About this title: An aging Cuban-American musician living in a flop house in East Harlem in the early 1980s recalls his youthful success: in 1949, as he and his brother played the dance halls of New York, they became known as the Mambo Kings. Postwar New York was an exciting place for Cesar and Nestor Castillo, and the lush, sensuous music they played, and the many ...
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Note: This is a general synopsis. Each listing is described below.
"I really liked this book. I actually felt I had a great understanding of what it may be like to be a Cuban immigrant who was musically talented but had to go through the struggles of everyday life. This book gave a picture of family dynamics, relationships, struggles and the connectivity of the community. I can see why he got the Pulizer for this. I would have check "amazing" in my review but the only difficulty I had at times was how much the book jumped around. The jumpiness contributed to the excellence of his writing and the joy of the stories but at times I had a hard time following the time periods. I would highly recommend this book."
"Compared to Oscar Hijuelos' book Mr. Ives Christmas, this book is a lot racier. He fills pages up with stories of sexual encounters between Cesar Castillo and a huge number of women including Vanna Vane, a blonde bombshell. His brother Nestor also has romantic encounters and lots of heartache. The characters are very well realized, particularly Cesar who lives until his 60's. His struggles with his machismo, his fight to stay a musician, his failed club, his ageing etc. All of these are well explored. I felt melancholy whenever he would reminisce about Cuba and how happy he was as a child walking through fields of wildflowers. Some beautiful and touching moments and beautiful prose by the author."
"1.5 stars. I picked this up again to fulfill two goals - reading a multicultural book and reading something I failed to finish in the past. While I "finished" it this time, it was only after skimming the last third of it. I support a lot of what others have said - the characters are unlikeable, the plotline is flat and the sexual references are overabundant and terribly annoying by the end. I really want to like Hijuelos though, so I plan on trying another title in the future."
"I tried to like this book. Partly because I find the Latin music sub-culture of the 50s a fascinating topic and partly because I do think Hijuelos has a fine style of writing. However it is simply too repetitive and uninvolving. I guess I'm supposed to like Cesar and Nestor but I never really find out much about them except they are talented musicians (yeah, I got that part in the first ten pages) and that they are good in bed. I just expected more when someone takes the time to write a full novel. It had its moments which is why I gave it two stars instead of one stars. But, honestly, I just didn't like it."
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