The Mambo Kings Play Songs of Love
*** By Oscar Hijuelos. Joe and I read this one aloud together, mostly in the car on the way from California to Illinois. I'll let Joe add his comments later.
So, this is another Pulitzer Prize winner, and though it is hardly my favorite book of all time, I would not say it was undeserving. The characters are very well done, and Hijuelos positively immerses the reader into the world of those characters with rich language, flowing descriptions, and the occasional footnote to catch the reader up on Cuban-American music of the 1950s.
The story begins at the peak of the mambo era, the dead middle of the 20th century, and takes place in Manhattan. Our antihero: Cesar Castillo, songwriter, singer, musician, and bandleader of a minorly famous mambo group called — you guessed it — The Mambo Kings. But much more than about music, the story is about Cesar's life and, ultimately, the peace he can make with his past. We see glimpses of his life from beginning to end, as Cesar finds his way to music, loves and leaves one woman after another, faces personal tragedy, and experiences the high point of his career and the moment he will always return to: his brother's and his guest appearance on I Love Lucy.
My only criticism — three weeks after finishing the book, anyhow — is that some of the figurative language, especially related to sex, borders on the ridiculous. Some of it is clearly intended to be humorous, but other times I found what may have been meant to be sensual instead laughable. Oh well, over all it's still a good'un.
Posted by Lisa on August 1, 2002 06:33 AM
Comments
And here I was all ready with another review of this book, and it turns out Lisa saved me the trouble. Oh well. What she said. :)
Actually, I'd add one of the things that struck me about this book. Hijuelos does a great job of creating characters that are so outrageous in the way they live that you just can't believe that people like that exist. At the same time, he completely convinces you that they do. He has everything so well rendered that it's hard to believe you're reading fiction. I'm interested to know how much of the story is based on real experience, or if it was deep research that yielded these results. Whatever the method, the characters in the book are a great success, whether you think you'd like them in person or not.
And the soundtrack's good too.
Posted by Joe at August 3, 2002 10:08 PM