents didn’t have any education. He also loved working and took on several jobs while he was in school. He started experimenting with hard drugs in college. He initially took a drug called “white crosses” which aided him in his study to pass an exam. He subsequently discovered he could generate an enormous financial profit supplying the drug. He became a leading distributor of the drug, distributing millions of the drug per week. Dan was extremely clever which allowed him to evade the authorities, but he wasn’t invincible. He made different mistakes that eventually led to him being pursued by the authorities. Not wanting to go to prison for a crime he did not commit, he escaped from the United States, and he became a fugitive. This is his life’s story while living on the run from the American government, his experiences, and the lesson he learned. Is it possible for a former criminal to transform his life around and enjoy a decent life? This is a story about crime, trust, and betrayal.

The story is a narrative told from the first-person point of view. Davis life accounts truly marveled me. I could not fathom that anyone ever went through half of what he went through. Davis was an extremely intelligent and innovative man. I could not help but sympathize with Davis while reading this book. I was often furious at him for the careless decisions he made, sometimes I am impressed with his risk-taking abilities and his ingenuity. Davis was far from being a noble character. He supplied hard drugs for a living even though he was quite a gifted man with many unique talents he could have used to make an honest living. He tried learning from his many mistakes and resolved to uphold the law after he had become a fugitive. He made a thought-provoking remark about the observed increase in recidivism rate in the country. He observed the increase in recidivism rate was partly associated with the embargoes on ex-cons obtaining a legitimate job with the government. This inadvertently thrusts them back to crimes, and back to prison. The author equally recounts his experience with the Colombian people and their customs and traditions. The tradition that captivated me most was the Burro Festival. In San Antero, the people set out a day every year to honor their burros (donkeys). The author experienced some strange activities during the Burro Festival. I respect the Davis’ decision not to condemn another country’s tradition.

However, I do not agree with the criminal life choices Davis made. There were a few grammatical errors in this book such as incorrectly placed hyphens and wrongly placed paragraphs, but they not enough to deter me from reading this book. I also found some practices in the Burro Festival to be obscene and uncomfortable.

I rate this book 3 out of 4 stars. The book is efficiently organized, and the writing style is direct and straightforward. I recommend this book to those who like crime stories and biographical books. I do not recommend this novel to animal lovers because of some questionable practices described in this book during the Burro Festival.

******
Gringo
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crediblereading2
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Post by crediblereading2 »

I love the way that you have reviewed this book. You have summed up everything in a precise manner. The choices that Dan had made had led him down a very slippery path of destruction. This story tells us how important it is to make good choices in life.
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Jackie Holycross
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Post by Jackie Holycross »

It would be interesting to get his perspective on what choices he made and how he perceives the world around him.
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Kinkini
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Post by Kinkini »

Fine review there! I agree with you when you say that he is not a noble character. I liked the pace of the novel but nothing comes without flaws.
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Kinkini
A Bookworm
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