Days of Awe (Ballantine Reader's Circle) by Achy Obejas

by Achy Obejas

On New Year's Day 1959, as Fidel Castro seized power in Cuba, Alejandra San José was born in Havana, entering the world through the heart of revolution. Fearing the conflict and strife that bubbled up in the streets all around the new family, her parents took Ale and fled to the free shores of America.Ale grew up in Chicago amid a close community of refugees who lived with the hope that one day Castro would fall and they could return to their Cuban homes. Though Ale was intrigued by the specter of Havana that colored her life as a child, her fascination eventually faded in her teens until all that remained was her profound respect for the intricacies of the Spanish language and the beautiful work her father did as a linguist and translator.When her own job as an interpreter takes her back to Cuba, Ale is initially unmoved at the import of her return-- until she stumbles upon a surprising the San Josés, ostensibly Catholics, are actually Jews. They are conversos who converted to Christianity during the Spanish Inquisition.Enlightened by a whole new vision of her past and her culture, Ale makes her way back through San José history, uncovering new fragments of truth about the relatives who struggled with their own identities so long ago. Ale is finally lured back to Cuba to make amends with the ancestral demons still lurking there--to translate her father's troubling youthful experiences into the healing language of her Cuban American heart.In beautiful, knowing prose, Achy Obejas opens up a fascinating world of exotic wordplay, rich history, and vibrant emotions. As Alejandra struggles to confront what it is to be Cuban and American, Catholic and Jewish, Obejas illuminates her journey and the tempestuous history of Cuba with intelligence and affection. Days of Awe is a lyrical and lovely novel from an author destined for literary renown.

Genres: Fiction, Jewish, LGBT, Historical Fiction, Queer, Judaism, American

Paperback

First published July 31, 2001

About the author

Achy Obejas is the award-winning author of Days of Awe, Memory Mambo and We Came all the Way from Cuba So You Could Dress Like This? Her poems, stories and essays have appeared in dozens of anthologies, including Akashic's Chicago Noir. A long time contributor to the Chicago Tribune, she was part of the 2001 investigative team that earned a Pulitzer Prize for the series, “Gateway to Gridlock.” Her articles have appeared in Vanity Fair, Village Voice, The Nation, Playboy, and MS, among others. Currently, she is a music contributor to the Washington Post and the Sor Juana Writer in Residence at DePaul University in Chicago. She was born in Havana

Reviews

[Nancy · Rating 4 out of 5]

AS a Black Jew who grew up in a Puerto Rican neighborhood in Chicago thinking I was Puerto Rican, I could relate quite well to some of the themes in this book: religion as identity, language as expression of culture, secret identities. At first I found the skipping around of the story's timeline annoying in its looping. Eventually I found the circularity of the storyline like memory itself, kind of random and out of order. I really liked the main characters, Alejandra and her parents and their secret history and observances. I also eagerly absorbed Obejas' view of the Cuban Revolution, a political action which I had supported as necessary, but now am not so sure, like the characters who have remained in Cuba at great personal sacrifice. I learned a great deal about santeria, palo monte, and the sefardim who became conversos and anusim. Living with a secret religion in a country as catholic as pre-revolution Cuba really warped the main character's relatives. They all bore the scars of either living openly Jewish or living secretly Jewish or ignoring it completely. Only the main character, Alejandra, who had the choice to live openly in America as Jewish, as Cuban, as gay, or as anything she wished, still had difficulty defining who she was and what she believed. The racial aspect of this novel was unstated but there nevertheless; the non-African featured San Jose family gets out, while their neighbors, the black Menachs stay in Cuba and endure the Revolution for 40 years. I wondered why the father, after he got out of Cuba and moved to Rogers Park, one of the most diverse Jewish neighborhoods in Chicago, continued to practice Judaism secretly, why he didn't join one of the many Sefardi congregations there, why in America he continued to bear the burden and shame of 500 years of secret observance. There is definitely a culture clash between the Sefardim and the Ashkenazim in this story, which I can appreciate. Having grown up with Ashkenazim, I found the Sefardim much more accepting of my skin and hair, and I didn't have to prove my Jewishness all the time. Setting this story of secret observance in Cuba where santeria synchronizes with the Catholic saints, it's easy to see how things become jumbled after hundreds of years. There were other culture clashes as well: immigrant v. refugee, Cuban American v. Cubano, outed v. in the closet. It was thoughtful read that got me to question what exactly IS faith.

[simon · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ok, so maybe I'm just obsessed, or read this is a moment of Feminist Latina Surrealist Fiction, but i think this book is mostly flawless. i know not everyone thought that (it didn't get the best reviews) but there's something so tangible, sensual, erotic to Obejas's writing. like she's this hot shit dyke trying to turn on the ladies at the bar by the way she drinks her beer. and if yer not watching her mouth, you'd miss it.

the book is primarily about family and translation. but it is also foundationally queer and Cubana. when communication is difficult between characters, Obejas uses words that feel clumsy on the lips. her word choice and prose are so excellent in this book.

it's a little long, and at parts, just a bit slow. but because the rest is so good, my patience for these things was very high.

[MichelleCH · Rating 3 out of 5]

If the main character hadn't been so self-absorbed and whiny, I think I would have enjoyed the story more. The conflict between being Cuban and Jewish would have been made so much stronger without the shallow characters and random, almost forced, sex scenes. There are so many better writings exploring the competing forces of cultural identity.

[Elaine · Rating 5 out of 5]

A marvelous read. Elegant prose which flows gracefully from start to finish. Intrically drawn, varied characters with many beliefs, often contradictory but reconcilable. The book is about one's identities and inner conflicts. The characters and events are so well-drawn, one must remind oneself this isn't a biography

As part of the central issue of identity and how we choose among them, the author presents a fascinating history of the conversos and marranos from the Spanish Inquisition and how their Jewishness survived secretly for 500 years, surfacing in modern Cuba. I knew that many conversos fled from Spain and Portugal, but not that their religion had survived alongside their outward Catholicism, at least to the extent recounted in this book. Living in Southeastern New England, I did know that some Azorean Portuguese practiced vestiges of Jewish ritual, like going down into the cellar on Friday nights to light candles. I also knew that Portuguese surnames like Silva and Perreira were originally Sephardic Jewish ones.

This can be read for its artistic achievement or it historical information or both

[kate · Rating 5 out of 5]

fuck.

just -- fuck.

a little more than halfway through & frustrated, i went running my stupid mouth about how i'd hit what felt like the doldrums at the center of the novel, how the book lacked "forward momentum." then i came home tonight, picked it up again, & finished it in one sitting, alternately holding my breath, sighing, & laughing to myself despite my roommates' bemused glances.

probably too much of this gorgeous, gorgeous novel was lost on me -- but i know i'll read it again, hopefully soak up a bit more of obejas' prose, the way she holds up an image, turns & turns it in the light until it becomes something else entirely. i feel certain that i'll carry the collected weight -- & yes, momentum -- of this book with me for a good long while.

i'm looking forward to it.

[Brandi Larsen]

Days of Awe is a poetic book. It's the story of a family of exiles who settle in Chicago after leaving Cuba. Told from the point of view of narrator Alejandra, who was born on the same day that Fidel Castro rose to power, the novel explores what it means to belong.

This novel is as much about the family as it is about Alejandra. They're all caught between multiple worlds, trying to find how to balance being Cuban with being American and, for Alejandra's father and his extended family, how to balance being Cuban with being Jewish.

Both Alejandra and her father work as translators, which adds a lyrical edge to the novel as the readers get to explore the root of words in Spanish and English (love is one of them) along with the characters. Achy Obejas also excelled at writing the landscapes of Havana: everything is so crisp, it feels like you're there.

[Jessica · Rating 2 out of 5]

Did not actually finish this book! I gave it a sporting chance - read 50 pages while traveling when I had no other books to distract me. Found myself continuing to wonder when it was going to get going. :( The memoir style writing is very dry and factual, and I found nothing to suck me into the story after 50 pages. Bummer, because I completely love Latin American fiction of diverse genres and went in expecting to love this Cuban female centered story. All the elements were right, and even though I'm intrigued about what will happen to the characters, it's a very rare occasion where that's not enough. I have no doubt it will interest others who can give it more focus!

[Amanda Lichtenstein · Rating 3 out of 5]

the best part about this book is obejas' sensuous, poetic prose and her insights into cuban culture & identity through the lens of her ancestors, real & imagined. i could do without the fragmented and nonlinear sex threads running through it -- it's not really hot, just sort of irritating to get through on the way to more fascinating political, cultural, and social commentary. still, she's a chicago writer, and really honest in her approach. i'm enjoying it.

[Dennis Fischman · Rating 3 out of 5]

As an Ashkenazi Jew who has never lived outside of the Northeast U.S., I found reading this book to be like stepping into an alternate universe. Even the spelling of Pesaj (Pesach) and all the rice dishes on the seder table took me into a different Jewish world. That world has its own history and conflicts. Jews of my parents' generation who hid their identity did so because of the Nazi Holocaust; Jews of Alexandra San Jose's parents' generation, because of the Inquisition. Here, Jews are religious or secular. There, Jews can also be Catholics and santeros, in an uneasy mixture, and a large part of the story is Alexandra figuring out how to claim or just make sense of the various part of her family's story.

The book also gave me a different take on the Cuban Revolution than either its supporters or detractors in the U.S. could provide, and I appreciated that.

I should have liked this book better than my rating reveals that I did, but here's what held me back:

The first half to two-thirds of the book was slow, slow, slow. Think One Hundred Years of Solitude with Jewish names, thankfully different in each generation, unlike in Gabriel García Márquez.

The timeline made it very hard to follow. It's one thing if telling the story out of chronological order has a purpose. Here, it perhaps mirrored the main character's confusion, but it added to my own confusion, too.

Certain events seemed to be in the book for no reason--which would have been fine if it were really a memoir, and things just happened that way, but if you're writing a novel, don't you need more of a design?

The sex scenes were among the gratuitous elements of the book. They appeared like clockwork every so often, as in certain formulaic kinds of romance novel or pornography, and unfortunately they were not very exciting. I would have liked them to appeal to the prurient interest, and they didn't.

The title refers to the High Holy Days, and especially to the Kol Nidre prayer. It implies that the author feels her family is still among the conversos, the anusim, the people who (because of intimidation) became outward Christians and secret Jews, and they still need to be forgiven. This makes me very sad to contemplate.

I am glad I read the book because I learned a lot, but it was not the pleasure that some other reviewers describe, for me. That may be why it took me so long to finish it.

[Nate Merrill · Rating 4 out of 5]

Bought at against the current used books on grand, summer 2018 I think.

Sorta weird allusion to Judaism - 'kabbalistic mysteries, etc'. She explains a lot about history and Judaism and Cuba, which distracts from the story. But if you're the child of conversos, timidly trying to figure out what it means to be Jewish in the US, in Cuba, in the world, wouldn't you want things to be clearly explained? She's not only doing a favor to a gentile audience, who know very little of Judaism in america in the 21st c, much less judaism in the Caribbean in the 20th c, but also to other people who know of their connection to Judaism but don't know what to do with it besides think of it as something that could be valuable, if they wanted it to be.

Really powerful writing about exile and diaspora from Alejandra's perspective on Cuba and her impression of her father's feelings about Spain and Cuba, and the way people think about homes when they exist only in memories or only in your imagination. I did not remember the connections at the end to the St. Louis - was she attempt to tie her family's story to larger American Jewish stories? Or adding another layer to her father's traumatic removal from Cuba? With all the discussion of exclusion between Cubans and Americans, Ashkenazim and sephardim, rich and poor, I was really touched by the image of her father doing everything he could to help the people on that boat.

[Barbara Ruth · Rating 4 out of 5]

The story of a woman Alejandra, born in Cuba on the day of Castro's revolution, but brought to the U.S. who grows up in Chicago where her father becomes a beloved professor and literary translator and she grows up to be a verbal translator. Immediately we learn that although her mother is devoted to Catholicism including pagan elements that have developed in the tropics, her father is a crypto-Jew, one of those whose family was forced to convert in Spain, before ultimately fleeing to Cuba, & who continued to practice Judaism secretly. As a translator she is able to return to Cuba a number of times as an adult, meeting family members and close friends of her father, and observing the progress of the country under Castro.
The novel goes back into the history of her crypto-Jewish family history and records her and her father's process of identifying as Jews, as well as her identification as Cuban. It also, I would say less successfully explores her bisexuality in ways that feel disjointed from the main story. But for anyone interested in life in Cuba, both before and after the revolution, and particularly the story of Sephardim, the stream of Judaism that branched out of Spain rather than Eastern Europe, and particularly the story of crypto-Jews, it is well worth a read.

[Raquel · Rating 5 out of 5]

Obejas's books make me feel seen in a way few other authors' works can. I love how she moves back and forth through time to signal how memory works. The cyclical, nonlinear structure clearly show the way in which memory works and the way in which those of us in diaspora learn about our roots and homelands. We learn in bits and pieces; we move around and around through time. Time becomes fluid and malleable, rather than a line with a fixed start and end.

Editorially, this book is a good example of how structure reflects meaning and intended readership. Someone looking for an action-packed linear narrative with more showing than telling will be disappointed. American readers who prize this style of narrative over all others may not have the patience for this book. This book may not be for them. But for the children of diaspora, the children of exiles, it feels perfectly familiar and fits comfortably. I sank into this world and felt right at home.

[Ronn · Rating 3 out of 5]

Although my own religious observance is entirely lapsed, I still have interest in tales of how various ethnic Jews deal with their lives as Jews in different parts of the diaspora. This is the first book I have read that involved Cuban Jews and varying degrees of crypto-Jews. And while I found the story compelling enough to finish reading, I'm glad to be finished with it and doubt that I'll ever pick it up again. It is told in a manner with a very disjointed timeline that I did not find pleasant or easy to follow. There are references in Hebrew, Ladino, and Cuban Spanish that are not translated that easily could have been without breaking the stride. I dont know; read it yourself and decide how you feel.

For those concerned about the protagonist's bisexuality [the book did win a Lambda award for Lesbian fiction], it should be noted that while it is there, it is not highlighted and only provides incidental plot points.

[Tisha Marie · Rating 4 out of 5]

This novel is about love and language. Love of country, culture, and familia; not always biological but family of proximity and necessity. The characters are passionate and sensual. This novel is also about translating not only words and emotions but the historical experience of a culture that exists in two worlds and the two worlds within one culture. Obejas juxtaposes the terrible and the awesome during the Cuban revolution. Reality for most people under Castro regime is bleak, a pitiful resemblance of the homeland they once knew. Obejas follows those in exile on their new journey while returning them to Cuba where even the frailest roots hold fast. With elaborate description, Obejas conveys the Jewish-Cuban reality and the transformation of the landscape. In the end, Obejas leaves readers curious about Alejandra and Celina, wondering what becomes of Nena and Moises.

[Eliana · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this book. It took me sort of a long time to get through it, but I didn't even mind because every time I picked it up, it felt like a treat to be reading it. There were so many beautiful passages about Judaism and about Cuban history and the fact that Ale's father is a translator and Ale is an interpreter allowed for so many wonderful musings about language that were incredible to read. All of the characters felt very real and relatable, and I loved that Ale is bi and there's never a big deal made about it. Also, I started this book on Rosh Hashanah and finished it on Yom Kippur, so I read Days of Awe during the literal days of awe!

[nashaly · Rating 3 out of 5]

i'm stuck between a 3.5/4. I found this book to be super insightful but it had scenes that made me uncomfortable...they just didn't seem to fit with the rest of the story? a certain scene with milk really made me cringe and want to stop reading. however, i enjoyed reading through alejandra's journey in trying to reconcile her roots with Cuba and being Jewish!

[Sara G]

"Revolutions happen, I'm convinced, because intuition tells us we're meant for a greater world. If this one were good enough, we'd settle, happy as hens, and never rise up. But we know better: We feel the urge, ardent and fallible as it may be, for a kind of continual transcendence."

[Un Moine Vexé]

Entertaining.

[Dana · Rating 3 out of 5]

I don't think I would have finished reading this book if I weren't interested in Cuban history and current issues. Obejas writes beautifully, but this book was disjointed and I felt like there were random characters and experiences without relevance. In fact, it really reads more like a memoir or non-fiction book ... I found I kept double-checking that it really was a novel and that the author's name wasn't the same as the main character's. From reading the author's note, their stories and backgrounds are similar, so surely this book has some basis in truth. In addition, because so much historical background was shared throughout the book, it added to the non-fiction feel of it. Nonetheless, the book kept my interest and although I've read a lot about Cuban Jewish history and even visited Cuba on a Jewish mission, some gaps in my information were filled and I learned several things I hadn't previously known. I think this book would be a great read for people I know in New Mexico - until moving there, I hadn't heard of conversos or crypto-Jews - and Obejas' research in this area is very thorough and enlightening.

[Brent · Rating 4 out of 5]

Beautifully told story of a Cuban-American woman discovering her Jewish roots and the conflicts that arise. Because it's told as a memoir, it's easy to forget this is a novel and I always had to wonder if it was really an autobiography or not. If you're interested in the topic, Jewish literature, the stories of anusim, conversos, the nature of Cuban exiles, etc. then this is a must read. It does drag a little in the middle, and gets a little confusing as there are flashbacks (and flash forwards), but well worth the effort.

Note: the back cover of the book proclaims "Winner of the Lambda Award for Lesbian fiction." For those of you who may want to read the book for the "lesbianism," don't bother. Our protagonist has relationships with both men and women and there is no graphic content. Well, maybe a little. Very little. Mostly it's just an acknowledgment that she happens to have a boyfriend or girlfriend at that time in the story. This book is about family, relationships, and history. The search for meaning.

[Ruthie · Rating 2 out of 5]

I thought the subject matter of this book would grab me - I have been on a Spanish Inquisition kick lately. As I was reading I was convinced it was a memoir and kept forgiving the author her tangents, off topic threads, unbelievable coincidences, and highly unlikely episodes- after all it was a memoir right? Except that it isn't a memoir, and so the inconsistencies and other odd occurrences, random historical mentions, just annoyed me! I also was put off by the brief, tossed off mentions of important and/or interesting details - especially those relating to santeria, palo monte, the prenda judia. There is a glossary at the back, but there were mentions of these practices that were jarring and no explanation was offered.

Most of the characters were not well developed and their actions were often reprehensible without rational. The main character was someone I found unpleasant, selfish and annoying. Such a shame - this should have been an interesting book about a small group about which little is known.

[Sean Hoskin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Visiting the inescapable question of identity, Obejas gives us characters assiduously striving to reconcile the known and previously unknown elements of cultural identity. The Americas are a confluence of ethnicities, and in our daily public lives most of us have assumed one or another without addressing the multiplicity we all bear. The protagonist of this work when faced with a lost heritage unwinds the identity in which she has been brought up to craft, for herself, the one which represents a full flowering of her cultural inheritance.

[Chantel Acevedo · Rating 5 out of 5]

Just brilliant. I'm impressed by the author's wide gaze concerning Cuba. She's crafted a book that reveals all of Cuba to the reader, in all its beautiful and often confounding permutations. Similarly, the book touches upon significant moments in Cuban history. All of this is subtle, and powerful and pointed so that it is truly the protagonist's story, as well as the island's. Bravo, Achy!

[Darlis · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a biographical novel and quite interesting because of the Cuban heritage of the main character/novelist. Cuba is a "forbidden" subject so naturally we all want to know about it. It is interesting to see the other side of the little bits of history that we know of. I rather enjoyed it, although it took a while to read it as I was very busy.

[sheena d! · Rating 3 out of 5]

Starts off as a beautiful piece of historical documentation, full of fun ideas and semi-facts about Cuba, Judaism in Cuba and the life of an exile and so on. Ends on a much lighter note though, which left me feeling like Obejas either gave up or switched strategies without giving us any sort of heads up. Worth the Saturday morning it will take you to finish it.

[Lauren · Rating 3 out of 5]

Umm. I met the author at a discussion group and she was pretty cool. The book wasn't my favorite, but I feel like I learned a bit more about Cuba, which was my goal. Took awhile to get used to the jumping timeline and the main character Alejandra was quite selfish and self centered yet deeply written. I wish it was either more or less autobiographical, because it's definitely not pure fiction.

[Roxie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I loved this book. The prose is utterly gorgeous. I really liked the non-linear structure, and I was fascinated by Ale's evolving attitudes toward her personal and public identities, her struggles with what it means to be Cuban and American and Jewish. I could probably read this book a thousand times and come away with something different every time.

[Socket Klatzker · Rating 4 out of 5]

I am loving this book! It has been a while since I have enjoyed a book this much. There is hot sex and secret judaism and queerness and deep-rooted spirituality and many generations of stories and communism and revolutionary ferver and a lot of history. Yaaaaay!

[Barbara · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is one I started to read, and stopped before I finished it. This was due to starting to try to write... that didn't work out either, but didn't have enough intereste to go back and finished this book.

[Mk · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm in love with this book, though I think I'll need to read it at least a few more times to begin to fully understand it. It's a lyrical, sexy and complex look at identity, spirituality, and translation. I'd love to book group it, chapter by chapter.