OBOC - Cuba

The comparison between Isabel Allende’s House of Spirits and Daina Chaviano’s The Island of Eternal Love is valid on some levels. Both writers left their country of birth amidst a social revolution (the former by the capitalists, the latter by the socialists though) and migrated to America forever longing for the country they left behind at the same time hating it for it had turned into. Similar to Allende’s novel  Chaviano’s work also encompasses multiple generations, strong women characters, invokes magical realism, spirits, and is set in a historical context. But the comparison ends there, at least according to me.

I just couldn’t connect to this novel as I did to the House of Spirits. Chaviano’s work appears to be a bit incoherent and frankly did not have the power of Isabel Allende’s words. But that doesn’t mean it is not a book to be picked up. I think it has a lot of promise and was very interesting in parts.

One of the things I learned from the book is the multi-cultural/ethnic face of Cuba – an amalgam of Chinese, Black and Spanish cultures. The book also portrays the Cubans love for music beautifully. The revolution and the counter revolution are discussed and the author doesn’t mince words about how she feels about the revolution and what it has done to her beloved country. 

As for the story, it is told in two time lines – one in the present day and one that starts a century ago and the two stories meet at the end of the book. The current day story is about Cecilia who is a Miami reporter investigating the appearance of phantom houses on certain dates associated with the fate of Cuba, seen only by those who are open to supernatural experiences. Cecilia is lonely, separated from her family and her country of birth and is going through a bout of depression in trying to decipher her place in Miami.

Cecilia meets a fellow Cuban, an old lady, Amalia, in a bar who narrates her life story which has its roots in China, Spain and Africa – all coming together in Cuba. Through her story we get a glimpse of Cuban political, cultural, ethnic history not to mention the religious/occult/fantastical traditions among the different communities. The Chinese family in the book uses dreams to play the lottery, the Black family sees ghosts and the daughter is possessed by a demon and the Spanish family where all the women upon hitting puberty have to deal with Martinico the imp

At first the story of Cecilia’s investigation seemed interesting but after a point it failed to hold my attention. The other story narrated by Amalia on the other hand was much more intriguing and almost made me skip alternate chapters to get to it! Overall if I had a rating system I would give this book 3 stars out of 5. Not as gripping as I hoped it would be.