A Wake in Ybor City (Pioneers of Modern Us Hispanic Literature) [Paperback]

Jose Yglesias (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 1998 | Series: Pioneers of Modern Us Hispanic Literature

Ybor City, Florida, seems to be a happy, secure place in 1958. Three aging sisters - Mina, Clemencia, and Dolores - look forward to seeing their children, in-laws, and grandchildren come for pleasant visits to the quiet, blue-collar neighborhood that all three women call home.

But beneath the calm surface, fierce currents surge: Old family rivalries, sexual intrigues, class envy, political hatreds, even criminal activity. No one has realized it yet, but this proud Cuban-American clan stands on the brink of a terrible fall.

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

LJ's reviewer wasn't knocked out by this book when it debuted (LJ 9/15/63). With the more recent influx of Cuban refugees making their way to Florida, however, this book, which follows the reunion of a Cuban family in Miami, may find a more accepting audience now.
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Kirkus Reviews

The ``thirty-fifth anniversary edition'' (really, now) of the late Cuban-American writer's 1963 debut novelan authoritative though imperfectly constructed story set in Tampas Latino section (Ybor City) in 1958, on the eve of the Cuban Revolution. Its characters are the family of three aging sisters (Clemencia, Dolores, and Mina), several of whom too visibly embody varying attitudes toward Cuban nationalism, assimilation into American culture, and machismo in conflict with the power of matriarchy. The merely functional plot involves the revenge killing of a crooked cigar-maker, a plan to smuggle arms to Cuban rebels, and a child's dangerous illness, and the many lengthy argumentative scenes here are enervated by coy banalities (``When you're in love, sex is like a profound conversation''). Yglesias's grasp of immigrant family dynamics is masterly, but the stylistic assurance and narrative economy displayed in his mature fiction (Double Double, 1974, The Truth About Them, 1971, etc.) are only faintly adumbrated by this less even apprentice work. -- Copyright ©1998, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 212 pages
• Publisher: Arte Publico Pr (November 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1558852484
• ISBN-13: 978-1558852488
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.5 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.4 ounces
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,520,859 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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