A review by sadiereadsagain
Dirty Havana Trilogy by Pedro Juan Gutiérrez

2.0

I'm not sure if I really enjoyed this, to be honest. Its three stories, but I can't really see any reason for them being separated into a trilogy rather than a bunch of short stories. There is no storyline in any of the three parts, every chapter is just a different account of supposed daily life of those struck by the crippling poverty & awful quality of life in 90's Havana. That element itself is what I enjoyed about the book, as it was a culture & place I knew nothing of before reading this book. What killed the book for me was the horrific use of macho & sexual bravado, which to me just came across as desperate & boring. According to this book every woman in Havana is a whore, people fuck on every street corner, its acceptable for a man to jerk off in the street, no one seems to get STDs, & women are struck dumb by the beauty of a hard cock. It just sounds like this guy has never had sex in his life, & the sexual overkill was such a turn off. Its a shame, as the writing would have been so much more effective had he chosen the sexual episodes more carefully & used them more sparingly.