In Cuba I Was a German Shepherd [Hardcover]

Ana Menendez (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 10, 2001

Already sold in eight countries around the world, In Cuba I Was a German Shepherd is a hypnotic debut collection of linked tales about the attempts of immigrants to make new lives in America, by Cuban-American Pushcart Prize winner Ana Menendez. A lush, generous storyteller, Menendez effortlessly summons up grand, novelistic themes in her short stories: the hopes and disappointments of postrevolutionary Castro Cuba, the comfort and terror of Havana in all its beauty and sadness, the cultural ties that bind family, the contrast between people's dreams and reality. Seldom has an author captured so palpably the sting and regret of lives caught in the crosswinds of history. Menendez's prize-winning title story, a masterpiece of humor and heartbreak, introduces four aging Cubans who gather regularly to play dominoes in a Miami sidewalk park. More important than this game is their competition to tell the best joke of the day, and anecdotes fly about fellow countrymen who have immigrated for the American dream. In a wrenching twist, the ultimate joke strips bare the devastating truth that lies beneath the veneer of their game. From this opening story and its characters unfolds a series of family snapshots that illuminate the landscape of an exiled community rich in heritage and memory, and longing for the past. The tales are often at once comical and dark, as in "The Perfect Fruit," in which a mother is driven into an apocalyptic, frenzied cooking spree, using every last banana from the overgrown tree in her backyard; at other times they are deeply disturbing, as in "Miami Relatives," which depicts a family's escalating, surreal nightmare, fueled by the portrait and family stories of "the old uncle in Cuba" who refuses to die. With the subtle pacing of Lorrie Moore and the rich descriptiveness of Laura Esquivel, Ana Menendez charts her own territory from Havana to Coral Gables with unforgettable passion and explores whether any of us are capable, or even truly desirous, of outrunning our origins.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

"Here in America, I may be a short, insignificant mutt, but in Cuba I was a German shepherd," M ximo explains in the first of these 11 short stories. His words are the punch line to one of countless jokes he tells to his cronies at Miami's Domino Park. The group of Cuban and Dominican immigrants gathers regularly, mostly ignoring the tourists who come to gape at the colorful old men playing dominos only M ximo feels victimized, as if the onlookers are trivializing his life and culture, treating him like an animal in a zoo. The mixed sentiments of pride and frustration that come with adjustment to American society are common threads in this moving collection by a Cuban-American, Pushcart Prize-winning author. Many of the tales have related themes and characters, and while some are more abstract than others, all speak of the attempts of immigrants to create new lives in the U.S. In "The Perfect Fruit," Men‚ndez portrays Matilde's despair and jealousy when, as she contemplates what has become her own loveless marriage, her son Anselmo announces his engagement to his American girlfriend Meegan Matilde deals with her dejection by throwing herself into a cooking frenzy. But like M ximo's jokes in the first tale, her culinary storms are merely a thin mask covering a dark reality: that even in the safe haven of America, ethnic ties are strong and assimilation is something that is not necessarily easy or even desired. These stories are perhaps best not consumed all at once; read separately, they offer a telling yet bittersweet perspective on immigrant life. Agent, Amy Williams, the Gernert Company. (May)Forecast: Men‚ndez's voice, falling somewhere in between the slangy eloquence of Junot D¡az and Dagoberto Gilb and the lyrical exuberance of Sandra Cisneros and Esmeralda Santiago, is a welcome addition to the chorus of Latino fiction writers. A 10-city author tour and 30,000 first printing will give her debut collection a boost.

Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

This delightfully rich collection of interrelated short stories focuses on Cuban immigrants in Miami. The title story, also featured in the 2001 Pushcart Prize anthology, tells of four elderly men playing dominoes and talking about their past mostly apocryphal glories, while an Anglo tourist, dressed in pink, snaps photographs. In "The Perfect Fruit," the reader almost inhales the overripe bananas a middle-aged woman cooks night and day in her battle to conquer the fruits she sees inundating her home and her sanity. The 11 stories in this author's first collection focus on family relationships and immigrants' nostalgia for a past beyond recovery; the moods proceed from light, playful, and humorous to dark, passionate, and frantic. Menendez, the daughter of Cuban immigrants, grew up in Miami and has worked as a journalist there and in southern California. Highly recommended for all libraries.
- Mary Margaret Benson, Linfield Coll. Lib., McMinnville, OR
Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 192 pages
• Publisher: Grove Press; 1st edition (May 10, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0802116884
• ISBN-13: 978-0802116888
• Product Dimensions: 7.4 x 5.2 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,206,929 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Catchy Title, Enjoyable Read, May 27, 2002

By 

Anna K "annoula_k" (Queens, NY USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: In Cuba I Was a German Shepherd (Paperback)

As I walked through the bookstore the other day, a yellow cover with the title "In Cuba I was a German Shepherd" caught my eye and I stopped to read the first few pages. Ana Menendez's eloquent use of the English language pulled me in enough to purchase the book, and I must admit that I didn't regret it.

This is a wonderful collection of short stories about Cuban immigrants and their children. An easy read with a free-flowing style, it was hard for me to put this book down. Yes, the other reviewers are correct in saying that in some stories the characters aren't fully developed, but that doesn't detract too much from the overall feel of the book. I walked away with a somewhat greater understanding of the Cuban community in Miami which is unique in and of itself, but is also very similar to other immigrant communities that also place importance on family, friendships and respect.

If you're looking for a quick read at the beach or on a plane, go ahead and pick up this catchy title, then sit back and savor Menendez's beautiful string of words.

6 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars an impressive debut, June 27, 2001

By 

Leslie Cheng (St. Louis, MO USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: In Cuba I Was a German Shepherd (Hardcover)

A wonderful collection of stories, at times funny, lyrical, and, above all, moving. Writings are not very even throughout the collection, the title story being the strongest. Linkages of characters in different stories interestingly provide a special dimension to the lives portrayed - an unbreakable web that keeps on closing in. The son of the jealous Matilde who set herself into a banana cooking frenzy in "The Perfect Fruit" becomes the sleepless husband, also consumed by jealousy, who spent the whole night contemplating the nuances of his wife's manners toward another man. In the next to last story "The Party", almost all the characters from other stories show up, each one at a different point of intersection with the omnipresent Cuba buried deep in their souls. Menendez has got an impeccably seamless rhythm in almost all the stories. Even in those weaker ones like "Why We Left", "Hurricane Stories", there is a quite powerful haunting quality. This is a very impressive debut.

3.0 out of 5 stars In Cuba I was a German Shepherd, May 29, 2010

By 

Gus Venegas (Cocoa, Florida, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: In Cuba I Was a German Shepherd (Paperback)

I walked through a bookstore years ago and a yellow cover with the title In Cuba I was a German Shepherd stared me in the eye and I stopped to read a few pages. Some days ago I rediscovered it in one of my bookshelves and decided to look it over. It is diverse collection of easy to read short stories about Cuban immigrants. From the first one where Maximo tells jokes to hide his emotional pain while playing dominoes in Miami's Calle Ocho to tasting the guavas in the last story during Lisette's visit to Her Mother's House in Cuba. Some of the stories are better written than others. But they provide a good understanding of the nostagia and emotional pain felt by a Cuban American community that has been estranged from their homeland by the Castro dictatorship.