Author Description

Product Description Matâias, a Cuban exile living in Caracas, recalls his convoluted relationship with his mother, Sofâia, in terms of the equally complex history of his country in the twentieth century. From Publishers Weekly Cuban writer Nieto, who now resides in Miami, had success with his eye-opening debut, Los paraisos artificiales (Artificial Paradises, Ediciones Universal, 1997). In his latest novel, Matias Ballester, a Cuban exile living in Caracas, purports to tell the story of his mother, the beautiful Sofia Vilarubla, while actually telling his own. Matias explores how his mother shaped his emotionally stunted life and dismal destiny. His misery began in earnest when his mother abandoned her adoring husband, children in tow, to pursue a love affair with a morally bankrupt gambler. Years later, as an exile in New York, Matias treats his lovers with the contempt he had previously reserved for his mother. As portrayed by Matias, the self-absorbed Sofia is unworthy of maternal reverence: She manipulates her son, commits adultery, and is much more concerned about her personal hygiene than the abortions she has had. Queen Sofia, as Matias refers to her, rules victims, not subjects. Still, Matias claims that he writes her story to satisfy her vanity and to absolve himself for abandoning her in Castro's Cuba. Male scrutiny of the feminine soul always risks condescension, but Nieto avoids this pitfall and focuses on effective storytelling. The novel's strikingly juxtaposed narrative snapshots, rich in imagery, reveal the weight of the past on each character's present. This is also a novel about political exile that connects the characters' flaws to their political circumstances, but the strength of Nieto's work lies in its exposing the atrocities of Castro's regime without turning into a political manifesto. Recommended for bookstores serving a Cuban population and for all public and academic libraries. Joseph Delgado-Figueroa, Columbia, SC Copyrigh