Memory Mambo: Big Sur Pioneers - Softcover

Achy Obejas

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1573440175 ISBN 13: 9781573440172

Publisher: Cleis Press, 1996

Synopsis

Memory Mambo describes the life of Juani Casas, a 25-year-old Cuban-born American lesbian who manages her family's laundromat in Chicago while trying to cope with family, work, love, sex, and the weirdness of North American culture. Achy Obejas's writing is sharp and mordantly funny. She understands perfectly how the romance of exile--from a homeland as well as from heterosexuality--and the mundane reality of everyday life balance one another. Memory Mambo is ultimately very moving in its depiction of what it means to find a new and finally safe sense of home.

About this title

From the Publisher:

A courageous novel about one young woman's search for truth
Memory Mambo tells the story of Juani, a twenty-four-year-old Latina lesbian who, with her irresistibly crazy family, is exiled from Cuba to the United States. Here a chorus of cousins ‹ blood cousins and ³cousins in exile² ‹ wreak havoc as Juani attempts to sift though layers of memories and family myth to find the truth about her life. As in We Came All the Way from Cuba So You Could Dress Like This? Achy Obejas¹s characters are uprooted people. But the characters who populate Memory Mambo are past the moment of exile; this is not a glorious hymn to freedom or a romantic family history. Memory Mambo insists on the truth, which in the hands of Achy Obejas is dark and witty and haunting in its complexity. Once again, Achy Obejas generously delves into her own memories of exile and alienation and her own understanding of the existential realities facing marginalized people. Julia Alvarez, author of In the Time of the Butterflies, calls Achy Obejas "A writer of gutsy humor and heart."

About the Author:

ACHY OBEJAS is also the author of "We Came All the Way From Cuba So You Could Dress Like This?" and "Days of Awe." She has won numerous writing awards, including a National Endowment for the Arts Creative Writing Fellowship and the 1996 Studs Terkel Journalism Award. She lives in Chicago.

About this edition

• Publisher: Cleis Press
• Publication date: 1996
• ISBN 10: 1573440175
• ISBN 13: 9781573440172
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 200