In Cuba I Was a German Shepherd
by Ana Menendez
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Book Summary Information
Author: Ana MenendezEdition: Hardcover
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 2001-05-10
ISBN: 0802116884
Number of pages: 192
Publisher: Grove Press
Book Reviews of In Cuba I Was a German Shepherd
Book Review: Understanding Exile
Summary: 5 Stars
The stories Ana Menendez collected in her work "In Cuba I was a German Shepherd," have no direct link to each other in the traditional sense of a unified plot working throughout the book. Rather, these stories and their sometimes-overlapping characters share an inherent links and themes that give the book a general sense of unity. One important and omnipresent unifying theme projected in the collection of stories includes romanticizing the past and its affect on the present for each of the characters. When speaking chronologically, past and present appear diametrically opposed in their position on time's arrow. However, Menendez argues that the two remain inseparable in the exilic condition, as the past maintains the place of greatest prominence for her characters amidst the background of the present, not vice versa. Without the past, the characters would lose their interpretation and understanding of the present, as well as the comfort generated by reflecting on the beauties and idiosyncrasies of their Cuban heritage. This backward view on life and its beauty serves as a unifying experience for the exile community and definitely maintains a prominent position in the bittersweet realities of the present.
Summary of In Cuba I Was a German Shepherd
Already sold in eight countries around the world, In Cuba I Was a German Shepherd is a hypnotic debut collection of linked tales about the attempts of immigrants to make new lives in America, by Cuban-American Pushcart Prize winner Ana Menendez. A lush, generous storyteller, Menendez effortlessly summons up grand, novelistic themes in her short stories: the hopes and disappointments of postrevolutionary Castro Cuba, the comfort and terror of Havana in all its beauty and sadness, the cultural ties that bind family, the contrast between people's dreams and reality. Seldom has an author captured so palpably the sting and regret of lives caught in the crosswinds of history. Menendez's prize-winning title story, a masterpiece of humor and heartbreak, introduces four aging Cubans who gather regularly to play dominoes in a Miami sidewalk park. More important than this game is their competition to tell the best joke of the day, and anecdotes fly about fellow countrymen who have immigrated for the American dream. In a wrenching twist, the ultimate joke strips bare the devastating truth that lies beneath the veneer of their game. From this opening story and its characters unfolds a series of family snapshots that illuminate the landscape of an exiled community rich in heritage and memory, and longing for the past. The tales are often at once comical and dark, as in "The Perfect Fruit," in which a mother is driven into an apocalyptic, frenzied cooking spree, using every last banana from the overgrown tree in her backyard; at other times they are deeply disturbing, as in "Miami Relatives," which depicts a family's escalating, surreal nightmare, fueled by the portrait and family stories of "the old uncle in Cuba" who refuses to die. With the subtle pacing of Lorrie Moore and the rich descriptiveness of Laura Esquivel, Ana Menendez charts her own territory from Havana to Coral Gables with unforgettable passion and explores whether any of us are capable, or even truly desirous, of outrunning our origins.Short Stories Books
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