Loving Che: A Novel

Loving Che: A Novel
by Ana Menendez

Loving Che: A Novel
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Book Summary Information

Author: Ana Menendez
Edition: Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 2004-11-30
ISBN: 0802141749
Number of pages: 240
Publisher: Grove Press

Book Reviews of Loving Che: A Novel

Book Review: A lyrical tale of love, revolution, life, identity and the power of the unknown
Summary: 5 Stars

Loving Che takes place in contemporary Miami, as a young woman longs to uncover her past. Once she receives a package of letters and photographs, the narrative shifts to her mother's voice recalling the years of the Cuban Revolution and her love affair with Che Guevera. Then, the narrative shifts back to modern day as the unnamed narrator seeks to use the clues from letters and photographs to fill in the details of her life.

I'm a huge fan of historical fiction featuring real people, and Che Guevera is someone I've been fascinated with quietly for years. Loving Che is a unique piece of historical fiction. It's events are intricately linked to actual events in the very public life of Che Guevera and the Cuban revolution, but the links come in broad strokes more often than details. There's also a mysterious element to the novel as our narrator seeks answers to her questions about identity. My favorite part of the novel was its last third. It was a fascinating journey, and I couldn't help but think of A. Manette Ansay's fabulous Good Things I Wish You, where the lines between fiction, research, and memoir became blurred into a lovely piece of metafiction. I don't know how much Menendez's journey to research this novel mimicked itself in the narrator's research of her life, but it was quite fascinating to read about. At times, this novel veered into romance:

"The first kiss is more intimate than the naked bed; it's small perimeter already contains the first submission and the final betrayal." (p. 91)

At times, it was both romantic and wise:

"I wonder now if people don't make up their reasons for deception after the fact. And that what truly leads us into the arms of another lies beyond our comprehension." (p. 93)

There are so many beautiful truths in this novel:

"But death to me is more a regret, not a fear. Fear is one of the things that make us value life. But how can you fear the inevitable? It would be like fearing the dawn." (p. 112)

There were a few moments that felt uneven in this novel. Because I read The Last War first (Menendez's most recent novel), I was willing to forgive some first novel pacing issues. The depth of the ending surprised me; I had written off this novel as simple and sweet despite my enjoyment of Menendez's writing. I was moved to tears and quite pondering by the novel's last pages, and I think it will haunt me for quite some time.

Loving Che is a lyrical tale of love, revolution, life, identity and the power of the unknown. Recommended for fans of historical fiction, women's fiction and literary fiction.

Summary of Loving Che: A Novel

A young Cuban woman has been searching in vain for details of her birth mother. All she knows of her past is that her grandfather fled the turbulent Havana of the 1960s for Miami with her in tow, and that pinned to her sweater-possibly by her mother-were a few treasured lines of a Pablo Neruda poem. These facts remain her only tenuous links to her history, until a mysterious parcel arrives in the mail. Inside the soft, worn box are layers of writings and photographs. Fitting these pieces together with insights she gleans from several trips back to Havana, the daughter reconstructs a life of her mother, her youthful affair with the dashing, charismatic Che Guevara and the child she bore by the enigmatic rebel. Loving Che is a brilliant recapturing of revolutionary Cuba, the changing social mores, the hopes and disappointments, the excitement and terror of the times. It is also an erotic fantasy, a glimpse into the private life of a mythic public figure, and an exquisitely crafted meditation on memory, history, and storytelling. Finally, Loving Che is a triumphant unveiling of how the stories we tell about others ultimately become the story of ourselves.

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