Loving Che

Loving Che takes place in contemporary Miami, as a young woman longs to uncover her past. Once she receives a package of letters and photographs, the narrative shifts to her mother's voice recalling the years of the Cuban Revolution and her love affair with Che Guevera. Then, the narrative shifts back to modern day as the unnamed narrator seeks to use the clues from letters and photographs to fill in the details of her life. I'm a huge fan of historical fiction featuring real people, and Che Guevera is someone I've been fascinated with quietly for years. Loving Che is a unique piece of historical fiction. It's events are intricately linked to actual events in the very public life of Che Guevera and the Cuban revolution, but the links come in broad strokes more often than details. There's also a mysterious element to the novel as our narrator seeks answers to her questions about identity. My favorite part of the novel was its last third. It was a fascinating journey, and I couldn't help but think of A. Manette Ansay's fabulous Good Things I Wish You, where the lines between fiction, research, and memoir became blurred into a lovely piece of metafiction. I don't know how much Menendez's journey to research this novel mimicked itself in the narrator's research of her life, but it was quite fascinating to read about. At times, this novel veered into romance: "The first kiss is more intimate than the naked bed; it's small perimeter already contains the first submission and the final betrayal." (p. 91) At times, it was both romantic and wise: "I wonder now if people don't make up their reasons for deception after the fact. And that what truly leads us into the arms of another lies beyond our comprehension." (p. 93) There are so many beautiful truths in this novel: "But death to me is more a regret, not a fear. Fear is one of the things that make us value life. But how can you fear the inevitable? It would be like fearing the dawn." (p. 112) There were a few moments that felt uneven in this novel. Because I read The Last War first (Menendez's most recent novel), I was willing to forgive some first novel pacing issues. The depth of the ending surprised me; I had written off this novel as simple and sweet despite my enjoyment of Menendez's writing. I was moved to tears and quite pondering by the novel's last pages, and I think it will haunt me for quite some time. Loving Che is a lyrical tale of love, revolution, life, identity and the power of the unknown. Recommended for fans of historical fiction, women's fiction and literary fiction.

In this evocative first novel by short story writer Menendez (In Cuba I Was a German Shepherd), a young, unnamed Miami woman is granted an intimate look into her provenance with the arrival of a package of old photographs and letters. An infant during the revolution, she was sent from Cuba to be raised by her kind but unforthcoming grandfather; her mother, Teresa, seems to have vanished. But this package of writings "smell[ing] of dark drawers and musty rooms" reveals Teresa de la Landre's life, from her carefree girlhood to her marriage, artistic career and impassioned affair with revolutionary hero Ernesto "Che" Guevara. Teresa's poetic memories, which make up the bulk of the book, are rich in sensual detail ("Ernesto... his touch like wading into a small pool only to find it deep and cool and sweet beneath the reflection") and full of the terror and exhilaration of revolution ("After the triumph... it was the strange and dreadful excitement of a world turning, of everything staid and ordinary being swept away"). Despite the tension in the narrator's search to learn her mother's fate and the true identity of her father-was it Che, or Teresa's professor husband, Calixto?-the present-day story, which bookends the letters, is less developed. The dreamy portrait of tropical Havana in gorgeous decay ("Where the cement had cracked, small purple flowers blossomed, as if every house held a garden prisoner within its walls") lingers, while the narrator's hopeful but pragmatic thoughts during her quest can fall somewhat flat. Still, the glimpses of vibrant 1950s Cuba and Teresa and Che's perfectly rendered relationship make this a moving novel from a writer to watch. Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Champion voice performers Adriana Sananes and Eileen Stevens breathe life into this story of a love affair between a young artist, Theresa, and rebel Ernesto "Che" Guevara. At times the narrative is softly emotional at other times fraught with danger; it is also an incomparable painting of revolutionary Cuba. Although she has been searching for a number of years a young Miami woman has not unearthed a clue about her birth mother whom she has never seen nor heard about. One day an unexpected package arrives containing pages of writing and photographs. Slowly these items are pieced together to reveal the life of her mother and the youthful affair she had with "Che" Guevara. Related in two distinct voices "Loving Che" is poetic, passionate, and poignant - an altogether irresistible listening experience. - Gail Cooke

This first novel by Menendez whose short story collection, In Cuba I was a German Shepherd first showed us her talent, builds on what will be a growing reputation as one of America's newest literary talents. The book which deals with a woman's search for her mother who sent her to America with her grandfather, and her mother's extraordinary life, including an affair with Che. Like so many authors writing today, the lines between where truth begins and end is explored, not only within the context of the story, but within our own experiences. Menendez economical use of words shows that she is a master of the fiction craft, expecting the reader to delve deeper into the story, but also those assumptions they bring to the work. Some writers tell a story for the story's sake. Menendez is concerned with art for art's sake as passage to passage is filled with the sensory details and wonderful characterization that would be perfect for study by the would be writer or in writing programs.Besides that, the reader who latches on to young writers like these can look forward to everything they produce for years to come. It would be like reading the early Alice Walker, or Amy Tan, or Louise Erdrich....knowing that to start out this compelling will only be a prelude of things to come.

With beautiful imagery and intriguing language, Menendez has created a mysterious and intriguing story about love, family, and revolutionary Cuba. This enchanting diptych of a novel begins in standard form with the narrator questioning her childhood in Miami and expressing her frustration at the lack of information she is able to get from her grandfather about her past and her parents. When a mysterious package arrives filled with letters and photos, the novel takes a stylistic turn and we are thrust into a wholly different life; the life of an artist in Cuba in the 1950s. In brief and beautifully written vignettes, these "letters" seemingly explain the narrator's mother's life and her clandestine affair with Che Guevara.A return to the narrator's voice at the end of the novel details a renewed search for her mother using the information that has been revealed in the letters. While at the heart of the matter the question seems to be whether or not the narrator is the daughter of Che Guevara, the narrator focuses on her search for her mother and Guevara seems to be an afterthought. While the initial change in narrative is slightly jarring, it is reflective of how we remember and of how and what one chooses to tell about ones life. The return of the narrator's voice is a smooth transition and further illuminates the letters and the difficulty in both sharing secrets and yet keeping them. As Teresa writes to her daughter "...life is not a tidy narrative.... We learn this late. These scraps of memory that become untethered from the rest, flapping disconsolately in the wind, these memories are the most important of all. Memories like these remind us that life is also loose ends, small events that have no bearing on the story we come to write of ourselves."