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The Mambo Kings Play Songs Of Love

3.62 of 5 stars 3.62 · rating details · 4,947 ratings · 251 reviews

A Pulitzer Prize winning, bestselling sensation, Hijuelos captures in vivid and elegant prose the passion and poignancy of a world where the pulsing and rhythmic beat of the mambo imbues and fulfills dreams.

Paperback, 407 pages

Published 1990 by Penguin Group (first published 1989)

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Pulitzer Winners: Fiction & Novels

51st out of 85 books — 914 voters

One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel García Márquez

The House of the Spirits by Isabel Allende

Love in the Time of Cholera by Gabriel García Márquez

Like Water for Chocolate by Laura Esquivel

In the Time of the Butterflies by Julia Alvarez

Latina/Latino Fiction

37th out of 237 books — 292 voters

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Oct 26, 2012 Tortla rated it 1 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: suckysuckybooks, schooly

Is it possible to give no stars? This book deserves no stars. How did it get a Pulizter? Like I guess there was a plot, but I think that was a thinly veiled cover for writing about an old man's penis. Seriously. Every page has some reference to this horny old man and his sexual escapades. It's disgusting. This is not good literature. It may be an interesting book...to some people, but it is in no way deep. Well...it may be "deep" in a pervy way, but it's not profound. It's a little depressing, t...more

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May 06, 2007 Claire rated it 1 of 5 stars Recommends it for: Apparently, the Pulitzer committee

I cannot BELIEVE this book won a Pulitzer. I bought it because of the shiny red cover with the big silver medal-looking sticker on the front (yes, that is how I judge books). The Cuban history/living in New York as a Cuban/music scene perspective was interesting, but it was overshadowed by the long, long, LONG woe-is-me sad-sack self-destructive fatalistic characters who were, for the most part, unlikable and unrelatable, and the pages and pages of sex. Not sexy sex; DH Lawrence this is not. It'...more

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Aug 04, 2011 Angus rated it 1 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: reviewed-and-blogged, pulitzer-prize

Original post at Book Rhapsody.

***

Intro

I do not really know what I was thinking when I picked up this book. Antonio Banderas? No, I am not a fan. The book cover? Not really. The Pulitzer? Could be.

This is the first Pulitzer winner that fell short of my expectations. I found it a huge drag. Read on if you are interested to find out why and if you wish to prove me wrong.

The Rhapsody

It’s such a struggle for me to write about something that I am either not fond of or not totally against. As far as I...more

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Jun 27, 2008 Terry rated it 5 of 5 stars

This book is nostalgic, exotic, erotic and narcotic. It is a beautiful book and I have returned to it several times and each time I am completely swept up emotionally by it. With mere words on a page, the author creates the melodies of the Mambo era, the smells of rural Cuban cane fields, the sweat of a dance hall, the swelter of a New York City summer. The two main characters, Cesar and Nestor love in completely different, but totally compelling, ways. For Nestor, love is an ideal, out of reach...more

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May 09, 2008 Adam rated it 3 of 5 stars Recommends it for: People with more knowledge of the mambo than I possess.

Shelves: pulitzer-winners

After reading this, I couldn't help feeling that I never understood the main character, despite having gone through every significant episode of his life. I suppose it would have affected me more if I were familiar with the mambo culture; perhaps I simply don't have the rhythm this book requires.

This is my first experience with Hijuelos, and I find myself wondering whether he's always so sex-obsessed. There's nothing wrong with sex in a novel, especially if it's well-written, but there are othe...more

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May 24, 2009 Marvin rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I tried to like this book. Partly because I find the Latin music sub-culture of the 50s a fascinating topic and partly because I do think Hijuelos has a fine style of writing. However it is simply too repetitive and uninvolving. I guess I'm supposed to like Cesar and Nestor but I never really find out much about them except they are talented musicians (yeah, I got that part in the first ten pages) and that they are good in bed. I just expected more when someone takes the time to write a full nov...more

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Feb 12, 2009 Sidewalk_Sotol rated it 3 of 5 stars Recommends it for: people who like Cuban music and Cuban American perspectives.

I read this book in about three days. I had watched the movie, which is a poor, limited interpretation of this novel (but with a few good songs). Hijuelos obviously loves Cuban music, and the best reason for someone to read this is to get the U.S. version of mambo history. This is not a story of growing up in Cuba, so much as a story of Cuban immigrants centered on two brothers who are fortunate enough and talented enough to almost make it big after an appearance on the sitcom "I Love Lucy."
T...more

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Aug 26, 2012 John rated it 5 of 5 stars Recommends it for: Lovers of Cuban music

Oscar Hijuelos' Pulitzer Prize winning book The Mambo Kings Play Songs of Love is one of those that you'll either find to be colorful and lyrical, or confusing and monotonous. For this reader, this book falls into the first category, a rediscovered treasure read originally years ago and found here once again. It's my third copy over the years since I bought it originally early in 1990.

Author Hijuelos tracks a family from one country to another through the world of and a culture from one world t...more

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Jan 16, 2012 Grady Ormsby rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

What a terrific read! The Mambo Kings Sing Songs of Love is the story of two emigre brothers who move from Cuba to NYC in 1949. The story follows their struggles, their triumphs, their illusions, and their disillusions.

The characters are developed with sensitivity and pathos, real people with all the achievements, disappointments, foibles and contradictions we have become accustomed to in our own lives.

Perhaps the biggest asset of the novel is the writing itself. Hijuelos' prose is a torrent of...more

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May 20, 2011 Lindsey rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Loved this one! This was a fantastic read, and a great look into the golden age of the mambo orchestras. Cesar Castillo is a sympathetic character, despite his many flaws (misogyny, sexual assault, etc.), and in many ways, he seems more a product of his time than a deliberately misogynist character. He is a macho and needs to assert this until the end of his life. The tragedy of the story is known from the beginning, but the story flows and drives you on through it. It reads like a telenovela on...more Loved this one! This was a fantastic read, and a great look into the golden age of the mambo orchestras. Cesar Castillo is a sympathetic character, despite his many flaws (misogyny, sexual assault, etc.), and in many ways, he seems more a product of his time than a deliberately misogynist character. He is a macho and needs to assert this until the end of his life. The tragedy of the story is known from the beginning, but the story flows and drives you on through it. It reads like a telenovela on the screen and pulls you in, convincing you of the time, place and action of the story.

The circular trajectory of the story serves to reinforce the central tragedies of the novel, and brings home the idea of being lost. Lost in time, lost in love, in loss, in a foreign land, in your own land. Hijuelos describes perfectly the mooning nature of the romantic depressive, and showcases an entire culture of them. Nestor is not the only depressive, just the most obvious. Everyone is the result of what we would today call a broken home, not just in that it's split, but that the family is broken, unable to function 'properly'. No one has a happy home life, at least not for very long. They're happy for a bit, and then they realize that something's missing, or that they want something more, and then things fall apart. None of them know how to be happy, unless they're losing themselves in something, music, books, etc.

In this respect, I feel like I identify with the characters. It's hard to actually be happy with what you have, even if you have almost everything that you want. Even if everything is going well for you, it's hard to stay contented. We're conditioned to always want and expect more, and the book seems to make you question whether that's really a good idea. Should we be always trying for something more? When do we have enough? When is something good enough? When is it actually perfect? If you have something perfect, does it become imperfect because you possess it?
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Nov 27, 2010 Book Concierge rated it 5 of 5 stars

Cesar Castillo, the Mambo King himself, is an old man, and is remembering his life (and loves) in Cuba and New York as he approaches death. In the middle of the book is a quote that perfectly describes Cesar’s life: “Me siento contento cuando sufro,” he sang one day, “I feel happy when I’m suffering.”

Cesar and his younger brother Nestor arrive in New York full of ambition and desire to be musicians. They are talented and willing to work hard, and with some luck, put together an orchestra (The M...more

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Jan 21, 2009 Mike rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: caribbean-caribbeans, entertainers, fiction-drama-poetry, immigrants, new-york-city, pulitzer-fiction, music, z-read-in-2009, the-20th-century-in-fiction

I almost quit this a few times in the first 50 or 150 pages, and I guess I'm glad I didn't.

About 40% of this is really really bad, and monotonous to read. That includes all of the sex scenes (which make up about 30% of the book), and the narrator's really weird and disturbing fixation on the protagonist's member (which take up about another 10%).

But the other 60% was amazingly good, beautiful, evocative, lyrical, excellent writing about NYC in the 1950s and 60s, and Cuba in the 1930s and 40s....more

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May 01, 2012 Kelly A. rated it 1 of 5 stars

Shelves: fill-in-the-gaps-project-100, so-bad-i-won-t-ever-read-again, not-recommended

This book has been on my "Project 100" list for a long time and I was really looking forward to it.

Now, I'm just glad it was short. It won a Pulitzer, which makes me wonder (even more) about the legitimacy of the prize.

Hijuelos paints an interesting picture of Cuban immigrants in New York in the 50s, and it's easy to picture the city, the food, the night clubs, etc. Some wonderful writing there.

But the story is told in a monotonous drone, with Hijuelos liberally breaking the "show don't tell" r...more

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Jul 23, 2011 Marianne Timmons rated it 4 of 5 stars

Wow! What a whirlwind! This book takes you on the journey of love, lust, moderate fame, and demise of two Cuban musician brothers, Nestor and Cesar Castillo. It tells of their difficult childhood with an abusive father and sainted mother, their pilgrimage to New York in search of fame and fortune, and the loves, successes and failures that marked their lives culminating in a heart-wrenching retrospection of it all. The main question trying to be answered is "was it all worth it". The thing I lik...more

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Jun 21, 2011 David Lentz rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Oscar Hijuelos is a truly gifted writer who makes a uniquely American experience and era of music come alive with a passionate honesty for which he is worthy of great credit. One deeply feels the alienation of the brothers in New York where they search for their Cuban heritage and can never get beyond their longing for their lost country. There is an emptiness, a painful longing that can never be filled except by alcohol, music and love. They are trapped within the machismo prevalent in their he...more

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Sep 26, 2011 Eve rated it 3 of 5 stars

This book won a Pulitzer, so it's entirely possible that it just doesn't jive with my taste.

Writers are often abjured to "show, not tell," but, like all rules, this one is made to be broken. Still - not as frequently or monotonously as this novel does. The lives of the Mambo Kings are not happy, despite the free flow of women, rum, and song, and we are shown this. Then we are shown in again. And again. Then we're told it. Then we're shown it again. About halfway through, it's entirely clear how...more

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Sep 24, 2012 Julia rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

The main character in this book is an old guy drinking in a hotel room, and (to its credit, I guess) the book is a lot like being in a hotel room with an old guy: stories from his bygone youth, a few central events repeated again and again in different lights. I kept wanting to get up and say "Welp, look at the time! Gotta go, OK bye", and then a new yarn would begin, and next thing I knew another couple hours/hundred pages would be gone, and then eventually the guy dies and the book's over and...more

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Dec 03, 2009 Shane rated it 3 of 5 stars

A once-famous Latin musician, Cesar Castillo, famous more for the number of women he bedded than for the number of songs he produced, holes up in a hotel and dredges up the 62 years of his life filled with sex, despair, rum and mambo ( there was nothing much else), while drinking himself to death. That pretty much sums up this book.

In the process however, we get vivid glimpses of life in Cuba before Castro, of Hispanic immigrants struggling to make it in New York City, of passion, of the fragmen...more A once-famous Latin musician, Cesar Castillo, famous more for the number of women he bedded than for the number of songs he produced, holes up in a hotel and dredges up the 62 years of his life filled with sex, despair, rum and mambo ( there was nothing much else), while drinking himself to death. That pretty much sums up this book.

In the process however, we get vivid glimpses of life in Cuba before Castro, of Hispanic immigrants struggling to make it in New York City, of passion, of the fragmentary and vulnerable lives of itinerant musicians aiming for their 15 seconds of fame, and of obsession with drink and sex as a way to drown out depression. I lost count of the number of women Cesar, the elder Mambo King, bedded in this book and I was envious of his glorious “member” which seemed to be the only thing standing (well, almost) while all his other organs had collapsed.

The narrative jumps points of view frequently, as if mirroring Cesar’s scattered thoughts, but as there is no plotline as such, just Cesar’s odyssey from Cuba to a hotel in New York, it isn’t hard to follow. We go frequently between Oriente in Cuba to Havana to New York and back. Real life personalities juxtapose with fictional ones – notably Desi Arnaz and Lucille Ball, and the entire cohort of mambo stars of the ‘50’s and 60’s are mentioned at various times in passing. At one point I wondered whether this was a thinly veiled biography of an actual mambo artist known to the author that had been fictionalized.

The Mambo Kings are the Castillo brothers Cesar and Nestor. Cesar is the gregarious, women-hungry, booze hungry elder brother, while Nestor is the introverted, haunted younger sibling pining for one Maria who jilted him in Cuba and has become the muse for all his future musical compositions. They embody the free spirited artist sowing his seed at will vs. the happily married man who has to curb his passions or re-direct them only towards his spouse. The attachment of the brothers to each other is brought full circle when Nestor dies tragically, sending Cesar into a spiral from which he never recovers. In fact, the book may have ended with Nestor’s death, because the second half is really Cesar debasing the virile image we had of him.

The style is visceral, dwelling frequently on the size, shapes and colours of women’s pubic hair, the smells and emissions of bodies in heat, the overpowering pleasure that Cesar ( and occasionally Nestor) gives his women as he makes vigorous and passionate love to them, the fat-laden food, and the detritus and danger of living in the slummier parts of Manhattan.

We never discover why Cesar was prone to the self-destruction he embarked upon after Nestor passed. Was it his abused childhood that had left him rudderless? Was Nestor the real talent behind the Mambo Kings? Was Cesar feeling guilty for making out in the car the day Nestor went off the road? All we see is Cesar’s overwhelming desire to drown his grief in sex and booze. And in the end, as if to validate that this is not the way to go about reconciliation, we see Cesar, drunk and dying, listening impotently to the sounds of his neighbours, a younger couple, making glorious love, with sounds and all, while all he can do is reminisce and take another drink that is killing him by the sip.

This novel is a powerful portrayal of life among immigrant musicians pursuing the American Dream. I would have liked to have seen these characters display more intellect and artistry however – perhaps those qualities may have got them out of the ghetto and into those echelons where people like Desi Arnaz, another Cuban, landed. Instead, being hostage to their hearts and loins, the Mambo Kings self destruct.

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Aug 04, 2010 Keith rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This is the story of Cesar Castillo and his brother Nestor, two Cuban immigrants who lived and expressed their lives through their music. Although the narrative belongs to the oldest brother Cesar, the story is about both of them as well their families, friends, lovers and many others of the post Castro Latin-American diasporas. It’s an intriguing view of a social order committed to family love and responsibility and yet wracked by the cruelty of male machismo that seems to supersede all other a...more

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Jan 28, 2009 Ozma rated it 3 of 5 stars

After taking AP Spanish, I grew an appreciation for literature originally written in Spanish. This book was all the rage in the early 90s, and then the movie came out with Antonio Banderas! The book was good, but it wasn't as magical as an Allende novel. It was very real, about revolutions and separation from loved ones. These brothers are a mambo band, and one is very focused on getting ahead and becoming the next Desi Arnaz, while the other misses the love of his life, left behind when the bro...more

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Oct 21, 2012 Bookslut rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: pulitzer

I was working through this book, punching that clock on the Pulitzer winners, and feeling like it was the aimless, pointless wander of a book. And then I happened to read the author's note at the back late one night, when I was halfway through. And BAM, I understood what he was going for and from that point out, developed a real appreciation for the book and enjoyed the rest of it. I do wonder, to be fair, if you have to be told the point by the author, has the author achieved his aim? I can't q...more

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Feb 24, 2010 J.T. Oldfield added it · review of another edition

From my review:

Pining for the unrequited love he left behind in Cuba, Nestor composes the canción, “Beautiful Maria of my Soul.” One night they run into Desi Arnez and Lucille Ball at a small club in New York. They play the canción and wind up on the “I Love Lucy” show as Desi’s cousins visiting from Cuba to play a gig with him. This is basically the high point of their lives, for which no one back in New York will ever forget them. This takes us up to about half way through the A-side. There is...more

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Jun 04, 2012 Jane rated it 1 of 5 stars

"Mambo Kings" refers to Cuban musicians who came to the USA during the 1950's, the most well known being Desi Arnez. The author centers his story on two brothers who left Cuba in 1949, moving to New York City to live on the edge of a golden era of Cuban music. The book is as much about passion and loss as it is about the actual musical experience. In my opinion, the author overplays the "Latin Lover" thread, to the point of ridiculous antics (am I getting old?) and draws out the waning of bodies...more

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Jul 31, 2009 Susan rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Compared to Oscar Hijuelos' book Mr. Ives Christmas, this book is a lot racier. He fills pages up with stories of sexual encounters between Cesar Castillo and a huge number of women including Vanna Vane, a blonde bombshell. His brother Nestor also has romantic encounters and lots of heartache.
The characters are very well realized, particularly Cesar who lives until his 60's. His struggles with his machismo, his fight to stay a musician, his failed club, his ageing etc. All of these are well ex...more

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Jan 04, 2010 Ashley rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: novels

One reviewer writes, "This book is nostalgic, exotic, erotic and narcotic. It is a beautiful book and I have returned to it several times and each time I am completely swept up emotionally by it. With mere words on a page, the author creates the melodies of the Mambo era, the smells of rural Cuban cane fields, the sweat of a dance hall, the swelter of a New York City summer. The two main characters, Cesar and Nestor love in completely different, but totally compelling, ways. For Nestor, love is...more

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Jun 09, 2008 April rated it 1 of 5 stars

At least two or three times he mentions the man's 'thick tongue' in describing a kiss. Weird.

If you like to read horrible books that won big prizes (Pulitzer), read this one.

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May 15, 2011 Kristen rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: latino-latina-fiction, contemporary-fiction

This book is beautifully written. I love Hijuelos' style. He has a gift for painting an image of another era and imbuing it with all the sounds, smells and sensations that go along with it. His characters are heartbreakingly real flawed human beings. I loved the musicality of his prose. And the melancholic memories of an old man and former musician who once enjoyed semi- fame and admiration. The Mambo Kings Play Songs of Love is about many things: family, love, lust, Cuban culture, the life of m...more

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Apr 14, 2010 Harold rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: music

Good book! While being very descriptive of the Latin music scene it also works for the music scene in general. It captures something of being a musician that I haven't seen captured before - and that is the feeling that good things may be happening and success is forthcoming but it never gets there. The gigs are there but the big time is elusive. I disagree with some of the previous reviews in that in no way is this book pornographic. Raw at times yes but that is street talk and the book would b...more

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Dec 26, 2010 Caitlin rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 2010

I read this book when it first came out and loved it. After the follow-up book, Beautiful Maria of My Soul became available, I decided I need to read it again. I still love it.

The story of two Cuban brothers who immigrate to New York in the '50's to pursue their musical dreams, The Mambo Kings Play Song of Love really captures the flavor of its time and of its music. The language and imagery are rich and evocative of black beans and rice, platanos, cigarette smoke, and music spilling out into th...more

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Oct 19, 2012 Lena rated it 5 of 5 stars

I felt compelled to review this book since there were several negative reviews that I sort of agreed with. YES this book could be titled "An Old Man and his Thing" and the sex isn't sexy in a standard way. Instead it is real, vibrant, raw, sometime ugly, but never fake. I appreciated Hijuelos' honesty, his characters' flaws, appalling deep secrets, and insecurities all brought to light. This book is about the beauty and virility of life and the nostalgic heart breaking pain that comes with time....more

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About Oscar Hijuelos

Oscar Hijuelos (born August 24, 1951) is an American novelist. He is the first Hispanic to win a Pulitzer Prize for Fiction.

Hijuelos was born in New York City, in Morningside Heights, Manhattan, to Cuban immigrant parents. He attended the Corpus Christi Schoo, public schools, and later attended Bronx Community College, Lehman College, and Manhattan Community College before matriculating into and s...more

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