Because Cuba Is You - Softcover

Chao, Ramon

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1901927504 ISBN 13: 9781901927504

Publisher: Route, 2013

Synopsis

A young man listens as his grandmother (Dolores) recounts stories from her life, which he writes down in the hope of making sense of them all. Following a fortune-telling Galician childhood and romantic adventures with a much older lover, Dolores's story takes her to Cuba at the end of the nineteenth century. Finding work as a maid in the household of a high-ranking Cuban official, she finds herself immersed in a whirlwind of political change. A magical realist account of Ramon Chao's family saga and the political maelstrom into which he was born, tracing a personal and political line from the Spanish-American War to the Spanish Civil War. ""Chao's work is equal parts historical fiction, family saga, and magical realism, and like all life-spanning chronicles, some stories provide bigger punches than others.""--Publishers Weekly Sept. 9, 2013

About this title

About the Author

Ramon Chao (Villalba, Lugo 1935) is a distinguished writer and journalist. He was chief editor for the Latin American service of Radio France Internationale, and worked for Le Monde and Le Monde Diplomatique. He is the French correspondent for Radio Colifata in Buenos Aires. In 1984 he created the prestigious Juan Rulfo Prize, an award for new Spanish language writers. He has written numerous essays and novels in French, Spanish and Galician. Amongst his works are The Train of Ice and Fire, Las Travesias de Luis Gontan, Las Andaduras del Che and El Lago de Como. He lives in Paris.

Reviews

The latest from Chao (The Train of Ice and Fire) unfurls through the guise of memory, as a man listens to his grandmother, Dolores, tell stories of her youthful adventures. The daughter of a fortune-teller, Dolores (also known as Lola, Lolita, and Lolina) falls for a much older man of the world, yet after he is imprisoned for witchcraft and quackery, she embarks on a journey that shuttles her from her Galician village to Cuba at the tail end of the 19th century. After a series of odd jobs, she becomes a maid for a Cuban political leader. Lolita/Dolores develops a romance with her boss, and she gets pregnant just as the country gains its independence. After being forced to return home by her employer—to avoid any scandal resulting from the pregnancy—she participates in a ritual that provides her with the gift of ubiquity. Able now to exist in two places at once, Lolita/Dolores fights for political change in both Galicia and Cuba, running with the Independent Association of Colour, anarchists, and Spanish communists. Chao's work is equal parts historical fiction, family saga, and magical realism, and like all life-spanning chronicles, some stories provide bigger punches than others. (Nov.)

Edition details

• Publisher: Route
• Publication date: 2013
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1901927504
• ISBN 13: 9781901927504
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 224