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A review by danubooks
Our House in the Last World by Oscar Hijuelos
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
The lives and experiences of a family of immigrants with roots in Cuba
In 1930’s Cuba, a lovely young woman named Mercedes meets Alejo, a handsome young man who courts her. Mercedes is from a fine family whose financial status worsened upon the sudden death of her father, necessitating a move to humbler living quarters and lowering their standard of living. Alejo is the younger son of a comfortably situated family who is allowed to lead a somewhat aimless life while his older brother shoulders the workload of running the family farm. They are two dreamers who marry and long to escape their mundane lives, and when Alejo inherits money they decide to travel to America where one of Alejo’s (many) sisters lives with her husband. Mercedes is delighted to finally get away from Alejo’s eldest sister (who has made it quite clear that she despises her brother’s bride and goes out of her way to terrorize Mercedes at every opportunity). But dreams without plans do not always end well, and such is the case for Mercedes and Alejo. He takes a job as a cook for a fancy hotel, and while he makes a living he never rises above that position, mostly out of fear of failure. They have two children together, first Horacio and then Hector. Alejo takes to drinking and fooling around on the side, and Mercedes struggles to accept her new life, never learning to speak English very well and feeling the prejudice against people who look and sound different from their neighbors. It takes courage to leave one’s homeland and start a new life in a country very different from one’s own, and it takes even more when life does not turn out as you had hoped it would.
In this, author Oscar Hijuelos’ first novel, it is the characters and the sense of place which resonate most strongly. Starting in the lush and languid setting of Hoguín, Cuba, in the years before Castro and communism took over, and then moving to the Morningside Heights area of New York City (before Columbia University expanded into the community, eventually forcing out many who called the area home), the journey of the Santinio clan is the story of so many families from so many countries who yearn to reach the United States and claim their share of the American dream. As do many, Mercedes and Alejo pine for the Cuba they left behind, conveniently forgetting the not-so-good bits that were part of their desire to leave. And as the years pass, it eventually becomes impossible for them to return to the country they love as the Castro government solidifies power and crushes dissent. Their two sons grow up feeling neither completely American nor Cuban, but an uneasy mix of the two, a feeling they share with many first generation Americans. Bitterness, sorrow, anger and eventually violence enter the Santinio house, and love and abuse live there hand in hand. It is said that this is Mr. Hijuelos’ most autobiographical novel, which is both logical but also makes me sad. What he writes in both his introduction and his afterword are not to be missed (nor is the forward by Junot Díaz), as they give a reader an insight into how the novel came to be and how he, years after its publication, felt about what he wrote. It is not a happy book, but it is not without hope, and the characters’ failings are told with compassion and love. Those who have read Mr. Hijuelos other novels, including the Pulitzer Prize winning The Mambo Kings Play Songs of Love, must absolutely add this to the top of their TBR pile, as should fans of other Latin authors like Sandra Cisneros, Junot Díaz, and Isabel Allende. It is a book about place, about family, about love trying to survive amidst disappointment, ghosts and superstitions, flashy clothes and the foods of home. Many thanks to NetGalley and Grand Central Publishing for gifting me a copy of this new edition, I have a better understanding of the journey that so many people from around the world, including my own ancestors, made as they came here to begin a new life.
In 1930’s Cuba, a lovely young woman named Mercedes meets Alejo, a handsome young man who courts her. Mercedes is from a fine family whose financial status worsened upon the sudden death of her father, necessitating a move to humbler living quarters and lowering their standard of living. Alejo is the younger son of a comfortably situated family who is allowed to lead a somewhat aimless life while his older brother shoulders the workload of running the family farm. They are two dreamers who marry and long to escape their mundane lives, and when Alejo inherits money they decide to travel to America where one of Alejo’s (many) sisters lives with her husband. Mercedes is delighted to finally get away from Alejo’s eldest sister (who has made it quite clear that she despises her brother’s bride and goes out of her way to terrorize Mercedes at every opportunity). But dreams without plans do not always end well, and such is the case for Mercedes and Alejo. He takes a job as a cook for a fancy hotel, and while he makes a living he never rises above that position, mostly out of fear of failure. They have two children together, first Horacio and then Hector. Alejo takes to drinking and fooling around on the side, and Mercedes struggles to accept her new life, never learning to speak English very well and feeling the prejudice against people who look and sound different from their neighbors. It takes courage to leave one’s homeland and start a new life in a country very different from one’s own, and it takes even more when life does not turn out as you had hoped it would.
In this, author Oscar Hijuelos’ first novel, it is the characters and the sense of place which resonate most strongly. Starting in the lush and languid setting of Hoguín, Cuba, in the years before Castro and communism took over, and then moving to the Morningside Heights area of New York City (before Columbia University expanded into the community, eventually forcing out many who called the area home), the journey of the Santinio clan is the story of so many families from so many countries who yearn to reach the United States and claim their share of the American dream. As do many, Mercedes and Alejo pine for the Cuba they left behind, conveniently forgetting the not-so-good bits that were part of their desire to leave. And as the years pass, it eventually becomes impossible for them to return to the country they love as the Castro government solidifies power and crushes dissent. Their two sons grow up feeling neither completely American nor Cuban, but an uneasy mix of the two, a feeling they share with many first generation Americans. Bitterness, sorrow, anger and eventually violence enter the Santinio house, and love and abuse live there hand in hand. It is said that this is Mr. Hijuelos’ most autobiographical novel, which is both logical but also makes me sad. What he writes in both his introduction and his afterword are not to be missed (nor is the forward by Junot Díaz), as they give a reader an insight into how the novel came to be and how he, years after its publication, felt about what he wrote. It is not a happy book, but it is not without hope, and the characters’ failings are told with compassion and love. Those who have read Mr. Hijuelos other novels, including the Pulitzer Prize winning The Mambo Kings Play Songs of Love, must absolutely add this to the top of their TBR pile, as should fans of other Latin authors like Sandra Cisneros, Junot Díaz, and Isabel Allende. It is a book about place, about family, about love trying to survive amidst disappointment, ghosts and superstitions, flashy clothes and the foods of home. Many thanks to NetGalley and Grand Central Publishing for gifting me a copy of this new edition, I have a better understanding of the journey that so many people from around the world, including my own ancestors, made as they came here to begin a new life.