September '10: The Mambo Kings Play Songs of Love

[papayahed]

This month we will be reading The Mambo Kings Play Songs of Love

[David Lurie]

when you are at page 135 click this
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rAV3bOJaQuY

[papayahed]

I'm going to pick up this book today.

[David Lurie]

still 20 pages to go, last night I was tired so I decided to save the ending for today, anyone else ready to discuss this book?

[Scheherazade]

You are fast, David!

I have only read 50 pages and cannot help wondering what the author could tell us for so many pages...

I cannot say I am very intrigued by the topic so far.

Which brother is your favourite?

[David Lurie]

I'd say Cesar and Nestor are two faces of the same coin, to avoid spoilers I can't say more than this.
I have enjoyed the book but not to much, I expected Hijuelos did with Cuba what Junot Diaz has done with the Dominican Republic, alas the scope of this book is much less limited than Diaz' Oscar Wao and the writing of Hijuelos doesn't survive to a comparison between the two, I'd say it's more an average book than a good one.

Listen to some Perez Prado or Miguelito Valdez while you read, a soundtrack helps here.

[papayahed]

I'm about 40 pages in and the narration seems off. I'm not feeling invested in any character so far.

[papayahed]

when you are at page 135 click this
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rAV3bOJaQuY

Nice.

[papayahed]

I finally finished the book. I'm in agreement with David, I enjoyed it but not too much. The sex scenes seemed a bit forced, and as I said before it took a few chapters to get used to the narration.

I was expecting a different kind of book, I was hoping for a book filled with fun and music and sex and mambo and I got melancholy and sadness.