aguacate
01-02-2006, 09:20 AM
http://images-eu.amazon.com/images/P/1852428295.01.LZZZZZZZ.jpg
I read this in a few days just before Christmas - very easy reading and complete and utter poppycock. The Amazon synopsis says...
The beautiful Allcia hatches a plot to ensnare the wealthy foreign visitors to Castro's Cuba through an elaborate scam involving a broken bicycle and her voluptuous charms. Taking choreographed spills in front of expensive foreign cars, Allcia squeezes the maximum sympathy and cash out of her clueless, sexually aroused, victims. Add to this mix the guile of her mother who is in on the scam, and the sky's the limit for Allcia. However, when she attempts to trap Victor, a convicted bank robber masquerading as a Canadian businessman, they quickly realise each other's nefarious motives and embark on a misadventure of sex, cross-dressing, kidnapping and death by olive. Adios Muchachos is an erotic, brutally funny romp through the underworld of post-revolutionary Cuba
So, what did I think?
Well, although the story is set in contemporary(-ish) Havana the author isn't himself Cuban (Argentinian I think). And that shows. Overall the story is entertaining and keeps the reader's interest, but there's a good deal of local flavour missing. Most of the main players in the story are foreigners and only the heroine(?), Alicia, and her mother are Cuban. The author obviously did some rudimentary research into jinetera ways but ultimately this is a heist novel that happens to be set in Havana, and not a very convincing Havana at that (Alicia herself seems to have no problems passing in and out of hotels, etc. vast sums of money are transported in and out of the country with no hassle, etc.)
That said I found the whole thing much more enjoyable than the other recent jinetera novel, Dirty Blonde and Half Cuban and, even though the Havana described in the book doesn't exist (or maybe I've been hanging with the wrong people), it's nice to imagin that it does.
You can read a the start of the book here...
http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/reader/1852428295/ref=sib_dp_pt/026-1706644-5098850#reader-link
Since finishing this I've started reading The Doorman by Reinaldo Arenas which I'm enjoying a lot. Even though this book is set in New York it's very much more Cuban. I'll post my views once I'm done.
I read this in a few days just before Christmas - very easy reading and complete and utter poppycock. The Amazon synopsis says...
The beautiful Allcia hatches a plot to ensnare the wealthy foreign visitors to Castro's Cuba through an elaborate scam involving a broken bicycle and her voluptuous charms. Taking choreographed spills in front of expensive foreign cars, Allcia squeezes the maximum sympathy and cash out of her clueless, sexually aroused, victims. Add to this mix the guile of her mother who is in on the scam, and the sky's the limit for Allcia. However, when she attempts to trap Victor, a convicted bank robber masquerading as a Canadian businessman, they quickly realise each other's nefarious motives and embark on a misadventure of sex, cross-dressing, kidnapping and death by olive. Adios Muchachos is an erotic, brutally funny romp through the underworld of post-revolutionary Cuba
So, what did I think?
Well, although the story is set in contemporary(-ish) Havana the author isn't himself Cuban (Argentinian I think). And that shows. Overall the story is entertaining and keeps the reader's interest, but there's a good deal of local flavour missing. Most of the main players in the story are foreigners and only the heroine(?), Alicia, and her mother are Cuban. The author obviously did some rudimentary research into jinetera ways but ultimately this is a heist novel that happens to be set in Havana, and not a very convincing Havana at that (Alicia herself seems to have no problems passing in and out of hotels, etc. vast sums of money are transported in and out of the country with no hassle, etc.)
That said I found the whole thing much more enjoyable than the other recent jinetera novel, Dirty Blonde and Half Cuban and, even though the Havana described in the book doesn't exist (or maybe I've been hanging with the wrong people), it's nice to imagin that it does.
You can read a the start of the book here...
http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/reader/1852428295/ref=sib_dp_pt/026-1706644-5098850#reader-link
Since finishing this I've started reading The Doorman by Reinaldo Arenas which I'm enjoying a lot. Even though this book is set in New York it's very much more Cuban. I'll post my views once I'm done.