Book Review
Nov. 12th, 2004 10:34 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
kenjariThe Mambo Kings Play Songs of Love
by Oscar Hijuelos
Hijuelos won a Pulitzer Prize for this book, and he certainly deserved it. It's been on my list for quite some time, and it lived up to all my expectations. The Mambo Kings Play Songs of Love is about Cesar and Nestor Castillo, two musicians who emigrate from Cuba to New York in the 1940s. In the form of an extended (and not always completely linear) flashback from the dying Cesar, the novel follows their lives in America and their success in the Latin dance scene of the 1950s - a success crowned with a guest appearance on I Love Lucy. It's a great story, and Hijuelos really captures the feel of that scene and lifestyle. The book is also written with a warm voluptousness and sensuality that make it a real pleasure to read.
by Oscar Hijuelos
Hijuelos won a Pulitzer Prize for this book, and he certainly deserved it. It's been on my list for quite some time, and it lived up to all my expectations. The Mambo Kings Play Songs of Love is about Cesar and Nestor Castillo, two musicians who emigrate from Cuba to New York in the 1940s. In the form of an extended (and not always completely linear) flashback from the dying Cesar, the novel follows their lives in America and their success in the Latin dance scene of the 1950s - a success crowned with a guest appearance on I Love Lucy. It's a great story, and Hijuelos really captures the feel of that scene and lifestyle. The book is also written with a warm voluptousness and sensuality that make it a real pleasure to read.
