October 29, 2013
You Can't Hurry Love
Please check out my review of the new Rebecca Walker novel at NPR Books: http://www.npr.org/2013/10/29/239169796/rebecca-walker-hurries-love-in-ad
October 14, 2013
The Mambo King Says Goodbye
It was an impulse buy.
The year was 1989 and I was walking through Barnes & Noble when I saw the title: The Mambo Kings Play Songs Of Love. The writer was Oscar Hijuelos. As the scion of a family of mamboniks and salseros, I was immediately intrigued. So I pulled the money out of the wallet and bought the book. I started reading it on the subway and didn't put it down until I'd finished it early the following morn. It was a novel of uncommon passion as it dealt with the complexities of lost loves. It was also the rare book to capture the joy of dancing, playing and listening to Latin music. Hijuelos' words - at times - literally sang to this reader. And judging by the success The Mambo Kings had, many others felt the same way as well.
In 1990, Hijuelos became the first Latino writer to win the Pulitzer for fiction. It turned out to be for Hijuelos - who died this past Saturday at the age of 62 - his career highpoint. A few uneven novels followed along with a disappointing 1992 screen adaptation starring - no joke - an extremely miscast Armand Assante. (If memory serves, there was also a flop Broadway show.)
No matter. Hijuelos left the book-reading public one masterpiece and gave this writer in particular the inspiration to pen his own stories. Here's hoping that in the hereafter, he is - like every Mambo King does at the end of a performance - taking a well-deserved bow.
The year was 1989 and I was walking through Barnes & Noble when I saw the title: The Mambo Kings Play Songs Of Love. The writer was Oscar Hijuelos. As the scion of a family of mamboniks and salseros, I was immediately intrigued. So I pulled the money out of the wallet and bought the book. I started reading it on the subway and didn't put it down until I'd finished it early the following morn. It was a novel of uncommon passion as it dealt with the complexities of lost loves. It was also the rare book to capture the joy of dancing, playing and listening to Latin music. Hijuelos' words - at times - literally sang to this reader. And judging by the success The Mambo Kings had, many others felt the same way as well.
In 1990, Hijuelos became the first Latino writer to win the Pulitzer for fiction. It turned out to be for Hijuelos - who died this past Saturday at the age of 62 - his career highpoint. A few uneven novels followed along with a disappointing 1992 screen adaptation starring - no joke - an extremely miscast Armand Assante. (If memory serves, there was also a flop Broadway show.)
No matter. Hijuelos left the book-reading public one masterpiece and gave this writer in particular the inspiration to pen his own stories. Here's hoping that in the hereafter, he is - like every Mambo King does at the end of a performance - taking a well-deserved bow.
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