Mangos, Bananas, and Coconuts: A Cuban Love Story

great and fascinating read, filled with local color, intrigue and a great plot. This is great literature and yet most accessible. Doesn't leave you where it finds you....

I am captivated by this incredible magic realist novel which turns out to be a satire on magic realism. Beautifully and poetically written, informed by Latin culture and history and firmly planted on the literary tradition of the masters of Western literature, this novel by Himilce Novas is one of the best books I've ever read. The passages on pre-Castro Cuba and the arrival of Castro, as well as life in New York and Miami for two sets of distictly separate Cuban Americans (one poor and one privileged) were rich, informative, stirring, strong, emotional, humorous...the book left me totally undone.

This novel has changed my life. The writing is so compelling, poetic and captivating that I was totally taken over by it. It's also a very hot book--the characters, the love story,the Cuban and Cuban American background, the mystery that unfolds slowly and magically, all of it is really HOT. It's a short book, too, and I read it in one sitting and when it ended, it was bitter sweet. I really love Novas' work.

This book has the feeling of raw emotion pouring out on the page. It is short and so easy to read that the book flew past me and I felt I was watching a movie. I read heavy Joycian things and mindless mainstream as well, and this book slots more into the "magical" mindless mainstream, but in a very artistic way. And to top it off, it has a happy ending, which I was not expecting. Unfortunately for the real world, there is such a thing as genetics that would eventually make their life sad were they to have kids, but that is not the point of the book, so I chose to suspend that reality while enjoying the book.

The story has been told before, but the way its told here with a Latin flavor, rich characters, and a great sense of humor, it allows for a good deal of enjoyment and learning. There are several mentions of cultural differences and inequalities which are central to the story of many immigrants. A very enjoyable story.