The Silver Cloud Cafe [Hardcover]

Alfredo Vea (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 1, 1996

Angels on the roof of the Silver Cloud Cafe beckon special patrons--wanderers, the wronged, the dispossessed. From the author of the acclaimed La Maravilla comes a magical and vibrant new tale of love, history, and the human soul. "Blends Garcia Marquez with Raymond Chandler. . . . Big Hearted . . . magical . . . the reader is richly rewarded."--San Francisco Chronicle.

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Fans of the deadpan darkness of Raymond Chandler who are also interested in the magic realism of Gabriel García M´rquez should enjoy this unusual but highly effective mixture of both styles by the author of La Maravilla. Born into a family of migrant workers in Arizona, Alfredo Véa Jr. was a soldier in Vietnam and put himself through law school by working at a series of grueling jobs. That background plays a part in this intriguing story set in the Hispanic underworld of San Francisco's Mission District, where two killings 40 years apart are linked by chains of blood and history. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Publishers Weekly

After a rather disjointed start, Vea's second novel (after La Maravilla) becomes an enchanting tale of faith and justice that deftly draws upon religion, superstition and poetry to reveal the brutal yet vibrant lives of an extended family of immigrants. With threads that reach back in time to the Mexican Revolution, over the Pacific to the Philippines and across the U.S., the kaleidoscopic narrative renders a colorful panorama of cultures depicted through a motley cast of characters. A gay Filipino, a Mexican stripper, a black former prizefighter, a mad Bulgarian cab driver, an assassin, transvestites, migrant workers and the San Francisco police collide with angels, saints, martyrs, even Cesar Chavez and the ghost of a Greek poet. The settings are California's migrant worker camps of the late 1950s and San Francisco's present-day Mission District. When San Francisco lawyer Zeferino Del Campo is appointed to represent a hunchbacked midget accused of a vicious murder, he must first unravel his memories of a killing he witnessed as a child in a migrant worker camp. At the center of his search is Raphael's Silver Cloud Cafe, a mystical dancehall bar that has become a haven for the dispossessed. Though the narrative is disjointed at times and Vea occasionally succumbs to heavy moralizing against American jingoism and free market-worship, his instinct for storytelling keeps us immersed in this zesty, poetic celebration of America's immigrant cultures.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 352 pages
• Publisher: Dutton Adult; First Printing edition (October 1, 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0525940774
• ISBN-13: 978-0525940777
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.4 x 1.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,606,504 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Melting pot at a boiling point?, May 8, 2001

By 

Ashley Welch (Nashville, TN United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Silver Cloud Cafe (Paperback)

Vea's book looks at the issue of immigration from an unusual viewpoint, using mysticism, religion, and simple slight of hand magic to tell a story that incorporates not only the struggles that immigrants to the U.S. endure, but also the daily events that permeate the lives of all people. The story is centered around an evening of inexplicable occurrences, ranging from a mysterious murder to several fires started in the surrounding area, and expands to tell the story of several immigrants, whose unique experiences led them all to San Francisco in the "present." I thought that the use of mystery and the issues of faith and magic were extremely interesting, but what I found even more intriguing were the stories and experiences Vea's characters related through various methods. All in all, I thoroughly enjoyed this book, and appreciated the opportunity to enter into a world that I have little experience with.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Melting Pot of Magic, April 9, 2001

By 

Beth Haun (Nashville, TN USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Silver Cloud Cafe (Paperback)

Vea has written a masterpiece with Silver Cloud. Addressing the very serious issue of immigration in America and the search of many for their place in the nation, Vea manages to show his readers the beauty and the ugliness of our country with characters who are magically real. The novel urges the reader to identify his/her own feelings about their own culture as well as the blending of many in attempted assimilation. Interwoven with this challenge to culture is a beautifully written story that allows the reader to suspend his/her assumptions about reality and let their imaginations run wild.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Silver Cloud Cafe, March 4, 2001

By 

"kws83042" (Salem, Ma USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Silver Cloud Cafe (Paperback)

Mr. Vea weaves a fasinating tale full of symbolism. It is a unique view of of the world as seen through the eyes of tis observer of latino culture in California. His writing is more an epic poem than strictly a novel. A highly exciting work.