Vintage
Vanishing Maps
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From the acclaimed author of Dreaming in Cuban, a follow-up novel that tracks four generations of the del Pino family against the tumultuous backdrops of Cuba, the U.S., Germany, and Russia in the new millennium
"A beautiful novel: hilarious one moment, haunting the next." --Chris Bohjalian, author of The Flight Attendant and The Lioness
Celia del Pino, the matriarch of a far-flung Cuban family, has watched her descendants spread out across the globe, struggling to make sense of their transnational identities and strained relationships with one another. In Berlin, the charismatic yet troubled Ivanito performs on stage as his drag queen persona, while being haunted by the ghost of his mother. Pilar Puente, adrift in Los Angeles, is a struggling sculptor and the single mother of a young son. In Moscow, Ivanito's cousin Irina has become the wealthy owner of a lingerie company, but she remains deeply lonely in the wake of her parents' deaths and her estrangement from her Cuban heritage. Meanwhile, in Havana, Celia prepares to reunite with her lost lover, Gustavo, and wonders whether age and the decades spent apart have altered their bond.
Cut off from their Cuban roots, yet still feeling the island's ineluctable pull, Ivanito and his extended family try to reimagine where--and with whom--they belong. Over the course of a momentous year, each will grapple with their histories as they are pulled to Berlin for a final, explosive reunion.
Set twenty years after the events in Dreaming in Cuban, Cristina García's new novel is an epic tale of family, devotion, and the timeless search for home.
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Book Details
ISBN:
9780593467978
EAN:
9780593467978
Binding:
Paperback
Pages:
272
Authors:
Cristina García
Publisher:
Vintage
Published Date: 2024-25-06
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I've read all of Cristina García's books except for HERE IN BERLIN, and every one evokes the joy of reading for pleasure. García is a gifted novelist, in full command of characters, dialogue, ambience, and story development, and each work is creative in a distinctive way. VANISHING MAPS took me back to characters I remember vividly from DREAMING IN CUBAN. The surprises along the way, and the linguistic and translation-related playfulness in this novel are pure delight. I'm buying another copy in English to give to a friend so he can understand Cuba and I'm getting the Spanish translation so I can read it in my first language.
This novel is 21st century diaspora on steroids. One family, multiply-hyphenated identities, far-flung locations (Havana to Berlin to Moscow), political and personal battles, and a problematic ghost make for a story you've never read before. Engaging and laugh out loud funny, I'd give it six stars if I could.
I loved DREAMING IN CUBAN and always wondered whatever happened to the characters. After all, the novel ended on a major cliffhanger. But VANISHING MAPS revisits the whole clan twenty years later and—no spoiler alert here—surprises and pleasures and heartbreak abound.
Spanning locations from Los Angeles to Miami to Spain, Russia and Berlin, "Vanishing Maps" is a wonderful sequel to Garcia's "Dreaming in Cuban" published thirty years ago. Not only do we get to reacquaint ourselves with all the previous book's major protagonists, but the lives they've subsequently lived all over the world are continually fascinating and surprising. Meaning that, as you might expect, nothing is as expected."Vanishing Maps" is a paean to the worldwide diasporas that characterize our current and recent times, for nearly everyone in this twisting, provocative novel is on the move (or has moved) in an elusive search for destiny. Which, it seems, is just another city or country away for Garcia's characters. Highly evocative both of their disillusionments and their places (especially the streets, sights and smells of Berlin's demimonde), "Vanishing Maps" is a terrific updating of the characters of "Dreaming in Cuban" as they navigate their perilous journeys from the shadows of the old century to the global demands of our current one. Enjoy!
