SEEING THE WORLD THROUGH BOOKS

Set in contemporary Cuba, and focused on “ordinary” citizens trying to make ends meet so that they can enjoy their “freedoms” and their personal lives, author Carlos Manuel Álvarez writes his debut novel almost as if it were an opera. Intense and full of emotion, much of it kept hidden from the outside world, the novel features four main characters living their separate lives and sharing them with the reader throughout five different sections. The four characters appear in the same order in each of the sections – the Son, Mother, Father, and Daughter – giving the reader insights into their “solo” lives at the same time that their connections to the family as a whole become clear. Life in Cuba is difficult and often unpredictable, and though the foundation of the country is based on high ideals, the practicalities of staying alive in contemporary times sometimes depends on paring back the values and ideals and taking a less absolute approach. Author Carlos Manuel Álvarez completes his work in fine style, his imagery cementing the themes and providing both life and death in the novel and in the lives of his characters.

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Author Lily King, a widely honored author of novels, has just published her first collection of stories, Five Tuesdays in Winter, and what a collection it is. Filled with references to famous writers and their writing, the collection also features the writing of her own characters, such as a young teen writing diary entries and imagining life events, and a young mother trying to find time to examine life and write while taking care of a toddler. Throughout, King herself conveys the urgency of creation through stories so intense and so genuine that this book makes her own creations “blow past all the fixed boundaries of art – of life.” There is an intimacy to her stories which brings them to life in new ways, whether they be stories featuring a teenage babysitter, a shy older man who begins to experience real love for the first time, an attentive mother spoiling her selfish daughter, or characters both gay and straight as they realize who they are. Some characters here are disturbed, some are fun-loving, and at least one is a ghost, but virtually all the main characters are appealing as they deal with life’s twists and turns, and Lily King allows the reader to connect with them all.

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