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Thoughts Without Cigarettes
The beloved Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist turns his pen to the real people and places that have influenced his life and, in turn, his literature. Growing up in 1950's working-class New York City to Cuban immigrants, Hijuelos journey to literary acclaim is the evolution of an unlikely writer.
Oscar Hijuelos has enchanted readers with vibrant characters who hunger for success, love, and self-acceptance. In his first work of nonfiction, Hijuelos writes from the heart about the people and places that inspired his international bestselling novels.
Born in Manhattan's Morningside Heights to Cuban immigrants in 1951, Hijuelos introduces readers to the colorful circumstances of his upbringing. The son of a Cuban hotel worker and exuberant poetry- writing mother, his story, played out against the backdrop of an often prejudiced working-class neighborhood, takes on an even richer dimension when his relationship to his family and culture changes forever. During a sojourn in pre-Castro Cuba with his mother, he catches a disease that sends him into a Dickensian home for terminally ill children. The yearlong stay estranges him from the very language and people he had so loved.
With a cast of characters whose stories are both funny and tragic, Thoughts Without Cigarettes follows Hijuelos's subsequent quest for his true identity into adulthood, through college and beyond-a mystery whose resolution he eventually discovers hidden away in the trappings of his fiction, and which finds its most glorious expression in his best-known book, The Mambo Kings Play Songs of Love . Illuminating the most dazzling scenes from his novels, Thoughts Without Cigarettes reveals the true stories and indelible memories that shaped a literary genius.
Oscar Hijuelos has enchanted readers with vibrant characters who hunger for success, love, and self-acceptance. In his first work of nonfiction, Hijuelos writes from the heart about the people and places that inspired his international bestselling novels.
Born in Manhattan's Morningside Heights to Cuban immigrants in 1951, Hijuelos introduces readers to the colorful circumstances of his upbringing. The son of a Cuban hotel worker and exuberant poetry- writing mother, his story, played out against the backdrop of an often prejudiced working-class neighborhood, takes on an even richer dimension when his relationship to his family and culture changes forever. During a sojourn in pre-Castro Cuba with his mother, he catches a disease that sends him into a Dickensian home for terminally ill children. The yearlong stay estranges him from the very language and people he had so loved.
With a cast of characters whose stories are both funny and tragic, Thoughts Without Cigarettes follows Hijuelos's subsequent quest for his true identity into adulthood, through college and beyond-a mystery whose resolution he eventually discovers hidden away in the trappings of his fiction, and which finds its most glorious expression in his best-known book, The Mambo Kings Play Songs of Love . Illuminating the most dazzling scenes from his novels, Thoughts Without Cigarettes reveals the true stories and indelible memories that shaped a literary genius.
384 pages, Hardcover
First published April 21, 2011
23 people are currently reading
736 people want to read
About the author
Oscar Hijuelos
34 books218 followersOscar Hijuelos (born August 24, 1951) was an American novelist. He is the first Hispanic to win a Pulitzer Prize for Fiction.
Hijuelos was born in New York City, in Morningside Heights, Manhattan, to Cuban immigrant parents. He attended the Corpus Christi School, public schools, and later attended Bronx Community College, Lehman College, and Manhattan Community College before matriculating into and studying writing at the City College of New York (B.A., 1975; M.A. in Creative Writing, 1976). He then practiced various professions before taking up writing full time. His first novel, Our House in the Last World, was published in 1983 and received the 1985 Rome Prize, awarded by the American Academy in Rome. His second novel, The Mambo Kings Play Songs of Love, received the 1990 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction. It was adapted for the film The Mambo Kings in 1992 and as a Broadway musical in 2005.
Hijuelos has taught at Hofstra University and at Duke University.
Hijuelos was born in New York City, in Morningside Heights, Manhattan, to Cuban immigrant parents. He attended the Corpus Christi School, public schools, and later attended Bronx Community College, Lehman College, and Manhattan Community College before matriculating into and studying writing at the City College of New York (B.A., 1975; M.A. in Creative Writing, 1976). He then practiced various professions before taking up writing full time. His first novel, Our House in the Last World, was published in 1983 and received the 1985 Rome Prize, awarded by the American Academy in Rome. His second novel, The Mambo Kings Play Songs of Love, received the 1990 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction. It was adapted for the film The Mambo Kings in 1992 and as a Broadway musical in 2005.
Hijuelos has taught at Hofstra University and at Duke University.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 49 reviews
May 15, 2024
It’s Pulitzer season. The day the awards are announced, I rush to put the new batch of winners on hold. This year a few of the winners have a long waiting list, deservedly, so I have been focusing on my lifetime Pulitzer bucket list challenge where I read the winners across all genres that interest me. What about the winners that have captivated me the most? I hold a special place in my heart for The Mambo Kings Play Songs of Love, the 1990 winner for fiction. As a lifelong student of all things Latino, married to a Hispanic immigrant for the past nineteen years, this book, the first Latino written to win, occupies a place in the upper echelon of winners for me. One of my goodreads friends- thank you, Lorna- happened to be reading the author’s memoir. His writing flows like the Cuban breezes and Mambo music that he depicts, so I knew that I would have to read the story of Oscar Hijuelos’ life.
Hijuelos’ parents Pascuel and Magda immigrated to New York in the 1940s. To put this into historical perspective, this was before World War II when the United States was largely segregated. The state department had only lifted quota laws for immigrants less than twenty years earlier, and the bracero program on the opposite side of the country did not exist yet. Fidel Castro was but a blip on Havana’s radar, but the Cuba of Hijuelos’ parents was an impoverished country. The people looking to better themselves moved to New York or Miami and for the most part never left. In the north of de facto and de jure segegration; however, the best job that Pascuel Hijuelos could obtain was that of line cook. Others that he knew worked as elevator operators or house cleaners. So much for the life of the mambo kings from Cuba. Living this upper class existence would be a thing of the past.
Hijuelos was born on August 24, 1951, named after his uncle who had perished in an accident. On a trip to visit relatives in Cuba as a three year old, young Oscar fell ill and developed nephritis. He would be in and out of hospitals for years and was fortunate to escape with his health intact. As a result, his mother would be overprotective of her younger son for the duration of his childhood, rarely allowing him out of the house until he entered school four years later. Much of Hijuelos’ childhood went by in a blur, surviving the streets of upper Manhattan. Writing was not as much of an interest to him as something he grew into. Upon graduating from high school, he never thought of himself as much of a student. He enrolled in college mainly to stay off of the streets and to prolong starting his adult life. When he finally entered City College, he found himself the student of upper echelon writers and begrudgingly entered into the profession.
Like many writers, Hijuelos writes about what he knows. A late bloomer, he came of writing age when people cast affirmative action in a negative light. Hispanic literature was few and far between and crammed into the category immigrant fiction alongside that of Chinese, Indian, etc. There was Gabriel Garcia Marquez and then there was everyone else. Yet, as though in a dream, Hijuelos decided to tell his parents’ story and Mambo Kings came into existence. The story of brothers who were band leaders in Cuba- Mambo Kings- and got a break by appearing on Desi Arnaz’ show was met with high acclaim. Most of my gringa friends think the book is hyper sexed, but that is machismo culture at its finest, and I savored that book. because it contained all the elements of Hispanic culture that I love. In 1990 this was still considered new to most people so Mambo Kings was considered a revolutionary book. Those Latinos in the know saw it as the general public finally lauding one of their own.
In talking about his life until Mambo Kings, Oscar Hijuelos is wistful. He endured much in his life that no one should have to go through and it was not until therapy much later in life that he pinpointed his childhood as undiagnosed ptsd. This memoir is about immigration and a rags to riches story but not for the weak of heart. As an adult Hijuelos found mentors who kept him away from drugs and into the writing life. Mambo Lings ended up being life changing and gave Hijuelos the revelation that yea he is an author to be reckoned with. He had made it and what a life he has had until now. Thank you again, Lorna. I will now have to read some more of Hijuelos’ books that I am sure I will savor.
4.5 stars
Hijuelos’ parents Pascuel and Magda immigrated to New York in the 1940s. To put this into historical perspective, this was before World War II when the United States was largely segregated. The state department had only lifted quota laws for immigrants less than twenty years earlier, and the bracero program on the opposite side of the country did not exist yet. Fidel Castro was but a blip on Havana’s radar, but the Cuba of Hijuelos’ parents was an impoverished country. The people looking to better themselves moved to New York or Miami and for the most part never left. In the north of de facto and de jure segegration; however, the best job that Pascuel Hijuelos could obtain was that of line cook. Others that he knew worked as elevator operators or house cleaners. So much for the life of the mambo kings from Cuba. Living this upper class existence would be a thing of the past.
Hijuelos was born on August 24, 1951, named after his uncle who had perished in an accident. On a trip to visit relatives in Cuba as a three year old, young Oscar fell ill and developed nephritis. He would be in and out of hospitals for years and was fortunate to escape with his health intact. As a result, his mother would be overprotective of her younger son for the duration of his childhood, rarely allowing him out of the house until he entered school four years later. Much of Hijuelos’ childhood went by in a blur, surviving the streets of upper Manhattan. Writing was not as much of an interest to him as something he grew into. Upon graduating from high school, he never thought of himself as much of a student. He enrolled in college mainly to stay off of the streets and to prolong starting his adult life. When he finally entered City College, he found himself the student of upper echelon writers and begrudgingly entered into the profession.
Like many writers, Hijuelos writes about what he knows. A late bloomer, he came of writing age when people cast affirmative action in a negative light. Hispanic literature was few and far between and crammed into the category immigrant fiction alongside that of Chinese, Indian, etc. There was Gabriel Garcia Marquez and then there was everyone else. Yet, as though in a dream, Hijuelos decided to tell his parents’ story and Mambo Kings came into existence. The story of brothers who were band leaders in Cuba- Mambo Kings- and got a break by appearing on Desi Arnaz’ show was met with high acclaim. Most of my gringa friends think the book is hyper sexed, but that is machismo culture at its finest, and I savored that book. because it contained all the elements of Hispanic culture that I love. In 1990 this was still considered new to most people so Mambo Kings was considered a revolutionary book. Those Latinos in the know saw it as the general public finally lauding one of their own.
In talking about his life until Mambo Kings, Oscar Hijuelos is wistful. He endured much in his life that no one should have to go through and it was not until therapy much later in life that he pinpointed his childhood as undiagnosed ptsd. This memoir is about immigration and a rags to riches story but not for the weak of heart. As an adult Hijuelos found mentors who kept him away from drugs and into the writing life. Mambo Lings ended up being life changing and gave Hijuelos the revelation that yea he is an author to be reckoned with. He had made it and what a life he has had until now. Thank you again, Lorna. I will now have to read some more of Hijuelos’ books that I am sure I will savor.
4.5 stars
May 2, 2024
Thoughts Without Cigarettes is a beautiful autographed memoir by one of my favorite Latin American authors, Oscar Hijuelos. It is in this book, that we are introduced into the colorful past and upbringing of the author. He was born in Manhattan’s Morningside Heights in 1951. As the author points out often during this memoir, earliest pictures showed a delicately featured child, with curling blond hair, but not the sort one would have associated with the usual expectations of what one would expect from a Cuban couple. He looked like a little towhead americano. But as Oscar Hijuelos goes on to say that he owed his looks to a paternal great-great grandfather who had been Irish. He had hazel eyes, and altogether an appearance that, given his parents’ more Spanish looks, set him apart. It was that otherness that would haunt this child. His father was a restaurant cook at the Biltmore Hotel and his beautiful and exuberant mother wrote poetry. It was here that his life story played out in this ethnically-mixed working class neighborhood. In his early childhood, while on a trip to Cuba with his mother and older brother, Jose, Oscar Hijuelos contracted a microbial illness leading to nephritis. He is hospitalized in what is described as a Dickensian home for terminally ill children. The yearlong stay in the hospital estranges him from the very language and people he loved. Set in this backdrop, we are part of the great struggle by Oscar Hijuelos in his search for his identity. In his West Harlem home, we see his best Irish and German friends as well as black and Latino jazz musicians. It basically was a neighborhood where everyone was an immigrant and all dreamed of being somewhere better. But young Oscar grows up without much ambition and distant from his Latino identity.
But nurturing his writing talent at City College were his mentors, Donald Barthelme and Susan Sontag. His first novel, Our House in the Last World was very autobiographical and told of the struggle of his parents and him in adjusting to a new culture in America. It is following the publication of this first novel, that Mr. Hijuelos is invited to Rome for a year that opens a new life for him. Before arriving in Italy, he spends time in Spain, one of my favorite parts of the book. This is when he begins to avail himself of the works of the Latin American writers, the most famous being Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Pablo Neruda, Carlos Fuentes, and Mario Vargas Llosa. The fact that they were Latino writers stirred up a crazy pride within him.
And on a personal note, I would just like to add once again that Oscar Hijuelos has long been one of my favorite Latin American authors. My introduction to his writing began in the late fall of 1996 when I was a volunteer for an all-day forum with four authors, Oscar Hijuelos one of those authors. And I began to comb bookstores for his books to have them autographed. The first book I read, was Mr. Ives’ Christmas and I became a devoted fan with that beautiful book. Following his career over the years, I was saddened to learn of his untimely death in 2013. This book was published in 2011, giving a glimpse into the heart of Oscar Hijuelos. The last pages of this memoir was not only beautiful writing, but adding a sense of awe and wonderment to this literary achievement.
But nurturing his writing talent at City College were his mentors, Donald Barthelme and Susan Sontag. His first novel, Our House in the Last World was very autobiographical and told of the struggle of his parents and him in adjusting to a new culture in America. It is following the publication of this first novel, that Mr. Hijuelos is invited to Rome for a year that opens a new life for him. Before arriving in Italy, he spends time in Spain, one of my favorite parts of the book. This is when he begins to avail himself of the works of the Latin American writers, the most famous being Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Pablo Neruda, Carlos Fuentes, and Mario Vargas Llosa. The fact that they were Latino writers stirred up a crazy pride within him.
“At the Escorial, that storied royal residence north of Madrid, I felt the heaviness of Spanish history everywhere around me, and it made me sad.”
“In Guernica, my heart stopped.”
“Traveling all around the Iberian Peninsula, I ended my Spanish journey in Barcelona, where, indeed many of those Catalans were as fair (and sometimes balding) as I. Roaming its streets, I couldn’t help but wonder where my maternal grandfather’s family had once lived, or whether my mother and her sisters were aware of such landmarks as the Parque Guell or other insanely ornate buildings Gaudi had designed, during their visits there as children.”
“I wandered the old quarters of the city endlessly, bought countless novels from the kiosks off the Ramblas, editions of works by Garcia Marquez, Borges, Italo Calvino, Vargas Llosa, and Neruda, to name a few, for my planned Spanish library in Rome.”
I haunted the guitar shops of Barcelona, trying out one instrument after another. . . Eventually, I bought a real beauty, manufactured by the House of Struch in 1985, an orange wood, mellow-tone guitar, which sits in this very room behind me as I write.”
And on a personal note, I would just like to add once again that Oscar Hijuelos has long been one of my favorite Latin American authors. My introduction to his writing began in the late fall of 1996 when I was a volunteer for an all-day forum with four authors, Oscar Hijuelos one of those authors. And I began to comb bookstores for his books to have them autographed. The first book I read, was Mr. Ives’ Christmas and I became a devoted fan with that beautiful book. Following his career over the years, I was saddened to learn of his untimely death in 2013. This book was published in 2011, giving a glimpse into the heart of Oscar Hijuelos. The last pages of this memoir was not only beautiful writing, but adding a sense of awe and wonderment to this literary achievement.
June 8, 2011
I'm very fond of Oscar Hijuelos' writing. First and foremost it is evocative for me in a way much writing isn't. When I read Mr. Hijuelos I hear Celia Cruz in my head, smell smoky bars, and visualize a fantasy New York city in black-and-white tones full of noise, shadows, and smells of black beans, rice, and plantains riding on the breezes (mixing with all the other food smells one can imagine). I love the musical rhythm of his work and the intimacy of his long stream-of-consciousness sentences - as if I'm sitting on the stoop with him, smoking, and he's telling me stories.
All of this is particularly vivid in his memoir where he shares with us all his memories of growing up, of the stories and people that helped shape the writer he became. Most poignant, perhaps, is his feeling that he was an outsider within his own culture because he was in the hospital when he was 4 and lost his language. I know a little about losing your language because my great-grandmother was Native American and mission-raised where they were ruthlessly stripped of their culture and language. Despite all of that, Mr. Hijuelos imbues his work with the colors and sounds and stories of his culture and if he's an outsider he's a really privileged and adored one.
It's a pleasure to walk along with him at night in my head - going from club to club, smoking, laughing, drinking too much beer, and listening to stories. Highly recommended.
All of this is particularly vivid in his memoir where he shares with us all his memories of growing up, of the stories and people that helped shape the writer he became. Most poignant, perhaps, is his feeling that he was an outsider within his own culture because he was in the hospital when he was 4 and lost his language. I know a little about losing your language because my great-grandmother was Native American and mission-raised where they were ruthlessly stripped of their culture and language. Despite all of that, Mr. Hijuelos imbues his work with the colors and sounds and stories of his culture and if he's an outsider he's a really privileged and adored one.
It's a pleasure to walk along with him at night in my head - going from club to club, smoking, laughing, drinking too much beer, and listening to stories. Highly recommended.
May 28, 2018
My interest in reading Oscar Hijuelos’s memoir began because of the title- oh, and a mention on NPR. I soon realized an early 90’s movie starring a young Antonio Banderas and the smoldering Armand Asante was based on OH's Pulitzer prize winning book The Mambo Kings Play Songs of Love. Even better.
I loved The Mambo Kings movie for the sexy actors, but also for the 50’s mambo atmosphere. You could almost smell the biting cigarette smoke, cheap cologne and rum tainted sweat on Armand Asante and Mamba dance halls. I was hoping for more of the same in this book as the author spoke of his Cuban background and upbringing. (Plus- the dude won a Pulitzer- how does one do that? This? I needed to know.)
However.
That atmosphere never materialized in his biography because Oscar spent much of his life denying his Cubano-ness. Oh not overtly, he just blended in better than most because of his paler skin. Him losing his ability to speak his native Spanish early due to prolonged stays in a convalescing home in NYC because of a childhood illness, didn’t help much either. He did little to correct others assumptions as he grew up.
Aside from the homogenized life he actually lived, for me the disappointing factor in this book was that he didn’t get to his writing till the last quarter of the book!
But when he did, I was hooked. Especially with all the name dropping- John Irving, John Gardner, Norman Mailer et.al. And too- the guy received a fellow- IN ROME, ITALY. (So cool and what I wouldn’t give to be paid to write IN ROME! The stuff of dreams.)
I also found it fascinating how the titles for his books came to him through dreams and visions really. And he states this so matter-of-factly and in such a self effacing manner- I believe it’s so! Totally inspired.
Still, there's the beginning of the book. The majority of our time in his memoir is spent on his guilt and shame of not connecting to his parents and his origins. And thats really all there is to it. How ironic the fact that he was indeed Cuban American became the major contributing factor to him receiving the Pulitzer., imo.
However cathartic it must have been for him to write his life story, (at least- I pray- all the morose prose got him somewhere!), it just made the book tiresome.
So, 2 stars- hey, it woulda been a one star if it weren't for the ending.
I loved The Mambo Kings movie for the sexy actors, but also for the 50’s mambo atmosphere. You could almost smell the biting cigarette smoke, cheap cologne and rum tainted sweat on Armand Asante and Mamba dance halls. I was hoping for more of the same in this book as the author spoke of his Cuban background and upbringing. (Plus- the dude won a Pulitzer- how does one do that? This? I needed to know.)
However.
That atmosphere never materialized in his biography because Oscar spent much of his life denying his Cubano-ness. Oh not overtly, he just blended in better than most because of his paler skin. Him losing his ability to speak his native Spanish early due to prolonged stays in a convalescing home in NYC because of a childhood illness, didn’t help much either. He did little to correct others assumptions as he grew up.
Aside from the homogenized life he actually lived, for me the disappointing factor in this book was that he didn’t get to his writing till the last quarter of the book!
But when he did, I was hooked. Especially with all the name dropping- John Irving, John Gardner, Norman Mailer et.al. And too- the guy received a fellow- IN ROME, ITALY. (So cool and what I wouldn’t give to be paid to write IN ROME! The stuff of dreams.)
I also found it fascinating how the titles for his books came to him through dreams and visions really. And he states this so matter-of-factly and in such a self effacing manner- I believe it’s so! Totally inspired.
Still, there's the beginning of the book. The majority of our time in his memoir is spent on his guilt and shame of not connecting to his parents and his origins. And thats really all there is to it. How ironic the fact that he was indeed Cuban American became the major contributing factor to him receiving the Pulitzer., imo.
However cathartic it must have been for him to write his life story, (at least- I pray- all the morose prose got him somewhere!), it just made the book tiresome.
So, 2 stars- hey, it woulda been a one star if it weren't for the ending.
June 26, 2012
I just loved reading this book. Unfortunately, I wrote a review, then succeeded in 'losing' it, so here's the shortened version. Hijuelos' writing is masterful. He writes a true memoir, engaging the reader in all his worries, confusion, triumphs, and fears, as he tells his life's story as he perceives it.
His parents are from Cuba, although he was born in the U.S. On a visit to Cuba, he contracts a disease and has to spend a year of his life at a medical facility in Connecticut. He is only four years old when this happens; a crucial point in his development. The rest of his story focuses on growing up in a household in which he often feels like an outsider. Speaking only English the year he was sick, he can no longer speak Spanish confidently. Adding to his discomfort is his own skewed identification as a light-haired, light-skinned Cuban. At times the story is humorous, but there is much sadness and regret, as well.
Hijuelos relates his story in that interesting upheaval in the world known as the 60's and 70's. The memoir continues as Hijuelos travels an indirect path to become a writer. His novel, "The Mambo Kings Play Songs of Love" earns him notoriety as the first Latino to be awarded the Pulitzer Prize in fiction! His route to fame is circuitous, but the accomplished, successful people he meets along the way, make for fascinating reading. Hijuelos is adept at self-deprecation. He cleverly introduces unique, life-altering situations from his life, creating a story that reads like a personal conversation with the author. I will definitely read more of his work.
His parents are from Cuba, although he was born in the U.S. On a visit to Cuba, he contracts a disease and has to spend a year of his life at a medical facility in Connecticut. He is only four years old when this happens; a crucial point in his development. The rest of his story focuses on growing up in a household in which he often feels like an outsider. Speaking only English the year he was sick, he can no longer speak Spanish confidently. Adding to his discomfort is his own skewed identification as a light-haired, light-skinned Cuban. At times the story is humorous, but there is much sadness and regret, as well.
Hijuelos relates his story in that interesting upheaval in the world known as the 60's and 70's. The memoir continues as Hijuelos travels an indirect path to become a writer. His novel, "The Mambo Kings Play Songs of Love" earns him notoriety as the first Latino to be awarded the Pulitzer Prize in fiction! His route to fame is circuitous, but the accomplished, successful people he meets along the way, make for fascinating reading. Hijuelos is adept at self-deprecation. He cleverly introduces unique, life-altering situations from his life, creating a story that reads like a personal conversation with the author. I will definitely read more of his work.
July 2, 2011
**I won this book through Good Reads First Reads**
This was B-O-R-I-N-G. Are his other novels (mainly The Mambo Kings Play Songs of Love) this bad? Cuz tell me how did he win a Pulitzer? Maybe that it is mandatory for the award....
Anyway, the writing is so incredibly dry I could only read a few pages at a time, and I can read a book in a few hours if I enjoy it. And the name dropping throughout the ENTIRE book? I don't really care if you ate dinner with Sigorney Weaver or jammed with Duane Allman. I'm not at all impressed by an accomplished author's famous friends. Now if one of my non-famous friends were to jam with Duane Allman, that would be another story entirely.
I'm not one to give up on a book, but I came awfully close over and over again while reading this. I think this book could have been much more interesting and entertaining in a different voice.
Don't waste your time!
This was B-O-R-I-N-G. Are his other novels (mainly The Mambo Kings Play Songs of Love) this bad? Cuz tell me how did he win a Pulitzer? Maybe that it is mandatory for the award....
Anyway, the writing is so incredibly dry I could only read a few pages at a time, and I can read a book in a few hours if I enjoy it. And the name dropping throughout the ENTIRE book? I don't really care if you ate dinner with Sigorney Weaver or jammed with Duane Allman. I'm not at all impressed by an accomplished author's famous friends. Now if one of my non-famous friends were to jam with Duane Allman, that would be another story entirely.
I'm not one to give up on a book, but I came awfully close over and over again while reading this. I think this book could have been much more interesting and entertaining in a different voice.
Don't waste your time!
wishlist-b
May 19, 2011Another give-away not available to Europeans! I would be so happy to read an ebook of this on my Kindle. I loved the sample.
June 10, 2011
Angela's Ashes + Cuban spice
August 9, 2014
Getting bored with it. I WANT to be interested, but it's dragging.
November 17, 2011
Finally, I am finished with this book. What I perceived as self-loathing and shame about his family, Hijuelos describes as identity problems that caused him to be "reticent and self-doubting." Reading this book was enervating.
The pace picks up briefly when Hijuelos recounts bits of his 2-year stay in Italy. His contentedness and joy in living swoop off the page and I imagine a smile on his face, but the moroseness returns.
I'll be placing this book in the swap, and right soon.
~~~~~~~~
What happened to the book swap?
I saw Hijuelos in a PBS interview. I can't remember him ever smiling during the event. He was on the stump for this book, Thoughts Without Cigarettes. He seemed arrogant, distant, and simultaneously, diffident. He looked more Cuban than he imagined, and a very unhappy Cuban at that. I was much dismayed when music videos became the thing because my imagined images of the singers and their lyrics were forever destroyed if I viewed the video. My first encounter with Hijuelos on that PBS interview was like that, coloring my impression of the author and my reception of his work.
I remember being particularly pleased with the size of the book. It is slightly narrower than the standard hardcover. It fit in my hand very well and I had positive feelings going into the work, where I read about his childhood ills, his parents' early life in Cuba, the family's emigration to New York. Early in this book, I got the sense that Hijuelos was (is?) ashamed of his background, definitely his mother, and that he has a color complex because he is very fair while his parents and brother are dark. Looking at their pictures, they don't appear that dark, but Hijuelos is stuck on the fact that he doesn't necessarily 'look' Cuban, nor like his parents. I can't tell if he identifies with whites because of his health and medical experiences, if he wants to be white, or if he wants to be more visibly Cuban, but he definitely has some type of identity problem going on throughout the memoir that begins, in the insidiously quiet and ugly suggestion that Hijuelos doesn't like himself or his mother.
Talk about Danny Downer! After reading about a third of this book, I had to put it down and read several other books, knit a few things, reorder my drawers...you know, anything to avoid reading the book because it was bringing me down and not making me feel favorably towards the author. Eventually, I went back to it and recall the author's interest in writing 'techniques' when he discussed how he came to be a writer, a condition that seems to bewilder him. I can't tell if he is engaging in false modesty or if he truly doesn't feel worthy, like an impostor or poser.
Perhaps the conflicted emotions I feel after reading this book is testament to Hijuelos's mastery of the techniques he so admired. Perhaps the emotions are a result of reading the interpretation of lives shrouded in a tone that is both sardonic and diffident. I learned from reading this memoir that I don't do brooding and ashamed of my folks well, especially when it appears one has no external reasons for this mood.
For me, Hijuelos comes off as a whiner. Oddly enough, I found another of his books at my local Friends of the Library book sale and picked it up after reading the first page, which seemed to echo the life of his mother or one of his aunts. I'll see if I have a better opinion of the Hijuelos's storytelling abilities after reading Empress of the Splendid Season.
Now, I feel better about this review!
The pace picks up briefly when Hijuelos recounts bits of his 2-year stay in Italy. His contentedness and joy in living swoop off the page and I imagine a smile on his face, but the moroseness returns.
I'll be placing this book in the swap, and right soon.
~~~~~~~~
What happened to the book swap?
I saw Hijuelos in a PBS interview. I can't remember him ever smiling during the event. He was on the stump for this book, Thoughts Without Cigarettes. He seemed arrogant, distant, and simultaneously, diffident. He looked more Cuban than he imagined, and a very unhappy Cuban at that. I was much dismayed when music videos became the thing because my imagined images of the singers and their lyrics were forever destroyed if I viewed the video. My first encounter with Hijuelos on that PBS interview was like that, coloring my impression of the author and my reception of his work.
I remember being particularly pleased with the size of the book. It is slightly narrower than the standard hardcover. It fit in my hand very well and I had positive feelings going into the work, where I read about his childhood ills, his parents' early life in Cuba, the family's emigration to New York. Early in this book, I got the sense that Hijuelos was (is?) ashamed of his background, definitely his mother, and that he has a color complex because he is very fair while his parents and brother are dark. Looking at their pictures, they don't appear that dark, but Hijuelos is stuck on the fact that he doesn't necessarily 'look' Cuban, nor like his parents. I can't tell if he identifies with whites because of his health and medical experiences, if he wants to be white, or if he wants to be more visibly Cuban, but he definitely has some type of identity problem going on throughout the memoir that begins, in the insidiously quiet and ugly suggestion that Hijuelos doesn't like himself or his mother.
Talk about Danny Downer! After reading about a third of this book, I had to put it down and read several other books, knit a few things, reorder my drawers...you know, anything to avoid reading the book because it was bringing me down and not making me feel favorably towards the author. Eventually, I went back to it and recall the author's interest in writing 'techniques' when he discussed how he came to be a writer, a condition that seems to bewilder him. I can't tell if he is engaging in false modesty or if he truly doesn't feel worthy, like an impostor or poser.
Perhaps the conflicted emotions I feel after reading this book is testament to Hijuelos's mastery of the techniques he so admired. Perhaps the emotions are a result of reading the interpretation of lives shrouded in a tone that is both sardonic and diffident. I learned from reading this memoir that I don't do brooding and ashamed of my folks well, especially when it appears one has no external reasons for this mood.
For me, Hijuelos comes off as a whiner. Oddly enough, I found another of his books at my local Friends of the Library book sale and picked it up after reading the first page, which seemed to echo the life of his mother or one of his aunts. I'll see if I have a better opinion of the Hijuelos's storytelling abilities after reading Empress of the Splendid Season.
Now, I feel better about this review!
November 10, 2012
Oscar Hijuelos was four years old when he contracted nephritis during a visit with family in Cuba. The resulting hospital stay would alter his life forever. He went into the hospital as a Spanish-speaking first-generation Cuban-American. After a year of being insulted and treated badly by English-speaking nurses solely because he did not understand what they said to him, he came out of the hospital as an English-speaking "former" Cuban. I was appalled at the way the nurses treated a small child because of his language and heritage. Apparently, this experience scarred him to the extent that even after returning to his Spanish-speaking home, he refused to speak even one word of Spanish, or even acknowledge that he understood it when he heard it spoken. I find it ironic that he was chastised in the hospital for not knowing English, then spent years at odds with his family for not speaking Spanish.
Due to his hospital stay, Hijuelos started school late, and unable to read either English or Spanish. He struggled with English, feeling that it was somehow forbidden to him. Despite that, he is now very articulate and even eloquent at times. I find it interesting that he didn't even like to read growing up, preferring comic books because he could see what was happening without being hampered by words. He seems to have grown out of that. He is the first Latino to win the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction.
I liked that there were gaps in his memory and that he doesn't claim to remember or know every single thing that has ever happened. I find that this makes memoirs more believable. There was quite a lot of name-dropping, but Hijuelos did have the benefit of being involved in the NYC literary/arts community. Attending several NYC colleges and universities over the years, he also had a broader pool of students and professors than most people would have. I did get the feeling that the author became successful in spite of himself. He turns down or just plain misses opportunities that many aspiring authors would trade anything for.
This is not a dull, dry recitation of the author's life. There is some rambling from time to time, and I had to look up some of the writers mentioned as well as some of the Spanish slang. (I understood the "regular" Spanish.) Small stories of incidents woven through the book keep it interesting and often humorous. Such as when we read about how smoking an iguana out of a butchered pig ended with the entire family chasing and killing tarantulas. Or how Hijuelos sent a frustrated mugger to steal from Columbia students because City College students were too poor.
This isn't the best memoir I've ever read, but it is worth reading.
I won this book in a Goodreads First-reads giveaway.
This review is part of my Hurricane Relief Review-a-thon. http://www.livinglearninglovinglife.c...
Due to his hospital stay, Hijuelos started school late, and unable to read either English or Spanish. He struggled with English, feeling that it was somehow forbidden to him. Despite that, he is now very articulate and even eloquent at times. I find it interesting that he didn't even like to read growing up, preferring comic books because he could see what was happening without being hampered by words. He seems to have grown out of that. He is the first Latino to win the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction.
I liked that there were gaps in his memory and that he doesn't claim to remember or know every single thing that has ever happened. I find that this makes memoirs more believable. There was quite a lot of name-dropping, but Hijuelos did have the benefit of being involved in the NYC literary/arts community. Attending several NYC colleges and universities over the years, he also had a broader pool of students and professors than most people would have. I did get the feeling that the author became successful in spite of himself. He turns down or just plain misses opportunities that many aspiring authors would trade anything for.
This is not a dull, dry recitation of the author's life. There is some rambling from time to time, and I had to look up some of the writers mentioned as well as some of the Spanish slang. (I understood the "regular" Spanish.) Small stories of incidents woven through the book keep it interesting and often humorous. Such as when we read about how smoking an iguana out of a butchered pig ended with the entire family chasing and killing tarantulas. Or how Hijuelos sent a frustrated mugger to steal from Columbia students because City College students were too poor.
This isn't the best memoir I've ever read, but it is worth reading.
I won this book in a Goodreads First-reads giveaway.
This review is part of my Hurricane Relief Review-a-thon. http://www.livinglearninglovinglife.c...
June 25, 2011
What Thoughts Without Cigarettes genuinely reminded me of was my childhood. Oscar Hijuelos has a very easy writing style that borders on conversation. I was taken back to the days where my grandfather used to sit around and tell stories about when he was young. Always interesting, sometimes a bit confusing, and maybe a little rambling, the stories were a part of who he was. While reading this I felt like I was transported back to that time. Except this time it was Oscar Hijuelos sitting there and sharing his history with me, and I was definitely paying attention.
I'm not a huge reader of memoirs to be honest. If I choose one, it has to hold my attention and to do that it has to be well-written. Hijuelos has a very straight, and frank writing style. Fans of memoirs will appreciate the confessional style with which he bears his soul to the reader. However this can also be a little confusing at times. There were paragraphs that I was presented with that were just one extremely long run on sentence. Also, it was tough sometimes to pin point key people in Hijelous' life, since he often ran on other tangents while telling a story. On the bright side, his writing is also very evocative and descriptive. While reading I could close my eyes and picture the run down apartment he grew up in, or the bars he frequented with their smoky rooms and sultry singers. That was definitely a key element to my appreciation of this memoir.
Even more than a story of his growing into a writer though, Thoughts Without Cigarettes is the story of a boy who becomes a man. A rags to riches tale if you will. What really drew me in was the fact that such an amazing author, such a lyrical writer, came from such a difficult life. Feeling like an outcast from your own culture is something that I was able to connect with personally, and I felt for him every step of the way in his explanation. However, Hijuelos not only shares his boyhood with us, but populates it with people who are vivid and true. Although I don't know a single one of these people personally, I feel like I met them simply through his descriptions of them. He isn't afraid to share both the good and parts of his life. Whether an event was for the better or the worse, it's all there in black and white.
I'm rambling now, so I'll wrap it up. For those of you out there who enjoy memoirs, and are looking for your next read, pick up Thoughts Without Cigarettes. Even if you aren't a huge fan of memoirs, this is a great one to start with. Oscar Hijuelos has a history that is definitely interesting. With some of the best descriptive writing I've seen, and a story that is deep and honest, it is well worth a read.
I'm not a huge reader of memoirs to be honest. If I choose one, it has to hold my attention and to do that it has to be well-written. Hijuelos has a very straight, and frank writing style. Fans of memoirs will appreciate the confessional style with which he bears his soul to the reader. However this can also be a little confusing at times. There were paragraphs that I was presented with that were just one extremely long run on sentence. Also, it was tough sometimes to pin point key people in Hijelous' life, since he often ran on other tangents while telling a story. On the bright side, his writing is also very evocative and descriptive. While reading I could close my eyes and picture the run down apartment he grew up in, or the bars he frequented with their smoky rooms and sultry singers. That was definitely a key element to my appreciation of this memoir.
Even more than a story of his growing into a writer though, Thoughts Without Cigarettes is the story of a boy who becomes a man. A rags to riches tale if you will. What really drew me in was the fact that such an amazing author, such a lyrical writer, came from such a difficult life. Feeling like an outcast from your own culture is something that I was able to connect with personally, and I felt for him every step of the way in his explanation. However, Hijuelos not only shares his boyhood with us, but populates it with people who are vivid and true. Although I don't know a single one of these people personally, I feel like I met them simply through his descriptions of them. He isn't afraid to share both the good and parts of his life. Whether an event was for the better or the worse, it's all there in black and white.
I'm rambling now, so I'll wrap it up. For those of you out there who enjoy memoirs, and are looking for your next read, pick up Thoughts Without Cigarettes. Even if you aren't a huge fan of memoirs, this is a great one to start with. Oscar Hijuelos has a history that is definitely interesting. With some of the best descriptive writing I've seen, and a story that is deep and honest, it is well worth a read.
March 24, 2015
Although Oscar Hijuelos is known for his fiction - his second novel, The Mambo Kings Play Songs of Love, made him the first Latino to win the Pulitzer Prize in Fiction - this memoir was the first book of his that I'd read, and I went into it not knowing anything about him. He has an unusual story; the American-born son of Cuban immigrants, he was hospitalized for a year at age four and, during that time, surrounded by the English language, he lost his ability to speak Spanish and returned home to find he could barely communicate with his mother. He spent the rest of his childhood surrounded by Cuban culture but unable to feel a part of it - his pale skin and hair only contributed to a general sense that he wasn't like the rest of his family and neighbors.
Thoughts Without Cigarettes is something of a rags-to-riches tale; he describes the squalor of his childhood apartment in New York and admits that he barely graduated from high school, though he spent the next several years working his way through various City University of New York institutions and became a first-generation college graduate who found himself fascinated with music and literature. To hear him tell it, he stumbled into success in spite of his efforts to the contrary - his self-doubt and lingering sense of being an outsider or impostor caused him to decline a number of opportunities along the way, ranging from the chance to study at the University of Iowa Writers' Workshop to an offer to write movie scripts.
Hijuelos writes with a frank, confessional style that I found very enjoyable, though he has a tendency to let his thoughts run together so that sometimes an entire paragraph turns out to be a single meandering sentence. I couldn't always keep all of the people in his life straight and sometimes couldn't remember which person he was talking about when he'd reintroduce someone's first name several chapters later, but that didn't stop me from wanting to learn more about his life and follow the book through to the end.
I do have to admit that while I assume he quit smoking at some point, he only ever talks about what a heavy smoker he was and never actually addresses why he might have written his memoir without cigarettes, leaving me a little confused about his choice of title. I figured that at some point, him quitting smoking would become a plot point, and it never did.
Thoughts Without Cigarettes is something of a rags-to-riches tale; he describes the squalor of his childhood apartment in New York and admits that he barely graduated from high school, though he spent the next several years working his way through various City University of New York institutions and became a first-generation college graduate who found himself fascinated with music and literature. To hear him tell it, he stumbled into success in spite of his efforts to the contrary - his self-doubt and lingering sense of being an outsider or impostor caused him to decline a number of opportunities along the way, ranging from the chance to study at the University of Iowa Writers' Workshop to an offer to write movie scripts.
Hijuelos writes with a frank, confessional style that I found very enjoyable, though he has a tendency to let his thoughts run together so that sometimes an entire paragraph turns out to be a single meandering sentence. I couldn't always keep all of the people in his life straight and sometimes couldn't remember which person he was talking about when he'd reintroduce someone's first name several chapters later, but that didn't stop me from wanting to learn more about his life and follow the book through to the end.
I do have to admit that while I assume he quit smoking at some point, he only ever talks about what a heavy smoker he was and never actually addresses why he might have written his memoir without cigarettes, leaving me a little confused about his choice of title. I figured that at some point, him quitting smoking would become a plot point, and it never did.
July 9, 2011
Perhaps in an attempt to make this seem more conversational or poignant, this book was overly peppered with a plague of commas, parentheses, and emdashes. The sentence structure was so fractured as to make reading this otherwise sturdy memoir almost unbearable, but then Hijuelos himself admits that he didn't want to write it and perhaps there is a genius in writing such a work in a way that makes it almost as torturous for the reader as it must have been for the writer. I'll give you an example of one of the many stilted sentences you might encounter,
"I even took some pages I had been fooling around with to Max's one night, and visiting my friend Pete backstage in the dressing room area--a row of curtained cubicles that didn't afford much privacy at all--I met the fly Deborah Harry, lead singer of Blondie (sorry again), also on the bill, and did my best to win her favor by offering to give her the pages I had written." page 252.
At this point, I'm not even sure if Hijuelos is apologizing to Deborah Harry or to the readers for all the name dropping in that particular passage.
On the other hand, this structure did lend itself to spending a great deal of time with the author. While I can typically finish a book of this length in a few days, this took me longer than I anticipated and really made me ruminate over what the author was saying. Additionally, I'm not sure if this is a stylistic approach taken by Cuban and/or Latino authors, if so, then this is more of a problem with me reading a whole bunch of White Dudes and just being unfamiliar to the rhythms and whatevers of Non-White Dude writing. I have been exposed to White Dude, therefore I tend to like White Dude, it's a problem sometimes.
I will say that I think Hijuelos did a fantastic job of capturing the second generation American immigrant experience as well as the writerly feeling of self-loathing, even when one has Made It. It also works well to capture a specific era of American (and particularly New York) history, and that alone will make it an interesting read for those willing to put the effort into it.
"I even took some pages I had been fooling around with to Max's one night, and visiting my friend Pete backstage in the dressing room area--a row of curtained cubicles that didn't afford much privacy at all--I met the fly Deborah Harry, lead singer of Blondie (sorry again), also on the bill, and did my best to win her favor by offering to give her the pages I had written." page 252.
At this point, I'm not even sure if Hijuelos is apologizing to Deborah Harry or to the readers for all the name dropping in that particular passage.
On the other hand, this structure did lend itself to spending a great deal of time with the author. While I can typically finish a book of this length in a few days, this took me longer than I anticipated and really made me ruminate over what the author was saying. Additionally, I'm not sure if this is a stylistic approach taken by Cuban and/or Latino authors, if so, then this is more of a problem with me reading a whole bunch of White Dudes and just being unfamiliar to the rhythms and whatevers of Non-White Dude writing. I have been exposed to White Dude, therefore I tend to like White Dude, it's a problem sometimes.
I will say that I think Hijuelos did a fantastic job of capturing the second generation American immigrant experience as well as the writerly feeling of self-loathing, even when one has Made It. It also works well to capture a specific era of American (and particularly New York) history, and that alone will make it an interesting read for those willing to put the effort into it.
July 5, 2011
I won this book through the goodreads first-reads contest. I entered because I enjoy memoirs. I like seeing the world from another point of view. A book by someone about my age has a particular draw. A memoir by a Pulitzer prize winner who grew up in a Cuban immigrant family in New York City promised a well written look into a world very different from the one I grew up in. I'd not read any of Hijuelos's fiction so was just looking for a peek into his world, not the story behind a novel.
Somehow Hijuelos makes much of his story rather boring. I'm not quite sure why. He reports a distance from his family, supposedly unable to speak Spanish after a year away at age 4 being treated for a kidney problem. His mother didn't speak English so all family life must have been in Spanish. I found it hard to believe that he really lost the language he spoke until he was four. Even if he truly forgot Spanish while away, a five year old easily picks up a new language. Perhaps this language thing is symbolic of something-or-other, but I wasn't looking to analyse the author, just learn a bit about growing up in his world with maybe a bit about how he discovered he was to be a writer. I didn't get that.
Hijuelos describes his young adult self as either strikingly unambitious or totally clueless. He has amazing access to well known authors who encourage him and repeatedly offer to open doors for him. He reports passing up a number of opportunities. He does continue writing, turning down chances for advancement in his advertising work, to make sure he has time to spend writing. In the last quarter of the book he gives us a look into how he created his fiction. The final 100 pages are more engaging with descriptions of how characters and plots came to him. Hijuelos fans are likely to really appreciate this part.
If anyone picks up this book expecting a description of quitting smoking, they will be disappointed. Hijuelos describes clouds of thick smoke, frequently identifying the specific brand each person is smoking when he is setting most scenes, but he never discusses quitting. I assume he did, but maybe not.
Somehow Hijuelos makes much of his story rather boring. I'm not quite sure why. He reports a distance from his family, supposedly unable to speak Spanish after a year away at age 4 being treated for a kidney problem. His mother didn't speak English so all family life must have been in Spanish. I found it hard to believe that he really lost the language he spoke until he was four. Even if he truly forgot Spanish while away, a five year old easily picks up a new language. Perhaps this language thing is symbolic of something-or-other, but I wasn't looking to analyse the author, just learn a bit about growing up in his world with maybe a bit about how he discovered he was to be a writer. I didn't get that.
Hijuelos describes his young adult self as either strikingly unambitious or totally clueless. He has amazing access to well known authors who encourage him and repeatedly offer to open doors for him. He reports passing up a number of opportunities. He does continue writing, turning down chances for advancement in his advertising work, to make sure he has time to spend writing. In the last quarter of the book he gives us a look into how he created his fiction. The final 100 pages are more engaging with descriptions of how characters and plots came to him. Hijuelos fans are likely to really appreciate this part.
If anyone picks up this book expecting a description of quitting smoking, they will be disappointed. Hijuelos describes clouds of thick smoke, frequently identifying the specific brand each person is smoking when he is setting most scenes, but he never discusses quitting. I assume he did, but maybe not.
June 23, 2017
I made few annotations in this book largely because I found it so engrossing I didn’t want to stop to write a note. I’ll do that another time. Mr. Hijuelos is a unique character among writers, among human beings. He is a Cuban-American who suffers a disease in childhood that takes him away from his family for such a long period that he forgets much of the Spanish he’s learned. He suffers his entire life because he cannot fully communicate with his own mother whose English is poor. He suffers from his own self-deprecation, turning down Donald Barthelme’s offer to help Hijuelos enter the graduate writing program at Iowa University. He is also stunned when he later wins highly touted awards, among them the Pulitzer Prize for his novel, Mambo Kings Play Songs of Love. Hijuelos shares all the pain and sorrow that other writers may suffer: loss of his father, the slings and arrows of racism (in a very odd twist because of his blond hair and light skin, not being dark enough for some, too Latino for others), initial failures as a fledgling writer. But if he suffers, he also experiences particular joys: being told by those who should know that he has a unique talent, a two-year grant that allows him to live and write in Rome, serious relationships with three different women. Perhaps the title, Thoughts Without Cigarettes, is prescient of his death in 2013. His father died in his mid-fifties of an apparent heart attack. At the age of sixty-two, Hijuelos would drop dead from the same while playing tennis. If he quit smoking the series of cigarettes he’d begun to consume in his youth, it probably did not help him. Sad. It seems that he was a writer’s writer in that he never wrote for fame, often lived from hand to mouth for his art, was not even that impressed with the accolades once the initial euphoria passed because he knew deep down that he once again had to sit his ass in a chair and write, not to make a living, but to make sense of his life.
June 12, 2011
Reading Thoughts Without Cigarettes is like sitting in a bar listening to people tell stories. Hijuelos takes us from his childhood through winning the Pulitzer for Mambo Kings. He shares his sense of always being an outsider-he doesn't physically resemble the Cuban prototype, he loses touch with the Spanish language- which impacted his development as a writer. After reading Hijuelos' fiction, it is difficult to imagine that he wasn't driven, wasn't determined to capture the Cuban immigrant experience. He was pushed by mentors into using his heritage in his writing.
Before Hijuelos started writing he was a musician. He came of age in the 60s and 70s, and his love of music infuses his writing stylistically as well as topically. His sentences are lyrical, rhythmic, pulsating, and filled with lush description.
I was astounded to learn that, not realizing the importance and prestige of the University of Iowa writing program, Hijuelos passed up opportunities to attend.
His memoir is as much a story about the desire for love and acceptance as any of his novels. It is also a wonderful, haunting elegy to the memory of his father, who died suddenly when Hijuelos was still a teenager.
Before Hijuelos started writing he was a musician. He came of age in the 60s and 70s, and his love of music infuses his writing stylistically as well as topically. His sentences are lyrical, rhythmic, pulsating, and filled with lush description.
I was astounded to learn that, not realizing the importance and prestige of the University of Iowa writing program, Hijuelos passed up opportunities to attend.
His memoir is as much a story about the desire for love and acceptance as any of his novels. It is also a wonderful, haunting elegy to the memory of his father, who died suddenly when Hijuelos was still a teenager.
February 21, 2015
I read the first twenty pages of this and skipped ahead three chapters. I'm a big Hijuelos' fan, but I could really care less about someone's life through childhood and teenage years. But that's what a memoir is...
As far as a rating, I gave "Thoughts Without Cigarettes" three stars. Can you rate someone's life story? Are the events of someone's formative years to be reviewed and graded? I don't think so, and it would be pretty gutless to hang one or two stars on a memoir.
I enjoyed reading the story of his early career from his creative writing classes at CCNY to the end where he wins the Pulitzer Prize. There were some laughs, and the reading was easy. I don't know that after this book I'm any more or less interested in reading memoirs.
The form of the memoir is all about traveling down "Memory Lane" with the writer. Their travels, and how interesting their life is makes for an entertaining read, or not. There is something very indulgent about the memoir. The reader takes a backseat to the author's memories, and the form itself can only be enjoyed by the most ardent fan.
As far as a rating, I gave "Thoughts Without Cigarettes" three stars. Can you rate someone's life story? Are the events of someone's formative years to be reviewed and graded? I don't think so, and it would be pretty gutless to hang one or two stars on a memoir.
I enjoyed reading the story of his early career from his creative writing classes at CCNY to the end where he wins the Pulitzer Prize. There were some laughs, and the reading was easy. I don't know that after this book I'm any more or less interested in reading memoirs.
The form of the memoir is all about traveling down "Memory Lane" with the writer. Their travels, and how interesting their life is makes for an entertaining read, or not. There is something very indulgent about the memoir. The reader takes a backseat to the author's memories, and the form itself can only be enjoyed by the most ardent fan.
July 24, 2011
Interesting book and I did relate to the immigrant from Cuba experience, but I found Oscar a bit too whinny for my taste. Yes, he was traumatized by his year in a hospital at 4 to 5 yrs old, yes he had to learn English fast, yes he identified his illness with Cuba since he caught the infection there (somebody should have stopped him from drinking water from ditches!), but really? He seemed to drift through his life in NYC without a clue and with a big chip on his shoulder about "not looking like a Cuban" because he was blond and light skinned. Memo to you, Oscar: we come in all colors, shades & sizes. Also, the language, though beautiful, was way to involved (more like Spanish structure than English, ironically enough). EG: p214:
"at the same time, he had us read books like ..., all of which, I have to confess, despite their sophistication, left me, cut from a primitive, emotionally blunt cloth, a little cold." ENOUGH WITH THE COMMAS! At times it seemed like reading Yoda-speak, got to the end of the long sentence full of clauses with no clue what the point was...
"at the same time, he had us read books like ..., all of which, I have to confess, despite their sophistication, left me, cut from a primitive, emotionally blunt cloth, a little cold." ENOUGH WITH THE COMMAS! At times it seemed like reading Yoda-speak, got to the end of the long sentence full of clauses with no clue what the point was...
May 25, 2013
I liked this book. It was an interesting story of a writer, of a cubano, of a young man growing up in the fifties and sixties. His picture of his life was one that revealed a world to me that I would otherwise not know a lot about (if anything). To me it is mainly the story about his writing life - though the first half of the book touches mainly on growing up in his family, in New York, in that period - when it comes to his interior life, I felt at the end, like he had left more out - than he had left in. I don’t mean that he needed to reveal more details of his life, it just felt more like he had told all these stories, without reflecting very deeply on them. I felt like it was not as well crafted as an entire book as the promise it seemed to hold. He writes honestly about his tax problems and his feelings of inadequacies - these seem both human and honest to me. I’m glad I read it.
January 7, 2013
Thoughts Without Cigarettes is a memoir presented in a very interesting fashion. Most memoirs take full advantage of literary licence and fill in blanks stating them as facts. The reader then takes the story with a grain of salt, simply by virtue of the fact that it is a memoir.
Hijuelos, however, is very honest about guessing at the blanks in his memory based on what would have made sense at the time. Some people might find this disconcerting, or unnecessary, but I actually appreciated it.
It also lent a dream like quality to the prose. Think black and white movie leaning towards sepia tones. Add to the fact that I have no idea who Oscar Hijuelos is and yes, I would have to say it is a beautiful piece of cinematography.
To read the full review visit http://silverandgrace.com/book-review...
Hijuelos, however, is very honest about guessing at the blanks in his memory based on what would have made sense at the time. Some people might find this disconcerting, or unnecessary, but I actually appreciated it.
It also lent a dream like quality to the prose. Think black and white movie leaning towards sepia tones. Add to the fact that I have no idea who Oscar Hijuelos is and yes, I would have to say it is a beautiful piece of cinematography.
To read the full review visit http://silverandgrace.com/book-review...
April 13, 2013
What a wonderful read! This was a random pick of mine, I'd never heard of Oscar Hijuelos before. Although The Mambo Kings Play Songs of Love seemed vaguely familiar. His memoir was delightful, his writing style flows easily. For most of the book I was engrossed and didn't want to put it down. There was a brief bit toward the end where I found myself wanting to have his thoughts out of my head. Seeing how his internal struggles continued to consume him throughout his life was saddening. For no matter what kind of success he had, he felt it was a fluke. And his feeling of severe separation from his Latin culture due to his light colored skin constantly absorbed his thoughts. All in all a great book & now I'll add his Pulitzer Prize winner The Mambo Kings Play Songs of Love to my reading list.
August 31, 2016
Oscar Hijuelos memoir was tough for me. I was intrigued by such an acclaimed writer's memoir, to see his foundation, his youth, his inspiration, however I was disappointed, not by his experience but the overall tone of the book. For me it was so drab, tedious and monotone. I felt such compassion for him as a child, yet an arrogance seeping through his words coming from him as an adult writing this book that really put me off. It's extremely hard for me to criticize a work like this especially since it comes from such a personal place but I didn't enjoy the book. As always, Thanks Goodreads for letting me explore new things!*** Please note I received this book for free from Goodreads - First Reads.
May 17, 2012
A well-crafted memoir portraying the last decade when Writers (capital intentional) were fueled by goblets of scotch and cigarette after cigarette. Reveals a self-absorbtion and has a tendency to sound a bit whiny at times, like in his description of his experience at a Writers Colony with John Gardner, John Irving, etc.; but overall an interesting writers' book. Made special for me by references to Wesley Brown, who was, when I was an undergrad at Rutgers, hands down my favorite professor; references to a neighborhood with which I am familiar; and Corpus Cristi Church, where a priest-relative now presides. Interesting social circles, an amazing period of time in NY.
November 23, 2013
I love Hijuelos' book, "A Simple Habana Melody" and, after the author died several weeks ago I saw he had a memoir and was eager to read it. So disappointed. His life is actually very rich and interesting on several levels, but it is told so poorly and with such banality and in a monotone voice I was bored to tears. He turned what could have been so interesting into a "then I went to the corner store to buy a quart of milk" kind of story. Maybe some wonderful writers just weren't meant to try to write about themselves so literally. It makes me want to go back and re-read "Habana Melody" to get the taste of it out of my mind.
July 29, 2015
I have read and enjoyed his fiction, and there was a lot in this story that reflects my experience and knowledge of Cuban Americans, having myself been raised and with long-lasting friendships with them from my many years in Tampa, as well as my research and reading in history, but overall I felt this memoir plodded a bit, it didn't really have much of an edge. Not that it is bad, but it just didn't grab me like I was hoping it would. The early years seemed to drag on, and I kept wanting to get to the writing years. He also hinted at so many things, but avoided going there (which, in fact, is what many memorists probably do). I think many will enjoy the book, but I struggled with it.
June 19, 2011
Thank you First Reader's Giveaway for bringing this memoir to my attention. I found Hijuelos' narrative like talking about his personal history in the light of listening to a friend share their family stories. I related to his loss of his Spanish language relate-able and touching, as well as the relationship that he has with his father. I also found it enlightening in the history of 50-60's immigrant New York and Cuba with its struggles. The author is modest about his achievements and his career as a writer.
October 14, 2011
I just won this book on first reads goodreads giveaways! I can't wait to get started on it! An update to follow upon receipt! Thank you!
**Update**
I am highly disappointed with this selection. It had so much potential. Of course, Mr. Hijuelos is a great writer, but I found that this book could've been so much shorter and so much better had it not been for all of the asides and lengthy parenthesized descriptions! He lost me after the death of his father (sorry). After that the story became whiny and I just couldn't get through it.
**Update**
I am highly disappointed with this selection. It had so much potential. Of course, Mr. Hijuelos is a great writer, but I found that this book could've been so much shorter and so much better had it not been for all of the asides and lengthy parenthesized descriptions! He lost me after the death of his father (sorry). After that the story became whiny and I just couldn't get through it.
February 4, 2012
After starting this memoir again and rereading it, I really enjoyed it. I felt like I could easily blend in as one of the family members or a friend in the neighborhood as Hijuelos’ style is that easy to read and appreciate! The conversations peppered with the many anecdotes from his youth paired nicely with the colorful descriptions of his family members, especially his mother and father. This was a memoir I did not want to leave in many cases because I felt so comfortable; I just wanted to hear more.
June 27, 2011
I received a copy of this book in a GoodReads contest.
The authors commitment to detail was at times overwhelming. I feel as if I was transporter to the situation each time a story was discussed in minute detail. This made for sometimes tedious reads that frequently left me feeling overwhelmed with information. I truly enjoyed reading about his life but at times it felt as if it were an information dump. I recommend this book for anyone who is willing to commit a bit of time and energy to reading.
The authors commitment to detail was at times overwhelming. I feel as if I was transporter to the situation each time a story was discussed in minute detail. This made for sometimes tedious reads that frequently left me feeling overwhelmed with information. I truly enjoyed reading about his life but at times it felt as if it were an information dump. I recommend this book for anyone who is willing to commit a bit of time and energy to reading.
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