Clinging to paradise
But as the distance from you grows
All that my heart ever knows
Hunger for your kiss
Longing for your touch
Beautiful Maria of my soul
--Lyrics, Beautiful Maria of My Soul
Song by Los Lobos
THE MAMBO
KINGS PLAY SONGS OF LOVE
By Oscar
Hijuelos (1989)
Farrar Straus Giroux
Winner of
the 1990 Pulitzer Prize in Literature
We loved the book, the movie and the sequel !!!
SUMMARY:
It's 1949 and two young Cuban musicians make their way from Havana to
the grand stage of New York City. It is the era of mambo, and the Castillo
brothers, workers by day, become stars of the dance halls by night, where their
orchestra plays the lush, sensuous, pulsing music that earns them the title of
the Mambo Kings. This is their moment of youth, exuberance, love, and freedom―a
golden time that decades later is remembered with nostalgia and deep affection.
Hijuelos's marvelous portrait of the Castillo
brothers, their families, their fellow musicians and lovers, their triumphs and
tragedies, re-creates the sights and sounds of an era in music and an unsung
moment in American life.
Exuberantly celebrated from the moment it was
published in 1989, THE MAMBO KINGS PLAY SONGS OF LOVE won the Pulitzer Prize
for Fiction in 1990; making Hijuelos the first Hispanic recipient of the award.
It was adapted for a major motion picture in 1992 and remains a perennial
bestseller. The story's themes of cultural fusion and identity are as relevant
today as they were twenty-five years ago, proving Hijuelos's novel to be a
genuine and timeless classic.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR: OSCAR HIJUELOS,
the son of Cuban immigrants, was a recipient of the Rome Prize, the Pulitzer
Prize, and grants from the National Endowment for the Arts and the Guggenheim
Foundation. His seven novels have been translated into twenty-five languages.
He lived in New York City and spent part of the year in Durham, North
Carolina, where he taught at Duke University. Hijuelos passed away in
October 2013.
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