The Aguero Sisters

Las novelas más inspiradoras sobre la mujer latinoamericana son "La casa de los espíritus" de Isabel Allende, "El amor en los tiempos del cólera" de García Márquez, "Las hermanas Agüero" de Christina García, "La casa en Mango Street" de Sandra Cisneros y la que acaba de aparecer sobre la mujer de la inmigración, "El amor de Carmela me va a matar" de Eduardo González Viaña.

I read books for many reasons, but above all, to be transported out of my present life to different dimensions and fresh possibilities. However, sometimes, rarely, the language a writer uses is enough to cause rapture, and this truly is the case with Cristina Garcia, author of The Aguero Sisters. This is a novel in which the plot is almost incidental to the rich tapestry of characterizations, dissection of the human psyche, and descriptions of superstitions which take the reader's breath away. In fact, the long-awaited climax, when it finally comes, does not provide any resolution at all, which is a disappointment, but by no means a disaster because before getting to this point, the reader is transported back and forth between Cuba and the United States, communism and capitalism, family rifts and reconciliations, and most importantly, to a discovery of what happens to people who are separated from each other in a familial, political, and geographical sense. Above and beyond this, the writer's incredibly poetic manipulation of the English language, her second language, "peels back raw regions of misery" and uses "an explosive lexicon of hardship and bitter jokes." Oh, to come from a culture as rich as this and through suffering to find my true self rather than simply wallow in the grief of it all. I covet Garcia's relationship with words and understanding of human nature and all its strengths and frailties. If there were a guarantee that every book would be as engrossing as this one, then I would be sure to set aside time to read more regularly because the replenishment that comes from the pages of novels such as this is incalculable.

More than a year ago, my father pulled a book from his shelf and read the first chapter aloud to me. The book was "The Aguero Sisters" and the chapter was completely captivating in its richness of language, its evocative prose, and in the tremendous curiosity it instilled in me about what why certain events occurred and what would happen next. I went on to read the book and absolutely loved it."The Aguero Sisters" is several stories interwoven into one. It is a love story, and a mystery of sorts. It is a story of generation and cultural differences and of the strange emotional contradictions felt between siblings. Most importantly, it is a story with rhythm, energy, and touches of dark humor. There are so many different reasons why people should read this book and none of them are political. Of course it deals with Cuban politics, but it does so in an irreverent and humorous fashion. The most political characters in this book appear to be caricatures while the least political ones are the most compelling. I have read books with similar themes such as "The Woman Warrior", and "The Joy Luck Club". While I learned a lot from these works and appreciated their content, it seemed that their strengths rested more on issues pertaining to ethnicity, gender, immigration, and generation differences than on any literary merit. "The Aguero Sisters" touches upon similar issues, but it also stands alone as a superb novel. I hope that in the future this book will be compared to some of the finest novels of the Twentieth Century, instead of merely being categorized as "ethnic literature".

Had just finished reading Charming Billy. Both stories of family myths and lies and love and disappointment, similiar but different. Irish vs. Cuban. Loved them both.

Cristina Garcia writes with elequence, with a wit so sharp, so kind and so filled with wisdom, that one is transported. I recommend this book even higher than her previous novel: DREAMING IN CUBA. Both books are just wonderful. I am an author myself, and I say CHEERS to Cristina Garcia! She is a writer to watch for.