Helpful Score: 2
Soulfully evocative and painfully beautiful glimpse into the world of two Cuban immigrant musicians who come to this country in 1949. The book is alive with the sounds and feel of Cuban music and provided a fascinating portrait of a culture I was not familiar with. The book throbbed with passion and timid readers may be alarmed by the graphic descriptions of the Mambo King's extremely active sex life! Nevertheless this is one fantastic book, gorgeously written and deeply moving.
Helpful Score: 2
The story attempts to portrays a very thin slice of life: the alleged life of Cuban musicians in exile, and I'm not sure why it merited a Pulitzer Prize. But I read it with interest to the end because the characters were so well developed. If you saw the movie, do not compare the movie with the book. We saw the movie last night. The movie was really shallow by comparison to the book. The characters in the book are more fully developed; sometimes to their detriment. It was a worthy read, but difficult to maintain sympathy for the major character.
Helpful Score: 1
Wonderful. You will want to listen to Cuban music and eat Cubin food after you read it!
Helpful Score: 1
Probably not my favorite of the Pulitzers, but it's a quality book nevertheless.
Helpful Score: 1
I wasn't prepared for all the sex in this book. Oh my goodness, there is so much talk about this guy's "pinga" that you'd think the whole book was about it. I think the constant mentioning of sexual positions detracted from the story as a whole. It's a shame because the story, itself, wasn't bad - quite touching while describing the relationship between a man and his brother. I wouldn't recommend this to anyone because it does drag quite a big and there's a lot of repetition in what the author says.
