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UNITED STATES AUTHOR · FICTION · CUBAN AMERICANS

Oscar Hijuelos

17
BOOKS
4.0
AVG RATING (6)
0
READERS
Manhattan, United States
Wikipedia

and so corpulent that while walking along narrow sidewalks of Habana on his way to the music conservatory or to the Teatro Albisu he would have to stand aside, his back pressed flatly against a wall, or duck into a doorway, to allow the ladies with their parasoles and beaded purses to pass. So great was his girth and imposing physicality that with his trademark mustache he reminded his friends of the silent-film comedian Oliver Hardy, "El Gordo" (of "El Gordon y El Flaco," "The Fat One and the Skinny One"), which had become one of his affectionately intended nicknames, and appellation that he, in his good nature and with his grand reputation frequenting the bars and restaurants and concert halls of the city, had always taken in stride.

— from A Simple Habana Melody

Most acclaimed

#2

Dark Dude

0.0 (0)

In the 1960s, Rico Fuentes, a pale-skinned Cuban American teenager, abandons drug-infested New York City for the picket fence and apple pie world of Wisconsin, only to discover that he still feels like an outsider and that violent and judgmental people can be found even in the wholesome Midwest. In the 1960s, Rico, a pale-skinned Cuban American teenager, abandons drug-infested New York City for Wisconsin, only to discover violent and judgmental people can be found even in the wholesome Midwest. The plot contains profanity and sexual situations.

#1

Mr. Ives' Christmas

4.0 (1)

When we first meet him in the 1950s, Mr. Ives is a devoutly religious man who, despite his beginnings in a foundling home, has fashioned for himself an enviable life. A successful Madison Avenue advertising illustrator, Ives is married to a vivacious, artistic woman, Annie, who shares his aesthetic passions and religious beliefs. Together they raise their children, Robert and Caroline, with remarkable fair-mindedness and moral judgment. Ives, who knows nothing of his own natural ancestry, is profoundly drawn to the Spanish cultures and language that have begun to flourish in 1950s New York City. Even after he has risen to a vice-presidency at the advertising agency, he continues to live in his unfashionable neighborhood in Upper Manhattan because he feels at home among his multi-ethnic neighbors, especially his closest friend, Luis Ramirez, and his family. But Ives' perfect world is violated when seventeen-year-old Robert is gunned down by a teenage thug at Christmas, just months before the young man is to enter the seminary. Having once considered himself as possessing "a small, imperfect spiritual gift," Mr. Ives finds himself lost without his son, doubting not only the foundations of his life but his belief in God. Overwhelmed by grief and threatened with a loss of faith in humankind, Ives must wrestle with his doubts and struggle to regain spiritual peace, perhaps even embracing the troubled young man who stole Robert's promising life.

#3

Beautiful Maria of My Soul

0.0 (0)

The Pulitzer Prize–winning The Mambo Kings Play Songs of Love is a contemporary American classic, a novel that still captures the imagination twenty years after its first publication. And now, in Beautiful Maria of My Soul, Oscar Hijuelos returns to the story, but tells it from the point of view of its beloved heroine, Maria.She's the great Cuban beauty, the woman who stole musician Nestor Castillo's heart and broke it, inspiring him to write the Mambo Kings' biggest hit, "Beautiful Maria of My Soul." Here, in Hijuelos's dazzling new stand-alone novel, she finally takes the spotlight.Now in her early sixties and living in Miami with her pediatrician daughter, Teresa, Beautiful Maria still turns heads. Having left Cuba decades before, she has gone on with her life, but has never forgotten Nestor, and as she thinks back to her days—and nights—in Havana, an entirely new perspective on the Mambo Kings story unfolds. Beautiful Maria of My Soul is a stunning feat of reimagination, another contemporary classic from an extraordinarily talented writer.

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