Old Rosa: a novel in two stories

It's fascinating to observe the talented author's development in these two novellas, written five years apart. Arenas's emotionally charged, lyrical prose becomes firmer, more focused as he abandons magical realism and delves more intimately into his own experiences. The heroine of the allegorical "Old Rosa" is a peasant who amasses a large property through hard work and self-sacrifice only to see her efforts destroyed when her farm is collectivized under Castro. With her oldest son ready to join the revolution, her daughter marrying a Negro and her youngest son Arturo a homosexual, Rosa literally goes mad; the novella begins with her setting fire to her house and herself. Arturo's life is taken up in "The Brightest Star," which parallels some of what is known of the author's own experiences in the notorious Cuban workcamps. Arturo's personality changes when he is imprisoned for his homosexuality. At first he holds himself aloof, then becomes the most flamboyant of his fellow prisoners and finally retreats into a beautiful fantasyland. Because Arenas holds back nothing, giving free vent to his emotions, this densely charged tale crescendoes to a shattering finale.
Copyright 1989 Reed Business Information, Inc.

One of Cuba's best-known writers, though little known in his native country, Arenas has lived in the United States since 1980. He writes in the poetic and fantastic style of magical realism that Garcia Marquez has made familiar. Old Rosa is in two parts, two related short stories connected by startling images and themes as well as by characters. "Old Rosa" recalls the life of a woman who puts herself and her farm to the flames rather than give up her land to the revolution. "The Brightest Star" chronicles the death and life of Old Rosa's youngest son, Arturo, an obsessive writer imprisoned by the revolutionaries in a work camp for gay prisoners. A fine novel that belongs in any contemporary Latin American literature collection.
- Mary Margaret Benson, Linfield Coll. Lib., McMinnville, Ore.
Copyright 1989 Reed Business Information, Inc.