The Mambo Kings Play Songs of Love

I bought this book when it first came out in paperback (I believe that was in 1990), and when I took it to the counter to pay for it, the young woman said, with a look of awe on her face, "Oh, what a wonderful book." I couldn't agree more with that bookstore clerk. This is the first book I read by Hijuelos, and as soon as I finished it, I went and got Hijuelos's first novel, "Our House in the Last World," and loved it every bit as much as "Mambo Kings." I've read Hijuelos's three novels that followed "Mambo Kings," and while they were all OK (this is a talented writer) they were not as good as his first two.Oh, I almost forgot. About a year after I read "Mambo Kings," I lent it to a woman -- a very bright woman -- but, unlike me, she's just not much of a reader. She also loved this book.I'm a female. The two aforementioned people are females. Unlike many of the previous reviewers, not one of us was one iota offended by the book's sexuality. Everything in the book rang true, and that's what counts.My tastes change. I'm not so sure I would love this book now as much as I did about a dozen years ago. But that doesn't matter --my memory of how much I loved it back then is all that matters.

Anyone who appreciates brilliant, lush prose -- especially anyone with a spiritual connection to Latin culture, dancing or music -- will adore this book. Some people are put off by the sex, but they're just prudes. It's hot, alright, hotter than any book has a right to be. Hats off to Oscar Hijuelos, a true artist.

I read this book, for the first time, for a college American Literature course about seven years ago. The teacher warned everyone in advance that it "may appear to be a bit too descriptive, too sexual but to please keep an open mind" because this was an integral part of the book. He was right. I found this book to be fascinating, sensual and written clearly enough that I felt as though I was a character on the sidelines, watching these two brothers go through their lives. To the readers who found this degrading to women, try to realize that these were lovers in the true definition. They were Cuban men who absolutely adored women; they appreciated the beauty of all women and showed it in the most physical sense possible. As a woman, I found the book to be truly sensual and enjoyable. Since reading this book I have made a point to read all of Hijuelos' books and, every year or two, I pick up "Mambo Kings Play Songs of Love" to go back to that time of raw sensuality that Hijuelos describes so well. My teacher was right. Keep an open mind while reading this, or any, book. But, don't deny yourself the luxury of reading such a wonderful book!

There are only a handful of books that have charmed me into rereading them, and this is one ... I somehow think that at the end of my life when I am a confused old lady, I won't be able to distinguish these characters from people who really existed. I'm genuinely astonished by the reader/reviewer below who found this novel degrading to women. Mambo Kings changed the whole way I perceived men, and sexual attention. I equated men viewing women in a purely sexual context as somehow coming from a dark, and unkind place- that it was degrading. Oscar Hijuelos's Mambo Kings view women in a purely sexual fashion, but it is rooted in wonder, awe, with a kind of gratefulness about and for women. Sad to say, it was sort of an epiphany. I liked men better after reading this book.

Any serious reader who has failed to read The Mambo Kings Play Songs of Love has missed on the pleasure of savoring this masterpiece. Hijuelos has written an extraordinary book: outstanding in its originality and heart-wrenchingly honest. Trust me, once you meet the Castillo brothers you will be wondering whether they are characters created by Hijuelos or close relatives that you had never heard of. I fell in love with this book because it is a book about life--it is the type of book that compels readers to wonder: What did I do today to enjoy life at its fullest. Bravo for Hijuelos; he belongs to a very exclusive group of writers whose books made me cry.