A true believer is faced with a choice between love for his family and
the Cuban Revolution.
Daring, tough, and deeply compassionate, Achy Obejas's Ruins is a
breathtaker. Obejas writes like an angel, which is to say: gloriously .
. . one of the Cuba's most important writers.
--Junot Diaz, Winner of the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction
In the Havana of Ruins, scarcity can only be fought with ingenuity,
and the characters work very hard at the exquisite art of getting by.
The plot rests on the schemes of its weary, obsessive, dreamy hero--a
character so brilliantly drawn that he can't be dismissed or forgotten.
A tender and wildly accurate portrait, in a gem of a novel.
--Joan Silber, author of The Size of the World
Obejas evinces a new, focused lyricism as she penetrates to the very
heart of the Cuban paradox in a story as pared down and intense as its
narrator's life.
--Booklist (*starred review*)
Compassionate and intriguing . . . Obejas plays out [the book's]
conflicts in measured, simple prose, allowing her descriptions of the
mundane--houses, food, dominoes--to illuminate a setting filled with
heartbreak, confusion and decay . . . At her best, Obejas controls the
mixture of humor and pathos that suffuse this poor community.
--Los Angeles Times
Ruins is a beautifully written novel, a moving testament to the human
spirit of an unlikely hero who remains unbroken even as the world
collapses around him . . . A fine literary achievement, it's Achy Obejas
at her very best.
--El Paso Times
[A] superb novel . . . Highly recommended.
--Library Journal
[An] honest and superbly written book.
--Miami Herald
With the deft and evocative detail of a poet's, Obejas's prose is as
illuminating and honest as her struggling protagonist.
--Publishers Weekly
Usnavy has always been a true believer. When the Cuban Revolution
triumphed in 1959, he was just a young man and eagerly signed on for all
of its promises. But as the years have passed, the sacrifices have
outweighed the glories and he's become increasingly isolated in his
revolutionary zeal. His friends openly mock him, his wife dreams of
owning a car totally outside their reach, and his beloved
fourteen-year-old daughter haunts the coast of Havana, staring north.
In the summer of 1994, a few years after the collapse of the Soviet
Union, the government allows Cubans to leave at will and on whatever
will float. More than 100,000 flee--including Usnavy's best friend.
Things seem to brighten when he stumbles across what may or may not be a
priceless Tiffany lamp that reveals a lost family secret and fuels his
long repressed feelings . . . But now Usnavy is faced with a choice
between love for his family and the Revolution that has shaped his
entire life.
Achy Obejas is the author of various books, including the
award-winning novel Days of Awe and the best-selling poetry chapbook
This Is What Happened in Our Other Life. She is the editor of
Akashic's critically acclaimed crime-fiction anthology Havana Noir,
and the translator (into Spanish) for Junot Diaz's The Brief Wondrous
Life of Oscar Wao. Currently, she is the Sor Juana Writer in Residence
at DePaul University in Chicago. She was born in Havana and continues to
spend extended time there.
