Thirteen Tangos for Stravinsky [Paperback]

Alvaro Cardona-Hine (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 15, 1999

Los Angeles of the 1940s is the setting for this vivid coming of age memoir. Cardona-Hine arrives with his family from Costa Rica just prior to World War II, more as a fascinated explorer of new landscapes and a language he will soon master than as an immigrant. Thirteen Tangos for Stravinsky is a vivid and intoxicating account of a childhood between cultures, a formative glimpse of an important Hispanic composer, painter, and writer, and best of all, it is an invitation to dance.

Editorial Reviews

Review

...a gem of artistic precision. -- Weekly Alibi

Not a look backward but a magical invoking of a time and place in the presence of its absence. -- The Arizona Republic

From the Publisher

Cardona-Hine was a finalist for the 1998 Small Press Book Award for "A History of Light". He translated César Vallejo's "Spain, Let This Cup Pass From Me," was awarded an NEA fellowship in 1978, and a Bush Foundation Fellowship in 1978. Cardona-Hine served as editor of Mankind Magazine from 1971-1975. His art work graces the bookcovers of "The Practice of Peace", "Small Mercies", "A History of Light", and "Thirteen Tangos for Stravinsky".

Product Details

• Paperback: 144 pages
• Publisher: Sherman Asher Pub; 1st edition (May 15, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1890932078
• ISBN-13: 978-1890932077
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #5,087,306 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Poetic Memoir, March 27, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: Thirteen Tangos for Stravinsky (Paperback)

Catholic Library World reviews in March 2001:

This moving collection of memoirs, told in thirteen stories, each a dance in time and space, recounts the author's turbulent journey from Costa Rica to Los Angeles and the painful challenges facing an immigrant youngster in the 30s and 40s, a period that still retained some innocence. Cardona-Hine's coming-of-age story reveals a boy's first experiences with English, his infatuations with American girls, and the pain of high school bullying and otherness. After Pearl Harbor, the family flees to Mexico, seeking a home, wanting to belong somewhere. Feeling more alone there than in California, they return to the United States where they rent an apartment in their home to a series of pathetic individuals: Jews escaping from Europe, a young couple in love who fall out of love, a Frenchman who dies upon learning of the taking of Paris. Surrounded by people experiencing human tragedies, but living in the warmth and fruitfulness of California,they manage to survive.

Beautifully written poetry in prose form, Cardona-Hine's delightful reminiscences make the reader pause to admire unexpected combinations of words and images. This is a book to read slowly and to savor. Belonging to the genre of memoir and bildungsroman, this series of stream-of-consciousness meanderings through a time gone by, creates a mood that only approximates reality.