Oscar Delossantos is about to lose his job as a teacher at a Jesuit high school in Chicago. Rather than go quietly, he embarks on a valiant last h...
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Oct 02, 2009
Vonaire
rated it: 
I had to abandon this book after a couple of weeks. It's not that I hated it, because if I did then I would only give it one star. There were some solid aspects of the book: I like how it is written in Spanglish, it was an intriguing angle that I had never seen to that extent before, particularly for an English-language novel. Although the story had potential to be very interesting, simply based on plot-lines alone, it failed to capture my interest entirely because 80 pages in, I still felt a
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Apr 15, 2011
Robert
rated it: 
The author of this book is my master's thesis advisor. I figure if he doesn't like my thesis I'll say, "Oh yeah, well your books sucks!" (He's a really nice guy, and this would never happen.)
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Feb 09, 2008
Rachel
rated it: 
An aging teacher begins to unravel, instructing his students to remove pages from thier history books to insert silenced narratives. As his breakdown progresses his ranting lectures stain the texts of history with the blood, sweat, and sugar of the third world. This aptly named novel weaves elements of memory, dreams, cultural myth, and history into one man's final moments of confounding clarity. Heartbreaking, breathtaking, and intensely beautiful, this novel weaves silenced story into written
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Mar 03, 2008
Sarah
rated it: 
Carrillo, in addition to being an excellent lecturer/professor at GWU, is an evocative writer. The experience is frustrating because of the novel's mixed language but it is worth the investment of grey matter to wrestle with its contradictions. A Miami Herald review wrote that it would be of interest to everyone who has inherited a history and a language they could not fully connect with but still tried to preserve---and I'm not sure I can frame the novel's worth any better.
Oct 22, 2007
David
rated it:
Carrillo is a master of abstractionism and his prose, while sometimes too florid and sinuous, moves with an incredible tornado-whipping force, creating a swirling world of memory and color that, like the Cuba his narrator mourns, resonates long after you close the book and walk away.
May 20, 2008
Vtlozano
rated it:
The Cuban past, told in a voice so lyrical and dense that the boy's school teacher who narrates seems to channel language swirling around the black hole that would otherwise swallow this history.
Jan 17, 2008
Angel
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