Loving Che

by Ana Menéndez

A young Cuban woman has been searching in vain for details of her birth mother. All she knows of her past is that her grandfather fled the turbulent Havana of the 1960s for Miami with her in tow, and that pinned to her sweater-possibly by her mother-were a few treasured lines of a Pablo Neruda poem. These facts remain her only tenuous links to her history, until a mysterious parcel arrives in the mail. Inside the soft, worn box are layers of writings and photographs. Fitting these pieces together with insights she gleans from several trips back to Havana, the daughter reconstructs a life of her mother, her youthful affair with the dashing, charismatic Che Guevara and the child she bore by the enigmatic rebel. Loving Che is a brilliant recapturing of revolutionary Cuba, the changing social mores, the hopes and disappointments, the excitement and terror of the times. It is also an erotic fantasy, a glimpse into the private life of a mythic public figure, and an exquisitely crafted meditation on memory, history, and storytelling. Finally, Loving Che is a triumphant unveiling of how the stories we tell about others ultimately become the story of ourselves.

Genres: Fiction, Historical Fiction, Novels, Latinx, Adult Fiction, Contemporary, Cultural

240 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2003

Reviews

[N · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this book 20 years ago during my formative undergraduate years. I had one of the best professors who was a person of influence and introduced me to Caribbean literature and other writers of color.

Set during present day (2005!) it’s about an aimless narrator who has been feeling lost without an identity. She lost her grandfather and is missing her mother. She mysteriously received a package from a woman claiming to be her mom, Teresa de la Landre- and the story unfolds.

Teresa supposedly had a love affair with the enigmatic and iconic Che Guevara. An affair that is disturbing, surreal, erotic and heartbreaking, Menéndez asks what happens to the person when their political sides begin to blur? What is the cost of trauma in the search for family and identity?

In my younger age, this book unnerved me- I thought it had been one of the greatest books I had read at that time. I have never shaken the whole experience off, one day I would like to go back to this novel.

If I were to mention a book that should be paired with this with eroticism and hunger so powerful would be Duras’ The Lover. Sex is a way of letting the personal and political in, and the price of looking for love is often at a sad cost that’s both wistful and broken.

[Bachyboy · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a new find for me and I found her book sensuous and quite passionate. A young Cuban woman, now living in Miami, searches for the mother who abandoned her and is taken on a journey by a parcel of letters and photos, describing her mother's affair with Che Guevara. From there she has to piece together the truth. Compelling and rich in detail.

[فيصل السويدي · Rating 3 out of 5]

فكرة الرواية جميلة بشكل عام وكانت لتكون أجمل لولا التكرار الذي داعي له لبعض التفاصيل مثل الطقس وأمور أخرى: الرياح، السماء، الفجر، الرياح، السماء، الفجر، الرياح، السماء، الفجر!!!

[Getalocalife · Rating 4 out of 5]

Δεν ξέρω τι ακριβώς περίμενα από αυτό το βιβλίο όταν το ξεκίνησα αλλά σίγουρα μου έδωσα πολλά περισσότερα απ'όσα του ζήτησα.Το τμήμα του βιβλίου που διηγείται την ιστορία της Τερέζα σε πρωτοπροσωπη αφήγηση είναι για μένα το καλύτερο κομμάτι του βιβλίου,με τη γλώσσα να γίνεται σχεδόν τραγουδιστή,οι εικόνες αισθησιακές και ταυτόχρονα θολές σαν να παρακολουθείς σκιές του παρελθόντος, φιγούρες χωρίς πλήρες σχήμα και υπόσταση.
Το βιβλίο δεν ήταν (για μένα τουλάχιστον) μια ιστορία αγάπης παρά τον τίτλο που ακριβώς αυτό υπόσχεται.Πραγματι μεγάλο τμήμα του βιβλίου (γιατί το βιβλίο είναι σχετικό μετρίου μεγέθους) αφορά τη σχέση της Τερέζα με τον Τσε Γκεβάρα αλλά η ουσία δεν είναι αυτή ίσως γι'αυτό και οι συναντήσεις τους δίνονται αποσπασματικά,σαν σπαράγματα από κάτι ευρύτερο,σαν κομμάτια της μνήμης που επέζησαν και τα βλέπουμε στα κλεφτά.Η ουσία του βιβλίου είναι η νοσταλγία, η ανάγκη να επιστρέφουμε και να βρίσκουμε τις ρίζες μας και οι μνήμες που μπορεί να συγκρατούν ολόκληρες ζωές ακόμη και αν οι άνθρωποι έχουν πια φύγει.

[Victoria Allman · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loving Che is a book that will stay with you long after the last page is turned. It is so beautifully written and evocative that I haven't been able to stop thinking about it since I put it down.
Che Guevera is an intriguing historical figure that has captured my attention in many books, but in this work of fiction he comes to life more for the man he is in this story (romantic/captivating) than his historical deeds.
I loved this lyrical book and Ana Menendez's writing and look forward to reading more. Her writing is like reading on two levels--one you read for the story of what is happening, eager to know how it will end, but the second level is reading for the pleasure of the language and romance of the sentences. She weaves the beauty of her words with the train of the story expertly.

Victoria Allman
author of: SEAsoned: A Chef's Journey with Her Captain

[Abu Hasan محمد عبيد · Rating 3 out of 5]

لم أنسجم كثيرا مع الترجمة
تحاول الرواية ابراز صورة عاطفية/وجدانية لغيفارا غير صورته الثورية المعروفة من خلال علاقته بامرأة لا يتضح إن كانت علاقة حقيقية أو وهمية/متخيلة

[Inareadsalot_ · Rating 3 out of 5]

One of the things I'd like to appreciate about reading is that I could be holding a romance genre but also learning about history or discovering a place at the same time.

This week I dived into a book about a woman who'd had an affair with Ernesto Che Guevara. Now if you don't know who Che is, he was a Marxist revolutionary from Argentina and a major figure of the Cuban Revolution where he was Fidel Castro's trusted aid. Although he had graduated from medical school, in Cuba he became the Minister of Industies. Che died in Bolivia after being captured by the Bolivian army, he was caught and shot dead and his Guerilla group destroyed.

In the book, a woman tries to discover if Che Guevara is her father. The narrator was born in Cuba but moved to Miami, Florida with her grandfather. As she grows up, she wants to know her mother and although her grandfather never wanted to talk about her mother, she one day manages to get a bit of information on her. She attempts to find her once and fails and one day she receives a package back at her home in Miami where in it are letters and pictures from her mother. In the letters, she finds out new information of her, that her mother had been beautiful, a painter and she had been married but she also discovered that her mother had had an affair with Revolutionary Che Guevara. The narrator sets off to Cuba again to discover the truth about herself and her heritage but finds out that her mother is no more and a possibility that she might have made up her steamy extramarital affair with Ernesto.

The plot was beautiful, I was curious the entire time and couldn't put the book down because I really wanted to see how it will all end.

Now, what I wish the author would've done is atleast name the narrator, she also has some really short chapters and long chapters that go in circles therefore slow. If you never knew about Che and the revolution, you'd have to do more research outside of the book but it will atleast give you an idea.

[nashaly · Rating 2 out of 5]

beautiful writing but the plot was just...not it for me.

[Katie Singer · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read Menendez' story collection, In Cuba I Was a German Shepherd, and fell in love. This novel is like a slide show you don't want to end. It's voluptuous in scene, and evocative of sex and fear and history all at the same time. And it's concerning Cuba, which I have romantic feelings for. A beauty.

[Booker · Rating 1 out of 5]

People keep saying the writing is beautiful - I found it to be the worst part of the book. Having eloquent language is meaningless if there is a flimsy attachment to concrete ideas that exist in the real world. Too often in this novel does Ana use increasingly vague language to describe her situation using verbiage and observations that I personally think are far too esoteric to be understood by a non-travelled reader.

Beyond that, the decision to leave out dates or large information on events puts the onus on me to do my own research outside of this book to know what she's talking about. I have no knowledge of Havana or anything related to the political landscape of Cuba, and was hoping to ascertain more of that from this book, but that doesn't seem to be the point, much to my loss.

The main character has little to no curiosity about the world around her, reacts emotionally without explaining her emotions leaving the reader to guess why she's doing things which may seem extreme. The author gives very little insight into her true thoughts, and as such, she becomes terribly unreliable and unable to communicate concisely exactly what it is she wants in life (or that she isn't aware what she wants).

Overall, very poorly written. The word choice is beautiful, but thats like saying you enjoy the tires on a car when the car can't function.

[Book Concierge · Rating 4 out of 5]

Audio performed by Adriana Sananes and Eileen Stevens

A young woman, born in Cuba but raised in Miami by her maternal grandfather, is determined to finally find the mother who abandoned her – or saved her. Her grandfather didn’t find the scrap of paper her mother had pinned to the infant’s sweater until after they got to the United States. Printed on it was a quote from a Pablo Neruda poem, and this is the only clue she has as she begins to search for her mother. Several trips to Havana following her grandfather’s death bring her a sense of the island, but no further clues to her mother’s identity. She has all but given up the search when a mysterious package arrives, bearing no return address but a Spanish postmark. It contains letters, notes, photos and scraps of poetry that reveal a passionate affair between the woman claiming to be her mother – Teresa – and the charismatic Ernesto “Che” Guevara.

Oh, this is lush writing. The reader feels the tropical heat and humidity, smells and tastes the salty sea air, relishes in a faint breeze, hears the beat of a rain storm or the buzz of insects, sees the soft pastels of a decaying city. The beginning and ending sections are narrated by the nameless young woman (and voiced by Eileen Stevens). The middle section is devoted to Teresa’s story (performed by Adriana Sananes), and told in snippets of memories – poetic, erotic, sensual, passionate, and heartbreaking.

Along the way we get a mini-history lesson on the Cuban revolution, told in a very intimate and personal way. There are layers of deception here – Teresa works hard to keep her identity a secret, even from the child she loved enough to let go. And yet, something compels her to relay her story to the one person who needs to understand it. The looming question is whether Teresa’s account – hidden behind false names and inconsistencies with known facts – can be trusted. Is it fact, or fantasy?

Having the audio performed by two talented artists makes this all the more memorable. The performance by Adriana Sananes, in particular, was excellent; she really made me lose myself in Teresa’s story.

[Bookmarks Magazine]

Critics agree that Loving Che does not live up to the wide acclaim of Menendez's short story collection, In Cuba I Was a German Shepherd. In Loving Che the former journalist attempts a more ornate and less journalistic style, which does not quite succeed. Reviewers praise her poetic language and sensual descriptions of Cuba but note that her emphasis on Che's romantic life comes at the expense of solid historical and political context. Important events serve only to illustrate the phases of Che and Teresa's affair, which, in the end, resembles a bodice-ripper romance. If you're not a fan of historical romance novels, the consensus is: wait for Menendez's next effort.

This is an excerpt from a review published in Bookmarks magazine.

[Tino Hernandez · Rating 4 out of 5]

I had this book on the shelf for well over 10 years. I decided to give it a go as my “book before bed.” I thought it was beautifully written, especially the section with Teresa’s letters. I was slightly bothered that the main character goes unnamed throughout the book, but I guess it makes sense that a character who feels incomplete should remain nameless. She’s a daughter, “the daughter,” but who’s daughter? I really found myself hoping that question would be answered in the trips to Cuba, in more letters, in paintings, or maybe in random pictures. I enjoyed the story.

[Kristen · Rating 3 out of 5]

While I often enjoyed the author's writing style, upon finishing this book, I just felt unmoored. Like I couldn't quite see why I'd gotten so invested in the story if we were never going to get any definitive answers about the central mystery. I liked the format of the book though and some passages were absolutely beautiful.

[Alicia · Rating 3 out of 5]

As a Cuban born & raised immigrant, this book evoked conflicting emotions. The Miami immigrant experience of the protagonist was quite accurate. However, the mother’s letter romanticizing Che Guevara, was hard to read, as he was a well known assassin, even acknowledging that a section of the Cuban population glorified him.

[Kendra · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not a fan. The writing was lovely, in a poetic sort of way, but the story wasn't gripping. Maybe because I was listening to it vs. reading the written word, but it felt disjointed. I did not become interested in what was going to happen next.

[Velvetink · Rating 4 out of 5]

Library discard. 1 of 12 for $6. Mine is a different ed & cover

[Lukasz · Rating 5 out of 5]

Kubanczycy zyjacy na emigracji to ludzie, ktorym nie jest latwo uporac sie z balastem historycznym, politycznym ich ojczyzny i byc dumnym z wlasnej tozsamosci. Historia Kuby, szczegolnie ta najnowszwa wieku XX jest pelna paradoksow. Rewolucje kubanska lat 50tych minionego stulecia mozna opisac w skrocie jako przejscie z deszczu pod rynne. Czy mozna byc dunym z tej rewolucji? Ba, czy mozna byc dumnym z faktu, ze czyims ojcem moglby byc sam wielki rewolucjonista Che Guevara? Sa to trudne pytania, i ta ksiazka o tych trudnych pytaniach, kwestiach tozsamosci narodowej opowiada.

Autorka to mloda kobieta. Wychowana przez dziadka w Miami. Jak wielu uciekinierow z Kuby ucieczka do USA przebiegala w dosc dramatycznch okolicznosciach. Dziadek przemycil ja jako niemowle. Matka ktora oddala corke pod opieke miala dolaczyc po jakims czasie. JEdnak to nigdy nie nastapilo. Kiedy nasza bohaterka weszla juz w dorosle zycie a dziadek jest bliski smierci, zaczyna drazyc temat swojej tozsamowsci, pochodzenia. Dziadek jednak do smierci nie wyznal swojej wnuczce zadnej tajemnicy, ktory rzucila by swiatlo na pochodzenie naszej bohaterki.

Nasza bohaterka przezywa kryzs tozsamosciowy. Zaczyna podroz po swiecie, po roznych krajach. Miota sie. Nie potrafi odnalezs swojego miejsca na ziemi.

Wszystko nagle sie zmienia. Nasza bohaterka dostaje pakunek ktory zostal wyslany z Hiszpani, ktorego rzekomym nadawca jest jej mama. W paczce znajduja sie zdjecia, listy oraz notatki mamy, ktore swiadzcza o tym, ze matka naszej bohaterki byla kochanka Che Guevary. Ba, wszystko wskazuje na to, ze nasza bohaterka jest corka Che.

Po przeczytaniu wszystkich notatek nasza bohaterka rusza na odkrywcza podroz. Najpierw kontaktuje sie ze starszymi emigrantami, byla profesor na uniwerystecie w Miami. Pokazuje im wszystkich notatki i zdjecia ktore pochodza rzekomo od jej mamy. Szuka odpowiedzi na pytanie ktore ja dreczy: kim byla moja mama? Kim byl moj ojciec? Chce uwiarygodnic fakty opisane w notatkachm listach od swojej mamy. Bez skutku. W koncu przelamuje strach i rusza na podroz na Kube. Tam odnajduje kolejne osoby, ktore angazuje w rozwiazanie kwesti jej torzsamosci.

Czy uda jej sie wyjasnic sprawe? Czy list, notatki i zdjecia ktore rzekomo otrzymala poczta od wlasnej mamy sa prawdziwe. autentyczne? Dlaczego matka tylko za posrednictwem poczty nawiazala kontakt z corka? Czy Che byl prawdziwym ojcem naszej bohaterki?

[Cy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ana Menéndez pulls me into the book with the first few pages.

There is a mystery, there is a backstory to the mystery, and the book moves between two time periods (a bit). Those things are all the things I like when I am reading a book for pleasure. There are some opening quotes that still my heart: "to detach oneself, to learn to move freely about the world without longings or inventions, takes years of patient learning” (2) and “It had rained that morning and the breeze carried now the moist earth smell that reminds us we step on living ground” (4). I like books about exile and identity and finding identity.

And so I read with great anticipation, the backstory of the child narrator who is sent hurriedly from Cuba with her grandfather never to see or hear from her mother again. The narrator gives readers enough information to vest us in the story of whether or not she will ever see her mother again and when the grandfather passes away, we, the readers believe (or at least I did) that his passing would stir her curiosity. But there is a slow-paced push-out of the story from there that loses me. However, I kept reading mostly because of the tease of beautiful quotes Menéndez disperses throughout the next chapters of the book.

But something happens after the first few chapters, and I think for me, the book moves too far away from the central story between Teresa and her lover Che. I should add that I am reading a biography of Che Guevara-- Che Guevara A Revolutionary Life (the revised version) by Jon Lee Anderson. My concurrent reading of the biography helps to sustain my belief that the child exiled in Miami could be his love child. Unfortunately, Menéndez does not do enough with the narrator’s interest in ‘the photos that exiles had taken out of Cuba’ (1) and her interest in the stories behind them. Also, the photos and letters from Teresa that the narrator receives are not fully connected to the story for me.

Perhaps the connections that I am missing are the ones that would lead to a tidy ending but what Menéndez does not want is a tidy ending. But I just think that the timing of the book is not in the cadence that I enjoy. I did read the book to finish along with Che’s biography but probably would not have stayed with it well if not for that biography.

I will read something else by Menéndez because I do not want this to be my only impression of her and I like the way that she thinks about exile and identity.

[Lamya Al Zadjali · Rating 5 out of 5]

" وجدتُ أني، والأسابيع تمر، لا أستطيع الفرار من وجهه. رفعتُ بصري للوحة تجارية كبيرة فصادفت عينيه بإعلان عن ملابس. أدرت ُسيارتي بالنور لتتّبع رجل بسيارة حمراء عليها غطاء قابل للطي وقد ايقنت أنه هو. كما ظبطت نفسي أحدق ذات يوم في ولد داخل المول كان يشبه جيفارا الصغير بصورة قصصتها من كِتاب. صرت أراه في الأماكن الأليفة وغير الأليفة، ظننته يفتش عني سراً؛ فبتُ أتساءل بيني وبين نفسي إن كان الموتى لهم ذكريات؟ "
-
تريزا كانت رسامة كوبية شابة عاشت في الخمسينيات القرن الماضي تكتب مع مرور سنوات طويلة مجموعة من الرسائل لإبنتها البعيدة التي تعيش في ميامي بعيداً عنها، تسرد قصة حياتها والعلاقة الرومانسية التي جمعتها مع أرنستو تشي جيفارا، وكيف انها أحبته كم لم تحب رجلاً حتى زوجها وأنها لم تقوى على نسيانه حتى بعد موته بسنين طويلة.
هذا اول كتاب للكاتبة الكوبية آنا ميناندس اسلوبها في السرد جميل جداً وشاعري، والفضل للمترجم والشاعر محمد عيد إبراهيم فهو فالحقيقة ابدع في ترجمة هذا الكتاب. استمتعت بقراءته، رحلة سريعة إلى كوبا وضواحيها والتعرف على ثقافتها، والأهم تكوين صورة أخرى لتشي جيفارا من خلال عيون امرأة أحبته بجنون بعيداً عن السياسة والثورة كما يعرفه العالم اجمع.

[Tammy]

I decided to reread this book. It's one that somewhat stuck with me since I first read it, I think back when I was living in Washington, DC in the early 2000s. I probably liked the sort of mystery of it- that you don't know if Che is the father or not, and you don't know if the romance is even true, or not. The writing is good, and I am a fan of historical fiction, so that helps. It's a weird story, though. I didn't feel too attached to the characters. I found the ending interesting, when the daughter is walking around a neighborhood in Cuba, knocking on doors to see if anyone knows/knew her mother.

If you are doing the 2019 Read Harder Challenge, this book would count for a book by a journalist, a book with fewer than 100 GR reviews, and probably epistolary- though not 100%. I thought it might count as an historical romance by an author of color, but it wouldn't technically fit the genre of romance.

[Angela Boyd · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow, this book. We start with a first-person narrator, a woman exiled with her grandfather to Miami, where she's grown up and become and adult without any idea of who her parents are or why they sent her away. She goes to Havana looking for her mother, armed with only a poem, a small clue her grandfather had given her before he died. Then she receives mysterious letters and photos, and the middle of the book transports us back to 1950s Havana, when another first-person narrator, her mother, tells us about her love affair with Che Guevara. By the end, we aren't sure if the love affair has been physical, as detailed by her mother, or metaphorical, but either way it was deeply sexy and emotional. Loved the structure of this book and the way it plays with readers' doubts and convictions.

[William Trently · Rating 5 out of 5]

Life is dreams. Teresa becomes lost in the fog of possibility and hope for happiness, success, and a beautiful world, a world that is “right.” In reaching for the dream, she mentally constructs her own world, all while her lover constantly reminds her of reality’s sharp, destructive edge. So much deteriorates, hopes are dashed. In her ensuing grief, with good intentions she gives up her daughter. She continues to wait for all she imagined and hoped for, but becomes more and more incapable of freeing herself from the prison she has built—until she imperfectly reconnects with her daughter years later, succeeding in passing along her dream. This is beautiful, poetic prose from an exceptionally gifted author. When in the throes of passionate love, Teresa says, “I understood then how someone might ruin her whole life for love, throw away family and ambitions, put her very soul at risk, for this glimpse of the eternal that life has tricked us with.”

[Emily · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was...mildly interesting. The writing is beautiful, but that's just about all I have to say for the book. Maybe it's the kind of thing you won't understand unless you're Cuban. I just felt very detached, never really connecting with the narrator or her mother. Roxane Gay's novel, An Untamed State, about a woman's tangled relationship with Haiti was more powerful and poignant for me than this book about a Cuban exile.

The pictures were fun to look at, though!

[Carolyn Clark · Rating 5 out of 5]

Beautifully written

At first, I had some difficulty getting into the flowery language of this novel. But once I left cold and wintery Seattle for a short holiday in Havana, Cuba, I was able to settle comfortably into the storyline. This author has a lovely & descriptive way with words ... I highlighted many phrases in my Kindle. I left this story wanting more; more closure, more elaboration, more information. But I enjoyed the short time that I had with this story.

[Lenna the Unicorn Cat · Rating 2 out of 5]

Let me put it this way, if I didn’t have to read this for class, I would have DNF-ed it so fast. Though the writing was beautiful and lyrical, the plot was excruciatingly slow to the point that many times it put me to sleep. I never felt interest to want to keep reading, hence my views that if I didn’t have to read this for my class, I would have quit about 10-15 pages in.

[Emma Cleveland · Rating 4 out of 5]

I am sad about the ending that she never found her mother due to her dying out of nowhere. However, the character gets some closure when finding a picture of her supposed father in a photography gallery in Paris. So that was nice. At least she got closure for her mother’s whereabouts. The poor character didn’t even think that her mother was not alive anymore.

[Amona · Rating 5 out of 5]

The prose was so moving in this book. I wanted to believe everything from this woman's "journal" just for the sake of wishful thinking. It was romantic, poetic and eerily sad at some times but told with such grace that I accepted it all.

[Emmy · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is just beautiful. An exploration of memory, culture, family, legacy, heritage, history, love, loss, and so much more in less than 230 pages. It left me with the incredible sensation of time moving through me. Truly a work of art.

[June · Rating 3 out of 5]

The writing is lovely but the plot did not grab me.