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Description edit
It's 1949, the era of the mambo, and two young Cuban musicians make their way from Havana to New York. The Castillo brothers, workers by day, become, by night, stars of the dance halls, where their orchestra plays the sensuous, pulsing music that earns them the title of the Mambo Kings. This... read more
Ridiculously Simplified Synopsis edit
Characters/People edit
- Cesar Castillo-Main Character: Alot of the book is told from his point of view of how things were like. He is woman obsessed, an alcoholic, and a beautiful singer.
- Nestor Castillo: Cesar little brother. He is overcome with grief with the girl he loved in Cuba leaves him. The heartbreak follows him the rest of his life eventually taking it as well.
Quotes edit
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“The thing about one's body coming apart was that, if anything, you felt more.”
First Sentence edit
It was a Saturday afternoon on La Salle Street, years and years ago when I was a little kid, and around three o'clock Mrs. Shannon, the heavy Irish woman in her perpetually soup-stained dress, opened her back window and shouted out into the courtyard, "Hey, Cesar, yoo-hoo, I think you're on television, I swear it's you!"
Themes & Symbolism edit
- Man Against Himself: Both brothers engineer their own demise.
Series & Lists edit
This book is in Penguin Modern Classics. (publisher edition list)
This is book 1990 of 85 in Pulitzer Prize Winners - Fiction. (authoritative list)
Authors & Contributors edit
- Oscar Hijuelos (Author)
First Edition edit
Original Language: English
Publisher: Farrar, Straus, Giroux
Country: USA
Publication Date: 1989
ISBN: 0374201250
Page Count: 407
Publisher: Farrar, Straus, Giroux
Country: USA
Publication Date: 1989
ISBN: 0374201250
Page Count: 407
Awards edit
- Pulitzer Prize (1990: Fiction)
- National Book Critics Circle Award (Finalist, 1989: Fiction)
Classification edit
- Library of Congress: Add the Library of Congress Classification.
- Dewey: 813.54
Subjects edit
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