Influenced by magical realism, the story follows four women over three generations of a family, some in Cuba and some away from it, but all effected by it. (Celia, Lourdes, Felicia & Pilar). Narrative shifts every chapter or so to allow a look into the minds and lives of each character, including some of the male ones.
Felicia’s madness is likely the result of syphilis traveling into her brain. She leaves a trail of maimed/dead husbands in her wake.
The women are divided over the revolution; Lourdes leaves Cuba after the rise of Castro, rejecting communism in favor of stanch capitalism (opening the Yankee Doodle Bakery in NY) while Celia becomes a sort of district arbitrator, earning power under Castro’s government.
Celia’s letters to her lost love, Gustavo, advance the plot, add dates to the action and allow access to her inner thoughts, becoming a journal. It seems the letters are never sent or replied to, lending credence to the journal concept.
Pilar, as an immigrant to the US, belongs to neither culture. She feels drawn to Cuba but once she goes there she understands she doesn’t belong. She joins the punk rock movement and strives to become an artist, perhaps hoping to paint a corner of the world for herself to reside in.
An undercurrent of racial issues reside here, as the darkness of a person’s skin directly equates to their status within the Cuban society.
Garcia is NOT a CHICANA, I repeat, NOT A CHICANA. She’s Cuban.
She uses the magic of Santeria to move the plot along, it brings to mind the interesting nature of the mestiza culture creating by the merging of Anglo religion with indigenous religion.
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