El Rey de Los Besos

by Ana Veciana Suarez, Cristina Pagés (Translator)

In Ana Veciana-Suarez's debut novel, three generations of Cuban-American women struggle to care for an ailing, premature baby boy. An extra chromosome has thrown Victor Eduardo's whole body out of whack. He has tiny holes in his heart and keeps getting pneumonia. His mother, Maribel, falls apart, his grandmother plays the lottery, and his great-grandmother talks to ghosts. Victor Eduardo's birth brings Cuca, Adela, and Maribel to understand one another better than ever, even though they have lived together in the same Miami duplex for Maribel's entire life. Have a hankie ready, because this is a very sad story.

At 77 years of age, Cuca has a vibrant spiritual life--she regularly converses with her deceased husband, brother, and grandmother, asking them for advice on helping Victor and consoling Maribel. Cuca's daughter Adela is something of a wild woman, a sexy, middle-aged beautician who distracts herself from the baby's woes by playing the lottery and having an affair with her best friend's husband. Until Victor's birth, Maribel thought she was completely different from her mother. She was a marketing analyst, an orderly, cautious person. Her son's difficulties shatter her beliefs in rules and justice. In the wake of the tragedy, she hardly recognizes herself: "The Maribel who had thought life could be simplified into charts, where had she gone?" It is difficult to write about a sick and dying baby without resorting to clichés or becoming overly sentimental. Ana Veciana-Suarez makes a valiant effort to do so in The Chin Kiss King. --Jill Marquis

Genres: Fiction

404 pages, Paperback

First published July 1, 1997

Reviews

[Elyse Walters · Rating 5 out of 5]

“The Chin Kiss King”, is not overly sentimental- but it is a sad story sparkled with inspiring lightness.

A sweet disabled child transforms the lives of three power-house fascinating Cuban woman.

Beautiful... just beautiful!

[Suanne Laqueur · Rating 5 out of 5]

Beautiful beautiful beautiful. I read this nearly 20 years ago and still remember it. A book about life, love, pain, mothers, women and letting go. Tissues necessary. And a highlighter for the chapter on Cuca’s 8 life lessons. I loved her scenes the most...

Highly recommend.

[Jaspreet · Rating 4 out of 5]

Over Thanksgiving break, I finished reading Chin Kiss King by Ana Veciana-Suarez's. The novel is set in Miami with flashbacks to Cuba; I loved how the author brought nuances of growing up in a bi-cultural environment. The story is about a woman who gives birth to a handicapped infant and how this ties her with her mother and grandmother. The inter-generational relationship is very moving. Some of the conflict that comes between mothers and daughters is tied to the aspects of Cuban culture that each tries to keep and each dismisses. There is discussion of pregnancy, birth, and loss. It made me think about the wishes we have for our kids, how we cope when they do not turn out as expected, and how we evolve was parents. In fact, I was so touched by the story that I started crying on my plane ride back to Seattle. I had to ask the flight attendant for a tissue who looked very alarmed. I explained that I was reading a very moving tale.

This is also my fourth book for the Armchair Traveler Reading Challenge. I have two finish two more books for it by the end of December; I am not sure if I am going to make it with exams right around the corner. Here's hoping that I do and then I can be eligible for prizes.

Recommend to a friend: YES!

[Steph · Rating 4 out of 5]

Spoiler Alert: This book resonated with me because it concerns a special needs child as much as it concerns his mother, grandmother and great-grandmother. Each of these women is trapped by something inside her that informs who she is and how she conducts herself in the world. In the five months we spend with these characters, we watch them push away from one another, but, ultimately, draw inextricably closer as the baby boy's death becomes a reality. I have a special needs grandchild, and I so understood the grief with which these women lived.

[Tonantzin · Rating 5 out of 5]

I cried like I've never cried reading a book....

[Gabrielle · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of my favorite books of all time....

[Shelby · Rating 3 out of 5]

A good book for anyone interested in reading about the relationships between different generations of a Cuban-American family, or about motherhood - it's beautifully written, and the character relationships are developed/revealed well. However, there isn't much of a moving plotline, and the story is sad the whole way through...so for someone not particularly interested in Cuba / motherhood, this might not necessarily be worth the somber read.

[Lucy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Inside the jacket the book is described as heart wrenching. It really is, and I am not often up for taking on that feeling unnecessarily. It is a good story about three generations of Cuban American women and the son born to one of them with severe birth defects.

[Kelly · Rating 5 out of 5]

A delightful first novel. All about raising an infant born with disabilities before he dies. Love the three generations of Hispanic women. This book made me feel so wonderful while reading it. Thanks, Jayne, for recommending it to me!

[Mwabi · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is the saddest book I've ever read! Just thinking about it makes me sad. 3 generations of women and one baby boy and their journey through life and what it holds.

[Lorena · Rating 3 out of 5]

Well written book, very sad story. I liked it overall. It gives you a look at the way some cuban immigrants live and also has a very touching medical drama.

[Kim Benouski · Rating 5 out of 5]

This lyrical, beautiful book is so unique. I have never read anything like it. It just stayed with me.

[Linda · Rating 5 out of 5]

Gift from Anne Frazier

[Debra · Rating 5 out of 5]

Amazing!!!! loved it!

[Michelle · Rating 4 out of 5]

major tearjerker

[Quinesia Johnson · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Chin Kiss King by Ana Veciana Suarez. I happened upon this book and chose to annotate it because of the beautiful cover, and prose in the first chapter. So rich, so full in culture and language. A Cuban- American g- grandmother welcomes her 1st g-grandchild. There is connotative meaning in the title that I was unaware of either culturally or otherwise. A story that began in beauty, slowly became disconcerting, sad, and a perhaps testament of cultural and or social climates of today. I’ve never been a fan of literature, though appreciative of its common views into traumas and mores. 4 stars in spite of my biases, very well written, but verrry slow with not much of a plot, and a lot of flowery language. On the flip, annotation was sooo fun. I had seen them done, but never embarked. Annotating is when you write your reactions and thoughts and doodles in the columns of a great book! You can search methods on Insta and on Youtube particularly if you are interested in this trend/ hobby.

[Candy Familant · Rating 5 out of 5]

Beautifully writtten

I’ve never read a book that had so much love for a child and was so attuned with nature and the universe. This book made you feel such anguish for the three main characters.

[CC · Rating 1 out of 5]

I could not finish this novel. What I read of it was depressing. I have this thing that I always finish a novel I start, even if painful. Not this one. It was worth the 2 cents I paid at a garage sale.

[Deb Oestreicher]

I wanted to like this book, but while it is readable, it is not rewarding. It seems to want to be a Cuban-American magic realist novel, but the magic has little purpose or resonance, and on the whole, the novel really lacks depth.