Customer Reviews

Mangos, Bananas, and Coconuts: A Cuban Love Story

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

The story has been told before, but the way its told here with a Latin flavor, rich characters, and a great sense of humor, it allows for a good deal of enjoyment and learning. There are several mentions of cultural differences and inequalities which are central to the story of many immigrants. A very enjoyable story.

I am captivated by this incredible magic realist novel which turns out to be a satire on magic realism. Beautifully and poetically written, informed by Latin culture and history and firmly planted on the literary tradition of the masters of Western literature, this novel by Himilce Novas is one of the best books I've ever read. The passages on pre-Castro Cuba and the arrival of Castro, as well as life in New York and Miami for two sets of distictly separate Cuban Americans (one poor and one privileged) were rich, informative, stirring, strong, emotional, humorous...the book left me totally undone.

The story is quick to capture one's attention, yet the drama soon turns to fluff in its abundance of super-natural occurances and extreme descriptions. Yes, it tries hard to come across as "magical realism" in the purest Latin American form; however, it eventually reads like cliched kiosk litterature. By the end of the novel I was simply tired of reading about those magnificent emerald eyes and pomegranate lips...

The incestous plot could have been just as interesting without the parties being such captivating beauties and "extreme" in all their actions. Even the repetitious love-making scenes are described with the nuance of Danielle Steele...

The story does include interesting elements of the struggle to be of South American origin living in the US, and the descriptions of the contrast between those who consider themselves "exiles" and those who remain "Cuban-to-the-bone" are colorful.

Overall a quick, but ultimately unsatisfying read.

This book has the feeling of raw emotion pouring out on the page. It is short and so easy to read that the book flew past me and I felt I was watching a movie. I read heavy Joycian things and mindless mainstream as well, and this book slots more into the "magical" mindless mainstream, but in a very artistic way. And to top it off, it has a happy ending, which I was not expecting. Unfortunately for the real world, there is such a thing as genetics that would eventually make their life sad were they to have kids, but that is not the point of the book, so I chose to suspend that reality while enjoying the book.

I haven't read this book. I bought it as a gift for my daughter, who loves South American literature. I arrived promptly and in good condition.

I was looking for a novel to read and a friend suggested I read this. It captured me from the start and I will be sure and pass the suggestion on to another. The author has a poetic style that I appreciated to the last page.

This is a great and fascinating read, filled with local color, intrigue and a great plot. "Mangos" is very fine literature indeed and I highly recommend it!

great and fascinating read, filled with local color, intrigue and a great plot. This is great literature and yet most accessible. Doesn't leave you where it finds you....

This novel has changed my life. The writing is so compelling, poetic and captivating that I was totally taken over by it. It's also a very hot book--the characters, the love story,the Cuban and Cuban American background, the mystery that unfolds slowly and magically, all of it is really HOT. It's a short book, too, and I read it in one sitting and when it ended, it was bitter sweet. I really love Novas' work.

Novas weaves together a magical tragic perverted story... sounds strangely intriguing, right? It is a pretty quick read (about 160 pages), and while I cringed at some of the occurrences because of what I, the reader, knew and the characters were still finding out, it was still a beautiful story.