Memory Mambo: A Novel [Hardcover]

Achy Obejas (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 1996

A brilliant new novel by the author of We Came All the Way from Cuba So You Could Dress Like This? Juani, a 24-year-old Latina lesbian, is exiled, with her irresistibly crazy family, from Cuba to the United States. Here a chorus of cousins--blood cousins and "cousins in exile"--wreak havoc as Juani attempts to sift through layers of memories and family myth to find the truth about her life.

--This text refers to the Paperback edition.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Achy Obejas, a Cuban lesbian living in Chicago, scored a huge hit with her 1994 collection of short stories, We Came All the Way from Cuba So You Could Dress Like This? Now in Memory Mambo, her first novel, she describes the life of Juani, a 25-year-old Cuban lesbian who has to deal with family, work, love, sex, and the weirdness of North American culture. Obejas's writing is sharp and mordantly funny. She understands perfectly how the romance of exile--from a homeland as well as from heterosexuality--and the mundane reality of everyday life balance one another. Memory Mambo is ultimately very moving in its depiction of what it means to find a new and finally safe sense of home. --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

From Publishers Weekly

The power and meaning of memory lie at the heart of Obejas's (We Came All the Way from Cuba So You Could Dress Like This?) insightful and excellent second work of fiction. With a prose so crisp, the book could pass for a biography, Obejas introduces Juani Casas, a Cuban-born American lesbian in her early 20s who manages her family's Laundromat in a Cuban neighborhood of Chicago. Juani walks a fine line between being out about her sexuality and being discrete enough not to alienate her family. Her family, after all, is central to her sense of belonging, and Obejas portrays that complex web with vivid and original characterization. The tone is set by Juani's need to know the truth about her family's life in Cuba?did her father really invent duct tape, and are the scenes of beaches and lush vegetation actual memories, or visualizations of stories told to her? What initially passes as a series of unrelated, rich, colorful anecdotes about the Cuban revolution and Cuban American culture slowly evolves into a story about the power of words and their ability to actually shape memories. When Juani's relationship with her lover, Gina, ends violently, Juani allows her lying, abusive cousin-in-law, Jimmy, to spin tales to explain the situation to the family. But soon Juani realizes she has reconstructed the actual events to suit Jimmy's lie and is unable to clearly separate fact and fiction. Juani slowly sinks into a fog, until an incident that unmasks Jimmy helps her reclaim her own truths and let those she loves back into her life. This is an evocative work that illuminates the delicate complexities of self-deception and self-respect, and the importance of love and family.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

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Product Details

• Hardcover
• Publisher: Cleis Pr (September 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1573440183
• ISBN-13: 978-1573440189
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.3 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,768,871 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Powerful Politics and Pain, June 25, 1998

By 

Professor (Middle Tennessee) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Memory Mambo: A Novel (Paperback)

To avoid repetition, I just want to add that the writing is stunning -- a combination of directness and poetic politics. One of the most compelling aspects of the book is its contemplation of machismo and its attraction to women, even lesbians. Issues of violence and battering within straight and lesbian relationships are also powerfully addressed. To write a book with a protagonist who is not particularly sympathetic is quite risky. I applaud Ms. Obejas loud and long for her decision to do so. One note of caution: this author does not mince words when she is describing sex or violence.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars what a dance of remembrance ! - one you won't forget !, October 16, 2001

By 

toni (maryland) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Memory Mambo: A Novel (Paperback)

Achy Obejas, in her "Memory Mambo," writes creatively and cleverly of -- among other things -- as the title suggests, the very complex dance that our minds do when confronted with unforgettable (if altered) images that are subjectively recorded, subconsciously stored, and blurred by the rose-tinted lens of a hawk-like ego-defense!

She does so via her creation of an alienated Juani Casas, a tormented romantic who recognizes that "lies destroy everything, but especially love," -- who "knows things in her heart," suffers in (and out of) love, and tends to obsess -- who wanders around wondering: "what REALLY happened?!?!?" .... but she, alone, is not the only one perplexed by events, as Obejas masterfully manipulates her mental musings, and leaves her readers also to "first-and-second guess!" -- what really happened - between Juani and Gina? .... and not quite knowing what to make of the somnolently surreal Rosa and Jimmy "incident."

With these "interactions," could the author be exploring and exposing early childhood trauma that has been (is being -- in her characters) suppressed (?) -- and its connection/s to adult dysfunction, MALestar and discontented unhappiness (?) Only Obejas knows for sure -- and why should she say?!?! when part of the attraction to her pages is written between the lines in spaces and places that are replete with ambiguity, uncertainty and wide "open-endedness!"

Lo misterioso y obsesionante is repeatedly evident -- especially in the evocation of three carefully chosen words: "te quiero verde" of a similarly anguished and lovelorn Spanish poet. Could they express Juani's desire for love's return, the return of its newness and (pre-lying) innocence (?) = yet another mystery linked only to the landscape of Cuba and her desire for forgiveness.

Throughout the novel, Juani moves to her heart and soul's music as her mind pushes away painful memories and represses recollections-- to a subconscious storeroom where they will remain, mambo-ing just beneath her conscious awareness -- for "we see things as we are, not as they are" ... or so someone else once said.

*******

A rare read that provokes profound pensamiento and excites and incites intellect and every other sense! I read this book after "Days of Awe" -- and remain in awe of this exceptionally gifted and talented writer, obviously blessed with insight/s into human (mis)behavior! -- and -- who, like the characters to whom she gives life, is without a doubt multi-dimensional in depth!

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A disturbingly good book, October 8, 2001

By 

Michael Zaffuto - See all my reviews

This review is from: Memory Mambo: A Novel (Paperback)

I had to read this book for an English class, but I am thankful I did. It is a good book, and the story moves pretty quickly. You get a sense of playing the roll of the alien, as Juani, is both a Cuban exile in AMerica and Lesbian, both of which make her an oustider of Main Stream American culture. Objeas, did an excellent job letting the reader feel how one might feel if they were a stranger in their native land, and treated as an outsider in their new home as well. A good read...