Customer Reviews

Beautiful Maria of My Soul

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(9)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

It is always a pleasure to me when I learn that an author has written a second novel, utilizing a character or situation in a beloved novel. Two examples come to mind. One is Geraldine Brooks' "March" in which she expands the father's character in Louisa May Alcott's "Little Women". A second example is Sebastian Barry's recent "Secret Scripture" based on a character from his lyrical earlier novel, "The Whereabouts of Eneas McNulty". Now, this literary treat is provided by Oscar Hijuelos, the Cuban-American author of the Nobel prize-winning, "The Mambo Kings Sing Songs of Love." It was a privilege to read this novel in an Advanced Reader Copy by way of [...].

Hijuelos rewinds the "Mambo Kings" story to the beginning and tells the tale of Maria Garcia y Cifuentes, a poor girl from the campo who uses her beauty and determination to land jobs dancing in post-war Havana in the 1940s. She crosses paths with Nestor Castillo, one of the brothers who go on to become the Mambo Kings when they emigrate to the US. Their affair is tumultuous, but ultimately they part. Nestor is haunted by Maria and writes an achingly beautiful song, a bolero called "Beautiful Maria of My Soul" as an expression of his love. The song becomes famous and sets the Mambo Kings on their course to fame.

This novel is an interesting contrast to "Mambo Kings". The story line is about Maria's struggles as a young woman with no family and the way she plays her odds in order to survive. It has been some time since I read the first novel, but "Beautiful Maria" is quieter, and seems to run deeper. Both are about life choices and life's compromises and how we come to reconcile ourselves to both. Hijuelos skillfully creates a complete, complex character, from that relatively short episode from the first novel, and plays out a parallel life.

Almost humorously, Hijuelos is a character in his own novel. After the success of Mambo Kings, he encounters the real Maria as the result of a book signing in Florida. The two develop an odd relationship and Maria has an ironic celebrity among the Cuban-American community as the subject of the bolero they all cherish as a reminder of the pre-Castro days in Cuba.

Readers will enjoy this new offering by Oscar Hijuelos. It provides an intriguing contrast and counter-balance to the vibrant "Mambo Kings" and in the closing chapters, weaves together one complete plot line. In Maria Garcia y Cifuentes creates not just an interesting peek into a minor character, but a full-blown literary character in her own right. Well done

It is all too easy, in reading a novel, to think the characters are real and not fictional. And, doing that it is also too easy to begin to wonder what the story would look like if told through their eyes.

This mind game serves as the starting point of this beautifully written novel. It tells the story of Maria, the woman who inspired the song, Beautiful Maria of my Soul, that is such a big part of the author's first novel, The Mambo KIngs Play Songs of Love. And, although it's been 20 years since I read that book, the memory of it echoes beautifully through this novel.

Essentially a character portrait of Maria, the book begins when she is 17 on her way to Havana from her village in the countryside. You learn about Maria's struggle to find work in the city, about her family life, and about how she begins to improve herself. First by becoming a dancer in a nightclub, then by hooking up with a minor gangster. And you learn about her meeting and her romance with Nestor Castillo, from The Mambo Kings. This meeting, and their romance, plays a central role in the lives of both people, eventually leading to the song. Some of the story was told in the first book, but so much more of Maria's own story is told here.

It seems to me to be a story of 20th Century Cuba. Poor, illiterate, ignorant, Maria is from the country, a world without any of the modern conveniences that wasn't different from the world of her grandparents. By moving to Havana and becoming part of the world of nightclubs and decadence that was so much a part of Cuba in the late 40's and 5t0's, she enters, as did Cuba, the modern world with a bang. Abandoned by the Castro revolution, she leaves Cuba, her gangster lover imprisoned, virtually penniless, for Miami, and makes her home there. The last third of the book is seen through the eyes of her daughter, a doctor, and depicts the world of Cuban exiles.

Through it all Maria is herself and we come to see her with love as she is.

But Hijuelos gives us more than this. He tales the "What if?" premise of the book and puts himself squarely in it. What if Maria was real as well as fictional? What if the author met her daughter? What if Maria achieved some small fame in this odd meeting of life and art?

What could have been an amusing short piece for a literary magazine becomes a charming ending to the book and part of celebrating the on-going life of Maria and of the Cuban community.

In short, I thought it was great.

I hadn't read "Mambo Kings" for a long time, so I read it first before going on to "Beautiful Maria", reading them back to back. The two books interweave beautifully together and Hijuelos writes characters so real that you are certain that they live down the street - even if you're not from New York or Miami, and not Cuban. And, just as I think the book is going to slowly fade away, the plot takes a nice turn in "Beautiful Maria" by referencing the earlier novel and pulling all the characters from both books into one narrative arc.

The world that Hijuelos invents is so fully realized that you can picture the locations -- in Cuba, New York, Miami -- as though you were remembering some aspect of your own life. Along with the lyrical writing, in a latin magical realistic style, Hijuelos has expanded his character's lives in such a way that I find myself wondering "what if" and inventing other scenarios for the characters.

These two books transport the reader in the way that is the best of fiction, creating an entirely believable, realistic world that we are allowed to share with the people in the books.

Maria was beautiful, but enough is enough. It certainly was overdone, and I skipped lots of paragraphs which became the same theme- she was so beautiful she had kids, men, old and young, following her- on and on. Even the animals on the road stopped in awe of her beauty ----just kidding. But it was almost that bad. I skipped three pages at one point because it was all about her beauty. It got old. If all the references to her beauty had been left out this would have been a better, and much shorter, book. The story was pretty good, good enough that I am going to read "Mambo Kings Play Songs of Love." But all the references to Maria's beauty slowed this story down almost to a crawl.

On the strength of this novel's 'beginnings' with the Pulitzer Prize winning "The Mambo Kings Play Songs of Love," I ventured into the sequel. What a disappointment. Basically, it confirmed for me the unworthiness of the initial literary award. As much as I care about all things Cuban, after reading more than 500 pages of the two novels, I got really, really tired of the endless accounts of lovemaking, all centered on the gargantuan nature of the men's sexual organs. Bored by the repetitive nature of the storytelling, I skipped the mid-section of the book and skimmed the ending, only to feel vindicated by my belief that I was wasting my time to read the entire novel. The author's insistence on inserting himself into the story at its very end was also off-putting.

When I was in college majoring in Latin American studies, I read several of Oscar Hijuelos books...and just loved them! My favorites were The Mambo Kings Play Songs Of Love and The 14 Sisters of Emilio Montez O'Brien, so I when I saw he had written a stand alone story about Maria, the obessesion of the lovesick Nestor in The Mambo Kings, I was really really looking forward to reading this book to the discover what kind of woman would make someone behave in the way Nestor did. I had planned to purchase this book if I liked it, but now I'm thankful I went to the library first because this book is definitely not worth spending money on. One has to wonder if Hijuelos was so desperate to replicate the Pulitzer Prize success of the Mambo Kings book that he wound up making the mistake of trying too hard with this specific book? Seems like it to me.

Well, I suppose one can't hit a home run each and every time, but I never anticipated such a major strike out like BMOMS! Maybe it was better to keep Maria as Nestor's "mystery lady" with a song written about her...instead of looking too closely and seeing all the warts which were evident in this book.

On the positive side? Yes, Oscar Hijuelos still has that wonderful way he has of making such vivid descriptions with his writing. I love how he intersperces Spanish words into the prose, and the descriptions of the Cuban countryside and Havana are just wonderfully vivid...they make you feel like you really are there. Fine, if you're writing a travelogue.

If only Hijuelos spent more of his writing time in discribing wonderful and readable things about the actual characters! I'm not saying he has to write a nicey-nice fairy tale where everyone lives happily-ever-after, but for pete sake, I don't want to read what can only be described as pornography for intellectuals. I really could've done without some of the really vulgar and far too graphic descriptions of genetalia, and I was particularly offended by the scene where he describes Maria's deflowering by Ignacio. It was not only grotesque but also very blasphemous! Maybe that sort of thing doesn't bother others, but for me, as a Christian, that sort of mixing of religious and sexual imagery make me not want to read any further.

Also, like other readers who disliked this book, I agree that Hijuelos spent far too much time describing how "beautiful" Maria was and how "every man wants her." Not only was it repetitive and tedious reading, but it made me want to ask "who is Hijuelos trying to convince?" For all Maria's youth and alleged beauty, how is it that she seemed to attract only the men who were lowlifes and nearly toothless losers? What does that really say about her so-called beauty? To me, the descriptions of Maria sounds more like the proverbial sow's ear being made out to look like a silk purse! She had few, if any, redeeming qualities that I could find.

Overall impression? Attempting to read "Beautiful Maria Of My Soul" was a is a bit like going dumpster diving for a diamond...and never finding the diamond but having that uncomfortable feeling like you definitely need a shower to get rid of the stench such a venture naturally leaves behind on one.

Based on Oscar Hijuelos' book "Mambo Kings", "Beautiful Maria of My Soul" explores the story from Maria's perspective. At the age of seventeen, "beautiful" Maria moves to Havana where she discovers love, sex, and the harshness of life. Maria has two central men in her life, Ignacio and Nestor. Ignacio provides her with worldly comfort, but is abusive. While Nestor, is the love of her life, but can't provide her with the comforts Maria desires. The author writes about Maria's priorities, decisions, and the consequences she faces.

Although I enjoyed most of the book, I wasn't really captivated by this story. The constant references to Maria's beauty were a bit overdone- especially in the first half of the book. However, I did like that the story was not too predictable and that many of the events felt very realistic. I was disappointed that the author spent so much time focusing on Maria's beauty, but didn't reveal more about her as a person. I gave the book three stars because I think it's worth reading, but i wouldn't classify it as a "must read."

Having loved 'Mambo Kings' when it was first published years ago, I was thrilled to discover Oscar Hijuelos had written this novel based upon Maria, Nestor Castillo's love in "Mambo Kings". "Beautiful Maria of My Soul" opens with 17 year old Maria, a poor, illiterate but stunningly beautiful girl leaving her tiny countryside village in Cuba and heading for the excitement of Havana. Penniless, she lives at first at La Cucaracha, a run down apartment building populated with prostitutes and finds herself a job as a showgirl in a second rate nightclub. Men pursue the gorgeous Maria relentlessly and she soon finds herself involved with the brutish Ignacio, a two-bit gangster whose money provides her with a better life, and the soft hearted musico, Nestor who adores her but seems to have no prospects.

Hijuelos vividly captures the sights, sounds and rhythms of 1950's Havana, but I quickly found myself bored by the repetitiveness of his writing and the weak plot. An inordinate number of pages are spent telling us over, and over, and over again how gorgeous Maria is, and how she turns men's heads wherever she goes. I got the idea after a couple of paragraphs. I didn't need fifty pages of the same thing. There are a couple of touching places in the novel like Maria's relationship with her sister Teresa who dies at a young age, as well as with an aging neighbor who teaches Maria to read and write. However, Maria just is not a character who is interesting enough to carry this novel. I quickly became bored with Maria and the slow moving plot. Overall a disappointment.

This book is really all about Maria and how beautiful she is. The first 100 pages explains how she captivates every man she comes across and the love spell she puts them under. We get it - Maria is beautiful! But the thing is the reader never gets an actual physical description of Maria. What makes her beautiful? Are we just suppose to take the author's word for it?

Then Nestor comes into her life. I thought he was sweet...until he developed the love jones for beautiful Maria. After a fling between the sheets, she dumps him, and he moves to the U.S., where he has written a hit song about her called "Beautiful Maria of my soul." Nestor is a loser because he spends his last breathing moments pining for Maria. What a clingy, whiny loser!

Overall, I skipped a whole bunch of pages trying to get through this book. It was boring and repetitive.

This story was brought to life by reader, Armando Duran. My daily commutes to work (in Oregon)took me to Cuba, New York, Miami,through cultures, scenery, even the heat & humidity. The feel of the story is intimate,&, yes, soulful. The line drawn in the sand between comfort & love, brings the story to its rather sweet ending.