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A Simple Habana Melody
It is 1947, and Israel Levis, a Cuban composer whose life had once been a dream of music, love, and sadness, returns to Cuba after being mistakenly imprisoned during the Nazi occupation of France.
When Levis arrives back in Habana, his mind returns to an unrequited romance with the alluring Rita Valladares, a singer for whom Levis had written his most famous song, "Rosas Puras." This 1928 composition became the most famous rumba in the world and changed American and European tastes in music and dance forever.
A love story—of art, family, and country—A Simple Habana Melody is a virtuoso performance from one of our most important writers.
When Levis arrives back in Habana, his mind returns to an unrequited romance with the alluring Rita Valladares, a singer for whom Levis had written his most famous song, "Rosas Puras." This 1928 composition became the most famous rumba in the world and changed American and European tastes in music and dance forever.
A love story—of art, family, and country—A Simple Habana Melody is a virtuoso performance from one of our most important writers.
368 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2002
12 people are currently reading
427 people want to read
About the author
Oscar Hijuelos
34 books218 followersOscar Hijuelos (born August 24, 1951) was 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 School, public schools, and later attended Bronx Community College, Lehman College, and Manhattan Community College before matriculating into and studying writing at the City College of New York (B.A., 1975; M.A. in Creative Writing, 1976). He then practiced various professions before taking up writing full time. His first novel, Our House in the Last World, was published in 1983 and received the 1985 Rome Prize, awarded by the American Academy in Rome. His second novel, The Mambo Kings Play Songs of Love, received the 1990 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction. It was adapted for the film The Mambo Kings in 1992 and as a Broadway musical in 2005.
Hijuelos has taught at Hofstra University and at Duke University.
Hijuelos was born in New York City, in Morningside Heights, Manhattan, to Cuban immigrant parents. He attended the Corpus Christi School, public schools, and later attended Bronx Community College, Lehman College, and Manhattan Community College before matriculating into and studying writing at the City College of New York (B.A., 1975; M.A. in Creative Writing, 1976). He then practiced various professions before taking up writing full time. His first novel, Our House in the Last World, was published in 1983 and received the 1985 Rome Prize, awarded by the American Academy in Rome. His second novel, The Mambo Kings Play Songs of Love, received the 1990 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction. It was adapted for the film The Mambo Kings in 1992 and as a Broadway musical in 2005.
Hijuelos has taught at Hofstra University and at Duke University.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 51 reviews
September 10, 2025
A Difficult Life In Havana
The "Simple Habana Melody" of the title of this book is a song and rumba called "Rosas Puras" (Pretty Roses) that the main character, a fictitious composer named Israel Levis, dashes off in 1928 in the space of about 20 minutes in a bar in the company of his friend and lyricist, Manny Cortez. The song was written for the love of Levis's life, a singer named Rita Valladares. The relationship between Levis and Valladares is at the heart of this story. Levis's song makes both him and Valladares famous. The song becomes ubiquitous and it does much to shape the remainder of the lives of both Levis and Valladares.
Throughout his novel, Hijuelos contrasts the simplicity and immediate attractiveness of Levis's song with the difficult character of Levis's life. Born to a physician father, who is also an amateur musician and student of nature, Levis quickly shows prodigious gifts at the piano and an astonishing facility for composition, both popular tunes and more classical works such as concertos, operas and symphonies. Levis displays a large appetite for food, liquor, cigars, and paid sex together with his efforts as a composer. Much of his life is superficially sensual and lusty.
Yet there is much more to Israel Levis. For all his devotion to the senses, Levis is a devout Catholic. And the novel pivots perhaps too readily on his name, which, while Levis is living in Paris during the Nazi occupation, makes the Germans take him as Jewish and send him to Buchenwald where he barely survives his 14 month imprisonment. Levis is attached to his mother with whom he lives until his middle age. And Levis has difficulty with his own large sexuality. Throughout the book he appears to be attracted to men, but he remains unwilling to acknowledge this to himself. Beyond commercial sex, he has the greatest difficulty establishing a love relationship with a woman. Despite Rita Valladares's lifelong and obvious interest, Levis does not pursue the relationship beyond the level of friendship, rationalizing to himself that he is too old and too obese for Rita. Levis does establish a brief romantic and physical relationship in Paris with a Jewish woman named Sarah Rubenstein which comes to an end with the Nazi occupation.
Hijuelos's book begins late in Levis's life, after he returns to Habana in 1947, a thin and broken man resulting from his internment in Buchenwald and a further year of recuperation in a hospital in Spain. The central portions of the book describe Levis's life during his apparently happier and fuller younger days, which are themselves marred by death of family members, repressive politics in Cuba, and, most importantly, by Levis's inability to have a sexual relationship with Rita. Upon his return to Habana, Levis is unable to compose or even to play the piano. He has become skeptical of religion, although he does not lose his faith entirely. He seems a lost and lonely man who, as he tells Rita in a letter, is deeply afraid of dying alone.
Hijueleos shows Levis both as he lives his life during his active years and then reflecting upon his life when he returns to Habana in 1947 to gain a measure of redemption. Levis comes to see his life, in the title of the final chapter of the novel, as "The Loveliness of a Dream." Levis is able to recognize the failures and lost opportunities of his life, especially his relationship with Rita. But he comes to terms with himself and is able to embark on new important projects in his last years. He is able to come to a feeling of peace, while recognizing his disappointments.
Hijuelos's novel is filled with the love of music and with the sights and sounds of Hababa in the 1920's and 30s. His book also explores in a poignant way,the issues of religion and sexuality and self-knowledge that trouble his hero, Israel Levis. The book is a complex, many-voiced fugue beneath a deceptively simple melody.
Robin Friedman
The "Simple Habana Melody" of the title of this book is a song and rumba called "Rosas Puras" (Pretty Roses) that the main character, a fictitious composer named Israel Levis, dashes off in 1928 in the space of about 20 minutes in a bar in the company of his friend and lyricist, Manny Cortez. The song was written for the love of Levis's life, a singer named Rita Valladares. The relationship between Levis and Valladares is at the heart of this story. Levis's song makes both him and Valladares famous. The song becomes ubiquitous and it does much to shape the remainder of the lives of both Levis and Valladares.
Throughout his novel, Hijuelos contrasts the simplicity and immediate attractiveness of Levis's song with the difficult character of Levis's life. Born to a physician father, who is also an amateur musician and student of nature, Levis quickly shows prodigious gifts at the piano and an astonishing facility for composition, both popular tunes and more classical works such as concertos, operas and symphonies. Levis displays a large appetite for food, liquor, cigars, and paid sex together with his efforts as a composer. Much of his life is superficially sensual and lusty.
Yet there is much more to Israel Levis. For all his devotion to the senses, Levis is a devout Catholic. And the novel pivots perhaps too readily on his name, which, while Levis is living in Paris during the Nazi occupation, makes the Germans take him as Jewish and send him to Buchenwald where he barely survives his 14 month imprisonment. Levis is attached to his mother with whom he lives until his middle age. And Levis has difficulty with his own large sexuality. Throughout the book he appears to be attracted to men, but he remains unwilling to acknowledge this to himself. Beyond commercial sex, he has the greatest difficulty establishing a love relationship with a woman. Despite Rita Valladares's lifelong and obvious interest, Levis does not pursue the relationship beyond the level of friendship, rationalizing to himself that he is too old and too obese for Rita. Levis does establish a brief romantic and physical relationship in Paris with a Jewish woman named Sarah Rubenstein which comes to an end with the Nazi occupation.
Hijuelos's book begins late in Levis's life, after he returns to Habana in 1947, a thin and broken man resulting from his internment in Buchenwald and a further year of recuperation in a hospital in Spain. The central portions of the book describe Levis's life during his apparently happier and fuller younger days, which are themselves marred by death of family members, repressive politics in Cuba, and, most importantly, by Levis's inability to have a sexual relationship with Rita. Upon his return to Habana, Levis is unable to compose or even to play the piano. He has become skeptical of religion, although he does not lose his faith entirely. He seems a lost and lonely man who, as he tells Rita in a letter, is deeply afraid of dying alone.
Hijueleos shows Levis both as he lives his life during his active years and then reflecting upon his life when he returns to Habana in 1947 to gain a measure of redemption. Levis comes to see his life, in the title of the final chapter of the novel, as "The Loveliness of a Dream." Levis is able to recognize the failures and lost opportunities of his life, especially his relationship with Rita. But he comes to terms with himself and is able to embark on new important projects in his last years. He is able to come to a feeling of peace, while recognizing his disappointments.
Hijuelos's novel is filled with the love of music and with the sights and sounds of Hababa in the 1920's and 30s. His book also explores in a poignant way,the issues of religion and sexuality and self-knowledge that trouble his hero, Israel Levis. The book is a complex, many-voiced fugue beneath a deceptively simple melody.
Robin Friedman
October 22, 2016
Most of Hijuelos’s novels deal with Cuban immigrants and their process of acculturation in America. In his most interesting work, A Simple Habana Melody, he turns to Cuba, the homeland of his heritage, to explore the life of Israel Levis, a gifted and distinguished musician living in Habana. (Hijuelos chooses to use the phonetic spelling of “Habana” instead of Havana.)
The novel begins with Israel’s return voyage home to Habana from Europe after his captivity in the Nazi concentration camp at Buchenwald. Having been on tour in Paris when the war hits France, Israel’s name makes his identity mistaken for a Jew, and so he is sent to a labor camp. In the opening pages of the novel, he is sailing back to Habana and the story begins to work backwards. With resplendent descriptions, Hijuelos covers Israel’s life from an inquisitive childhood to his successful career as a composer. A bulk of the plot addresses Israel’s lifelong love affair with the elusive Rita Valladares.
This is a standout novel in Hijuelos’s oeuvre. His prose is achingly rich and elegant with sadness and longing. He captures the pristine loveliness of Cuba and an era of musical wonder in Habana before the war and the subsequent revolution with its rise of communism. Hijuelos is a writer to admire for his literary gifts: the fine and precise prose, the polish evident in each of his sentences, the guilty pleasure of sensuality and eroticism in his scenes, and the immensely real and unforgettable characters he creates. A Simple Habana Melody is my favorite Hijuelos novel, one in which images and passages of Cuba remain vivid like photographs in my memory.
The novel begins with Israel’s return voyage home to Habana from Europe after his captivity in the Nazi concentration camp at Buchenwald. Having been on tour in Paris when the war hits France, Israel’s name makes his identity mistaken for a Jew, and so he is sent to a labor camp. In the opening pages of the novel, he is sailing back to Habana and the story begins to work backwards. With resplendent descriptions, Hijuelos covers Israel’s life from an inquisitive childhood to his successful career as a composer. A bulk of the plot addresses Israel’s lifelong love affair with the elusive Rita Valladares.
This is a standout novel in Hijuelos’s oeuvre. His prose is achingly rich and elegant with sadness and longing. He captures the pristine loveliness of Cuba and an era of musical wonder in Habana before the war and the subsequent revolution with its rise of communism. Hijuelos is a writer to admire for his literary gifts: the fine and precise prose, the polish evident in each of his sentences, the guilty pleasure of sensuality and eroticism in his scenes, and the immensely real and unforgettable characters he creates. A Simple Habana Melody is my favorite Hijuelos novel, one in which images and passages of Cuba remain vivid like photographs in my memory.
June 21, 2011
The writing in this novel about the musical career of a Cuban composer is itself lyrical. The narrative is prose that aspires to be, and is, both poetry and music. The phrasing and the flow of the syntax is melodious as the composer's experience, because of his name, in a Nazi concentration camp runs counterpoint to the theme. And "Rosas Puras", his most famous and enduring composition, reappears faithfully as a leitmotif throughout the narrative. El Gordito, Israel Levis, and his close relationships with Rita Valladares (singer), Manny Cortez (composer)and his family are full of tender and touching moments. He is simply a man on a quest to find the beauty of life, the music hidden just beneath its surface and awaiting his discovery of its simple melodies. His devotion to his music can be a demanding mistress whom he has no choice but to love with pure devotion and ultimately proves to be his salvation. Hijuelos reinforces his stature as one of America's most supremely talented writers in this sensuously rich and sonorous novel. The close of the book holds moments of heartbreaking tenderness without sentimentality. A Simple Habana Melody is original, germinal, mesmerizing and sung in a distinctive, if not unique, lyrical voice that could only be proffered by a truly gifted writer of the stature of Oscar Hijeulos.
May 28, 2018
I devoured this book. I loved every word. One of the most beautifully written, wonderful stories I have ever read. I will certainly read more from Senor Oscar Hijuelos.
October 7, 2023
Bravo! What a beautifully written novel and tribute to a great composer! I thoroughly enjoyed this one, especially being able to escape to the Havana, Cuba and Paris, France between the two world wars. I also identified with the protagonist, apolitical artist who is very much a man of sensual pleasures. Israel Levis is described as “rotund” and he loves his music, his food, his drink, and beautiful women, especially Rita Valladares, the woman he loves in secret. This book is a love story, a coming of age story, a story about faith, art, and the sometimes brutal nature of the human condition. I experienced the whole spectrum of emotions as I read this, especially seeing Levis as an old man, a shadow of his former, corpulent self after he narrowly escapes death at Buchenwald. Even as sad as this book was at times, it is so filled with hope and beauty and triumph. I can’t believe I let it sit on my bookshelf for years before reading it. I enthusiastically recommend this one. Don’t wait to read A Simple Havana Melody.
June 18, 2018
Rita Valladeres is a fascinating woman, and her time touring America as a singer of top end ability while her family unravels was quite good. Unfortunately that's only about 10% of the book and the bulk of the rest is devoted to Israel Levis, a Cuban composer who just may be the Least Interesting Man in the World.
Israel is good at composing and, as the author reminds us every other page, he wrote 'Rosa Puras', which Rita made her own and hundreds of musicians covered. He also likes bourbon, brothels, and turning down Rita. He could marry her, but, no, because reasons. How about have her as a mistress when she all but throws herself at him? Again, no, because reasons. And when her husband is out of the way. No, again, because booze and hookers are better than the most desirable woman he's ever known apparently.
Also, Israel has a big dick. Hijuelos tells us this almost as frequently as he mentions 'Rosas Puras'. I'm not exaggerating when I say that it is unlikely a male porn star's memoir would mention penis size as much as this novel about a composer.
Randomly, Israel somehow ends up in a concentration camp, because his name is Israel and he's circumcised and 'Muh Nazis'. This was at least a bit more interesting, though far less plausible, than the bulk of the book - a boring read about an old man come back to Havana after years in exile.
Israel is good at composing and, as the author reminds us every other page, he wrote 'Rosa Puras', which Rita made her own and hundreds of musicians covered. He also likes bourbon, brothels, and turning down Rita. He could marry her, but, no, because reasons. How about have her as a mistress when she all but throws herself at him? Again, no, because reasons. And when her husband is out of the way. No, again, because booze and hookers are better than the most desirable woman he's ever known apparently.
Also, Israel has a big dick. Hijuelos tells us this almost as frequently as he mentions 'Rosas Puras'. I'm not exaggerating when I say that it is unlikely a male porn star's memoir would mention penis size as much as this novel about a composer.
Randomly, Israel somehow ends up in a concentration camp, because his name is Israel and he's circumcised and 'Muh Nazis'. This was at least a bit more interesting, though far less plausible, than the bulk of the book - a boring read about an old man come back to Havana after years in exile.
January 16, 2018
The prose was enjoyable, the reading really flowed. I liked much better the first part that describes his childhood in Habana, his family life and learning music.
After he composes "Rosas Puras", the novel turns to be very repetitive, he goes to some cities, drinks, plays, sleeps around, repeat cycle. His indecision and the repetitive nature of his middle life were boring, specially all the mentions to his "majestic virility", the plot only changed a bit when the Nazi enter the picture, but that wasn't explored either.
There were moments when I had the feeling that the Israel and the song really existed, but the fact that he met every single artist and historical figures of the time convinced me that it was all fiction. The author mentions in his "Author's Note" that he was inspired by the life of a real Cuban composer and that his persecution in Europe, I found it curious because his life under the Nazi was hardly explored. I understand that he didn't wanted to turn into "The Pianist" movie, but if it is only a "fade into black", it misses the point.
I think the problem is that the novel is almost a biographical depiction of Israel's life in chronological order, but it didn't have a topic. It could have easily explored the construction of identity, how music is turned into a commodity and sells some cultural apect as exotic, race as a social construct, life as an immigrant, the rapid changes of the world and Cuba, etc. but it seems that wasn't the author's intention.
About the edition, several accents and translations of Spanish were odd, also, there were some typos.
After he composes "Rosas Puras", the novel turns to be very repetitive, he goes to some cities, drinks, plays, sleeps around, repeat cycle. His indecision and the repetitive nature of his middle life were boring, specially all the mentions to his "majestic virility", the plot only changed a bit when the Nazi enter the picture, but that wasn't explored either.
There were moments when I had the feeling that the Israel and the song really existed, but the fact that he met every single artist and historical figures of the time convinced me that it was all fiction. The author mentions in his "Author's Note" that he was inspired by the life of a real Cuban composer and that his persecution in Europe, I found it curious because his life under the Nazi was hardly explored. I understand that he didn't wanted to turn into "The Pianist" movie, but if it is only a "fade into black", it misses the point.
I think the problem is that the novel is almost a biographical depiction of Israel's life in chronological order, but it didn't have a topic. It could have easily explored the construction of identity, how music is turned into a commodity and sells some cultural apect as exotic, race as a social construct, life as an immigrant, the rapid changes of the world and Cuba, etc. but it seems that wasn't the author's intention.
About the edition, several accents and translations of Spanish were odd, also, there were some typos.
September 17, 2021
Despite countless wonderful descriptive passages that vividly captured setting and character in Cuba, France,Spain, and a host of other cities and countries, the core of Hijuelos's novel fell flat for me in many ways.
Repressed pianist and composer Israel Levis (and his Oedipal yearning for his mother) is NOT torn between the life of the artist/aesthete and the drunken, sexually conflicted, grossly overweight man. He flops between both selves with seemingly little problem until, at age 57, he finds himself in Buchenwald for nearly two years. Wrong name, wrong place, wrong associates. A supposedly devout Catholic, his yearning for purity fights with his carnal selves.
Was the fictional Israel a one-trick guy, known for the ubiquitous "Rosas Puras" that his life-long
"love," Rita Valladeres popularized all over the world for decades? Was he "important?" Was he worthy - of his mother, his Christ, his loves, his compadres, his fans?
Certainly a novel worth reading, but don't expect a smooth melody.
Repressed pianist and composer Israel Levis (and his Oedipal yearning for his mother) is NOT torn between the life of the artist/aesthete and the drunken, sexually conflicted, grossly overweight man. He flops between both selves with seemingly little problem until, at age 57, he finds himself in Buchenwald for nearly two years. Wrong name, wrong place, wrong associates. A supposedly devout Catholic, his yearning for purity fights with his carnal selves.
Was the fictional Israel a one-trick guy, known for the ubiquitous "Rosas Puras" that his life-long
"love," Rita Valladeres popularized all over the world for decades? Was he "important?" Was he worthy - of his mother, his Christ, his loves, his compadres, his fans?
Certainly a novel worth reading, but don't expect a smooth melody.
August 5, 2019
A Simple Habana Melody by Oscar Hijuelos 5/11/2019 Paper
Israel Levis, a Cuban native, is a piano master of worldwide fame. Much of the book takes place in his beloved Havana, tracing the time prior to Fidel Castro. His talent, to a large extent based on a single popular song, has allowed him to travel the world, spending years in Paris. However his heart remains at home in his beloved Habana. In spite of his many sexual exploits, he remains transfixed throughout his life on singer Rita Valladares, the inspiration for his hit song. He loses his motivation for music after being incorrectly identified as a Jew, and sent to a Nazi camp. Through Rita’s prodding, and his mentoring of a student, he manages to regain his will to go forward. This novel is an intimate study of a single character and his look at life. Havana during this period of time is little known to most readers. It is vividly described in this interesting and enjoyable novel.
Israel Levis, a Cuban native, is a piano master of worldwide fame. Much of the book takes place in his beloved Havana, tracing the time prior to Fidel Castro. His talent, to a large extent based on a single popular song, has allowed him to travel the world, spending years in Paris. However his heart remains at home in his beloved Habana. In spite of his many sexual exploits, he remains transfixed throughout his life on singer Rita Valladares, the inspiration for his hit song. He loses his motivation for music after being incorrectly identified as a Jew, and sent to a Nazi camp. Through Rita’s prodding, and his mentoring of a student, he manages to regain his will to go forward. This novel is an intimate study of a single character and his look at life. Havana during this period of time is little known to most readers. It is vividly described in this interesting and enjoyable novel.
February 27, 2018
Israel Levis, a fictitious character, one of the most famous Cuban pianist and composers, returns home to Cuba after spending the last 14 months in a Nazi concentration camp. His most famous composition, is a rumba called "Rosas Puras"( his La Vie En Rose, if you will), a song written for the love of Levis' life, Rita Valladares. The book goes back and forth between Israel's younger life, growing up in Cuba, happiness mixed with conflicting emotions, such as his love for Rita that he cannot verbally express, to his confusion about his own sexuality, to the horrors of Nazi occupation after he moves to France and being labeled a Jew. But he always has his music to fall back on. In his final days he reflects to find meaning and come to terms with everything he has been through. The mix of culture, history, and music is Oscar Hijuelos at his best.
August 1, 2018
As every book by Hijuelos I've read, this was sweet and had much in common with South- and Latin-American authors I know; colours,smells, feelings: this is the essence of this book, I feel. What this lacks and The Mambo Kings Play Songs of Love, The Fourteen Sisters of Emilio Montez-O'Brien and Mr Ives'Christmas had which this one lacks, is a really interesting story which progresses through the book. I suppose that IS the idea here; a man who essentially remains the same, though partially altered by his war-time experience. So; sweet, but ultimately it left me wishing for just a bit more.
October 3, 2018
This book is sort of two things, a story of unconsummated love between Rita and Israel and a look at the pre-WW2 world, particularly Cuba and Paris, through the eyes of a musician. The third leg of it, if you will, is mentions of Israel's magnificent virility. I read a review after the fact that mentioned the book lacked a strong narrative thread, and that's definitely the case. The bulk of it is adequate, but it doesn't sing. The ending is better, but it wasn't enough to lift this to 4, I think.
November 6, 2020
It took me a while to read this book, one bite at a time.
The beginning of the book is easy to read and interesting.
Then it moves into what seems to me, at least, a sort of song where you have a verse (detailing something new happening) and then the chorus (repetitive reminders of: the song which Israel wrote, the performer for whom he wrote it, his activities in bars and brothels, an air of homosexuality, love for his mother, and portraits of pre and post WWII Cuba.)
I think Oscar Hijuelos is exceptionally gifted but I agree this book isn't for the casual reader.
The beginning of the book is easy to read and interesting.
Then it moves into what seems to me, at least, a sort of song where you have a verse (detailing something new happening) and then the chorus (repetitive reminders of: the song which Israel wrote, the performer for whom he wrote it, his activities in bars and brothels, an air of homosexuality, love for his mother, and portraits of pre and post WWII Cuba.)
I think Oscar Hijuelos is exceptionally gifted but I agree this book isn't for the casual reader.
August 19, 2025
This is about a brilliant Cuban musician. A classical pianist and writer of Cuban popular songs, Zarzuelas, and rhumbas, who is known for his affable personality and his corpulence. Because of his name Israel Levis, a devout Catholic, is swept up by the Nazis in Paris and sent off to Buchenwald. The story opens with his return to Habana, a broken man, old before his time. It is also a story of unfulfilled love between Israel and his younger pupil, the star Rita Valledares.
The story is beautifully written, but sometimes repetitive, maybe in the way the chorus of a song is.
The story is beautifully written, but sometimes repetitive, maybe in the way the chorus of a song is.
May 30, 2020
This story of a repressed composer and his love for a performer named Rita seems to be written for another time when gender roles were decidedly more rigid and there were only two kinds of women. Men who were unable to drum up enough self importance to take their rightful place in society and women who married to gain a place in society were the norm and this book has nuances of these gender specific roles.
May 23, 2018
I really did not like this book and did not finish it. The book was very boring. it just gave info about different uneventful happenings in the life of the composer. There are too many good books to read to waste time on this book.
May 9, 2023
Very slow & redundant. I only finished it because I wanted to know how it ended otherwise I wouldn't have bothered.
January 27, 2021
4 solid stars
My favorite Hijuelos novel. Beautiful & tragic & atmospheric & yearning & twisted. Unreliable narrative. A sympathetic yet deeply flawed MC. Luscious historical settings. Read if you like music.
My favorite Hijuelos novel. Beautiful & tragic & atmospheric & yearning & twisted. Unreliable narrative. A sympathetic yet deeply flawed MC. Luscious historical settings. Read if you like music.
December 1, 2015
Halfway into this novel I was already thinking about the review (I hate this when it happens, but it does) and wondering if two stars was too unfair. At the time I thought so, but somehow I was won over by the final pages, though still not convinced of any inherent greatness. It's a decent piece of fiction, but there are some really flawed and/or plain sections of prose (from a writer who is clearly capable of more) and the story is not entirely there. I don't like prodigies or stories about prodigies, I suppose, because the struggle to master something is simply more compelling (to me) than 'God-given' hypertalent with which Israel Levis is bestowed. He also is granted a 'magnificent member'... his only flaws are that he is a bit of a momma's boy, possibly bisexual (look - I don't consider this a flaw, but it is so treated in the book), indecisive (but then, who isn't?), and I don't remember any others. I suppose this may well be the author's way of indicating the privilege of the protagonist's life, which is why I forgive.
From the start, I was worried because of the cover of this book that it would be an oversaturated, unreal, sentimental piece of romantic-historical fiction. It takes itself very seriously, but this only makes the whole thing kind of ridiculous at points. It was, to a certain extent, kind of stupid. But then life is kind of stupid, as well, so by the end it had won me over, and therefore I give it three stars. But make no mistake, these are three stars of mediocrity. It's the decent kind of mediocrity, though.
From the start, I was worried because of the cover of this book that it would be an oversaturated, unreal, sentimental piece of romantic-historical fiction. It takes itself very seriously, but this only makes the whole thing kind of ridiculous at points. It was, to a certain extent, kind of stupid. But then life is kind of stupid, as well, so by the end it had won me over, and therefore I give it three stars. But make no mistake, these are three stars of mediocrity. It's the decent kind of mediocrity, though.
May 11, 2011
It is possible that no one admires Oscar Hijuelos' "The Mambo Kings Sing Songs of Love" more than I do. In "Mambo Kings", Hijuelos wrote what is my favorite kind of novel, one that opens up a community with depth and resonance, in which the narrative flows irresistibly. Subsequent efforts, some of them admirably in themselves, haven't measured up. "A Simple Habana Melody" reads almost like Hijuelos' effort to recapture the magic. Again, an aging musician lives in exile, again the haunting melody written for a lost love, and again, the lost love. Israel Levis inhabits an earlier Cuba than the Mambo Kings; the oppression that drives him abroad comes from the Machado presidency, not the Castro regime, and he winds up in France, not New York. The "beautiful Maria" of Levis' life is Rita Valladares, a singing and dancing star (and sometime rival to Josephine Baker - Hijuelos lays on the famous cameos a little thickly in this outing). Valladares actually comes across the greatest vitality of any character in the novel; the character of Levis in comparison seems pallid and diffident, despite the gastronomic and erotic appetite that Hijuelos gives him. He is in fact most interesting early in the novel, as a shrunken man returning from a camp, the Nazi having decided, perhaps accurately, that he has a Jewish heritage. The language occasionally overheats as well, especially during the repetitive sex scenes.
August 13, 2011
Cuban composer Israel Levis writes a simple melody called "Rosas Puras" which becomes world famous. Its fame and royalties allow him to relocate to Europe in time to be arrested in Paris as a Jew — he was a devout Catholic but the Nazis could not see beyond his name. I enjoyed the opportunity to see Cuba from times way before mine, and before my country's obsession with humiliating Castro. To me the simple melody was symbolic of a pure innocent desire, which lingered after all the destruction and broken souls of World War II. I learned of this book through a Writer's Almanac tribute to Hijuelos' birthday (08/21/1951), its inclusion on the Seattle Public Library's reading list "Reading Across the Map: Latino Fiction", and on the list "Cuba Si!" in Nancy Pearl's Book Lust.
October 23, 2013
I agree with previous posters that this book is hella repetitive. Take, for example:
P98: "...in her case it was with the composer of "Rosas Puras", Israel Levis himself, who, ever gentlemanly, to her disbelief, had always been too timidly disposed around her."
P143: "...in her case with the composer of "Rosas Puras", Israel Levis himself, who, to her disappointment, had always been too timidly inclined around her."
That is but one example out of many.
Yet, I did not think this book was boring and I very much enjoy his writing style. I am excited to read The Mambo Kings Play Songs of Love- his Pulitzer winner. This book could have used some editing, however.
P98: "...in her case it was with the composer of "Rosas Puras", Israel Levis himself, who, ever gentlemanly, to her disbelief, had always been too timidly disposed around her."
P143: "...in her case with the composer of "Rosas Puras", Israel Levis himself, who, to her disappointment, had always been too timidly inclined around her."
That is but one example out of many.
Yet, I did not think this book was boring and I very much enjoy his writing style. I am excited to read The Mambo Kings Play Songs of Love- his Pulitzer winner. This book could have used some editing, however.
September 10, 2007
This book is so boring, so annoying. Doesn't go anywhere. I felt like the author had a word quota, so it seemed like he had to keep repeating things. And the story line barely gets anywhere. I stuck it out hoping it would get better. I'm trying to save the rest of humanity from the suffering. Don't bother with this book.
May 21, 2009
With a style as lyrical as music itself, Hijuelos explores the depths of longing and loss, and the pinnacles of life and love. Israel Levis, a devout Catholic and successful composer in pre-war Cuba, struggles with the challenges of success, love, and family, survives imprisonment in a Nazi concentration camp, and ultimately finds salvation and peace.
January 17, 2011
BOOOOOOOOORING. Fiction written like a biography of Cuban composer. Just didn't capture my attention, though the author really tried through a variety of methods including referring WAY too many times to the main character's giant penis and how admired it was by the MANY, many women he took to his bed. Ugh. Not impressed.
March 9, 2011
I liked the book. The characters were memorable and the description of what the musician went through in Germany during WWII was quite disturbing and impressionable. His description of what happened in Cuba under Machado was accurate in some way and not in others. The book could have been shorter. A little repetitive but I finished it.
August 4, 2012
Quite enjoyed it in the end, although it was dull through the middle. It could have been a hundred pages less, some chapters were pointless and added nothing to the story. And seriously, how many times do we need to be told about his giant lad and his attraction to men, I got the point the first time
October 10, 2007
A good story of a Cuban Bachelor pianist and composer who writes a famous song, struggles with his sexuality, is misidentified as a Jew in WWII Paris and is sent to a concentration camp, and his love for two women. Not as good as some of his other books, but a good read.
August 11, 2009
It repeats itself endlessly, as a Cuban musician who had traveled to France & been interred in a concentration camp during WWII, reflects on his life after he returns to Cuba. (I gave up after about 100 pages.)
May 9, 2012
Sometimes when reading I would get lost and realize that I didn't understand the last few paragraphs - the language was often that flowery. But I enjoyed the story, and wanted so much for this man to finally be happy and be with his love and to find out how he ended up where he did.
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