Rate this book

Beautiful Maria Of My Soul (2010)

by Oscar Hijuelos(Favorite Author)

3.28 of 5 Votes: 5

ISBN

1401323340 (ISBN13: 9781401323349)

languge

English

genre

Romance

publisher

Hyperion

review 1: About a month ago I scored a copy of Beautiful Maria of My Soul as part of LibraryThing?s early Reviewer program. I decided the first thing I needed to do was read [The Mambo Kings Play Songs of Love]. I?m glad I did. The two books belong together?two versions of the same story?and it was good to read the original first. Beautiful Maria of My Soul tells the story of Maria Garcia y Cifuentes, the woman who broke Nestor Castillo?s heart in Mambo Kings. It follows her from her childhood as a poor, illiterate farm girl to the streets of Havana where she becomes a well-known dancer in nightclubs. She hooks up with a local thug, Ignacio, who introduces her to the finer things in life, and then she meets Nestor. As in Mambo Kings, the story of Maria and Nestor is told as a series... more of sexual escapades. If there is one thing that author, Oscar Hijuelos, knows how to do, it?s write about sex. I have never read so many different descriptions of the act in one volume before?except in Mambo Kings. After awhile I became numb to it?alright already, I get it. Before long Maria breaks up with Nestor, crushing him and sending him into a lifetime funk. In Mambo Kings the reason Maria leaves is a mystery, which makes Nestor?s pining, and the song he writes about Maria, all the more poignant. In Beautiful Maria, we learn why Maria leaves, and although I won?t spoil it here, I was really wishing for something a little more romantic and heart-rending, something to make my heart break for Maria, too. But such was not the case. Maria, and her daughter by Ignacio, move to Miami. At that point the book really seemed to slow down and I was ready for it to be over. And then I got to the last section of the book, where Hijuelos takes a twist and turn, which I read with a wry smile on my face. It was a good ending?but too little, too late to make this a great book.
review 2: This sequel to the "Mambo Kings Sing the Songs of Love" was disappointing. I loved the parts where Maria (of "The Beautiful Maria bof my Soul" song in the first book) tells her history, the poor village where she grew up, & in the end where you hear from her daughter & Maria's later life. However, I think the author is obsessed with male anatomy & thinks this alone will make up for the fact that he leaves this woman with a man who beats her, even though she obviously fell in love with another ( with huge anatomy). less

Download links for: Beautiful Maria of My Soul

Advertising