Memory Mambo: A Novel by Achy Obejas

by Achy Obejas

Achy Obejas, a Cuban lesbian living in Chicago, scored a huge hit with her 1994 collection of short stories, We Came All the Way from Cuba So You Could Dress Like This? Now in Memory Mambo, her first novel, she describes the life of Juani, a 25-year-old Cuban lesbian who has to deal with family, work, love, sex, and the weirdness of North American culture. Obejas's writing is sharp and mordantly funny. She understands perfectly how the romance of exile--from a homeland as well as from heterosexuality--and the mundane reality of everyday life balance one another. Memory Mambo is ultimately very moving in its depiction of what it means to find a new and finally safe sense of home.

Genres: Fiction, Queer, LGBT, Lesbian, Latinx, Novels, Race

Paperback

First published August 5, 1996

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

[Soph · Rating 4 out of 5]

Of all the Caribbean literature I've read this term, it is this, this odd, disturbing, frustrating novel, which has had the greatest impact on me.

I'd like to think that it isn't because I identify with the narrator; Juani Casas, twenty four years old, Cuban-American, lesbian, terminally incapable of taking a stand about anything in her life. Juani leads the reader through a tangled web of memory, family, politics and sexuality, paying attention to all the wrong things and striking out at those around her in her attempts to uncover a truth that may or may not exist. She's infuriating, unable to fully emphathise with the other characters, unable to drag herself out of the rut she's in.

And yet, Obejas draws me in, Juani's impossible dance speaking to something within me which I would prefer to ignore. The sense of displacement and suspension in the novel is really striking; the narrator is caught between two nations, between love and frustration, between family and her desire for truth. There is no real resolution here, just a hurricane of doubt and anger puctuated by the occasional calm of sensuality, or by the urgency of sex, or by distrubing power strugles.

A moving, honest and intruiging look at questions of sexuality, nationality, and identity.

[Salome Wilde · Rating 5 out of 5]

Obejas is a brilliant writer. This tale of life, love, friends, family, and potential for personal growth is powerful in theme, content, and style. It is rare to read a protagonist one finds difficult to like or hate, making the novel a compelling challenge. The conflict between the central lovers (lesbian) over politics, and how it robs them of connection is painful and vital. Race, ethnicity, culture, class, gender, sexuality -- all are explored with care and complexity but without pity. I love this novel both for what it is and what it isn't.

[lauraღ · Rating 3 out of 5]

Lies destroy everything, but especially love.

3.5 stars. A fascinating read in a lot of ways, opaque in a lot of ways, but it worked for me really well up until the very end. And it's not that the ending didn't work for me, but that it might have been just... too much? I don't know. This is a book that I think would benefit from a reread, especially to better appreciate and absorb some of the things the author does with the prose, but there are some parts of this that I flat out don't want to experience again. 

What I really liked about this was the family drama, the family saga, Juani's lesbian experience and her complicated relationships with the women in life life, platonic and romantic and familial. I really enjoyed how we got snapshots of all of her older relatives, her uncles and aunts and parents, and that bled down into how we understood her as a protagonist, and all her cousins. I really enjoyed the different takes on Cuba and the revolution that we got from the different members of the family. It was such an interesting family tree, and even the members that we didn't get to meet closely or for very long, like Cousin Titi and Tío Raúl, really stuck with me. I enjoyed the mélange of Spanish in the writing, the Cuban culture, and the exploration of racism and colourism. Juani isn't particularly likeable, and reading from her perspective is often frustrating, but nonetheless compelling. Most of the time. She makes a lot of bad decisions, but I could still sympathise with her while she contemplated her mistakes, yearned for Gina. The events that sort of brought everything to a head in their relationship were so painful. There are some pertinent discussions about coming out, the politics of being closeted, and they were interesting, but also done in the exact way that makes my hackles rise. Idk, I'll never not be sensitive about it. Also if I never have to meet a character as odious as Jimmy again, I'll be very happy. I was marginally interested in where the author was going with Juani's hatred of him, her complicated relationship with him, but by the end... ugh. I really don't mind that the book doesn't offer any conclusions or have a "proper" ending; this book works so well as a collection of thoughts, of vignettes and recollections. But there was still something singularly unsatisfying about how it ends. 

I started off tandem reading this with the audiobook, but I soon switched to just the ebook, because the audio is... not good. Just the sound quality was poor, which was bad enough. but I also didn't like the narrator's voice or her extremely dry narration style that didn't do anything for characterisation or emotion. And I'm not an expert, but the way the Spanish was rendered was pretty... not good. So I wouldn't really recommend the audio. It's one of the reasons why I kinda wanna reread this, or at least parts of it. But I'll be honest: I probably won't. It was an interesting reading experience, at least.

Content warnings: domestic violence and beatings, sexual harassment, sexual assault of a toddler

And so, for an instant, I imagine forgiveness—I imagine a waterfall, silver and cold, in a lush garden, a serene Eden. I think, Te quiero verde.

[Ky Nam · Rating 4 out of 5]

Memory Mambo of Achy Obejas: Finding True Personal and National Identities

Memory Mambo is the first book about lesbians that I have ever read. It is not because I have been prejudiced against them, but obviously, their lives are too different from me. Reading the novel mine. Mambo allowed me to explore the world of homosexuals. Some of them, like Juani, expose their true identity; but many of them, including Juani’s lovers and relatives, have been closeted for many reasons. For example, her lover Gina stays in the closet for political purposes; her cousin Titi “need to be loved in daylight” (Obejas, 76) but Cuba, where she lives, is not open to homosexuality. No matter what reasons are, they truly experience fiery passion, jealousy, and resentment in their romantic relationships like any heterosexual couple. The only difference is that they cannot freely reveal themselves. Even Juani, a kind of public lesbian, has to hide the truth about her relationship with Gina because she "tried to understand and respect her boundaries" (Obejas, 77). It is true that she could not wholly be her true self when her lover refuses to do so. As a result, their lives become burdened and uneasy with the hidden truth.

Although Juani’s homosexuality is an interesting aspect to me, I am most captivated by her stories about Cuban exiles. For one reason, my Vietnamese people also have the similar history about communist revolution. I remember the first time I knew about Cuba when I was a primary student. At that time, all we learned about Cuba at school was manipulated by the communists. We discovered that Cuba is one of a few countries governed by the communist party, that Cuba was like a brave communist brother who would prefer poverty and hunger to surrender to the American imperialists in particular and Western capitalists in general, etc. However, Memory Mambo shows me a different perspective of Cuba. This novel reveals the truth that Cuban people, just like Vietnamese, were deeply split after the communists prevailed. There was a time when countless Vietnamese boat people, like Cuban exiles, found their way to cross the dangerous sea to escape from the communist government. Suddenly, people in one family, one country turned hostile towards each other because they could not share the same political viewpoint. Concepts of patriotism, Americanization, freedom and human rights became utterly controversial. The repercussion of this separation still has a strong influence on the later generations. When Gina’s friend asks Juani “Are you a good Cuban or a bad Cuban?” (Obejas, 127), I suddenly ask myself whether we Vietnamese in the United States would salute each other with a similar question.

I find in Memory Mambo a complicated maze, where the protagonist Juani is finding a way to understand her personal and national identities. No matter how hard she tries, this way is still so long and challenging for her; but the open ending of the novel suggests that she has just begun her journey.

[simon · Rating 4 out of 5]

Obejas is a Chicago Cubana dyke writer who I was mildly obsessed with in college. She taught at U of C for a semester and my girlfriend took her class. We all became the kind of awkward buddies that happens when you want to chum around but there's an age gap and that whole student/teacher thing. But Memory Mambo is a Chicago book as much as any other kind of book (queer, Latina, etc) which makes me love it completely. Quick read, like on a lazy weekend in the winter.

[Osvaldo · Rating 3 out of 5]

This novel's narrative is an incomplete attempt by the protagonist to put together the various stories of Cuba and exile that define her family (and the families of so many other Cuban exiles and Latin American immigrants) which are beset by inconsistencies, contradictions, grudges and secrets. It is a great example of the multi-vocal strains common to transnational American literature, working to make connections between the "homeland" and the diaspora.

The novel is also notable for two things: 1) the role of queer sexuality in making sense of the self within the context of one's family and community - the silences and misdirections that not only serve as an obstacle to "truth," but ironically provide space to discover those relations who might have had similar secrets. And, 2) the contrast of the contemporary Puerto Rican independista movement's ideals to the complicated relationship of Cubans to Fidel and the Revolution.

The novel develops slowly, but builds to frenetic and violent moment in Juani's life and relationships (replete with its own lies and complications), but also seems to end abruptly. It is not the lack of resolution that bothers me, so much as the sudden 11th hour introduction of sexual abuse. In one sense the event helps push certain aspects towards resolution, but it also opens up a whole other field of problems that remain unresolved, which is fine. The problem in my eyes is that event feels unlikely, difficult to believe despite being one of the few stories for whichJuani is an "objective observer" - actually, maybe that is the point.

[Faith Reidenbach · Rating 2 out of 5]

The publisher calls this a novel, but I don't. I notice that the people who wrote the reviews and blurbs don't either: they call it "a work of fiction," "a collection," "writing," "a book." It reads like a set of linked memoir-ish essays. Interesting for its glimpses into life in Cuba and among Cuban exiles in the U.S.--and the Spanish glossary is much appreciated. Marginal queer content, at least by the point I quit on page 91.

[Judith]

I want to read and like this book but I cannot get past the first few pages due to this:

"My family and I came from Cuba to the US by boat when I was six years old." page 2 GOOD
"There are hazy color snapshots of me from when we first arrived in the U.S., a rubbery toddler in the arms of a sloe-eyed adolescent." page 5 NOT GOOD.

And this book is about memory!!!

[Tara · Rating 4 out of 5]

about a cuban lesbian living in chicago, about adjusting to american culture, being a lesbian, exile, cuba . . . i read it in high school and really really liked it, a lot of strange events, and great stories about life in cuba.

[Liska · Rating 2 out of 5]

Honestly, I felt like the writing was rather empty. Where everyone else seems to see poignancy and emotion, I see attempts to fill an entire book with a story that was probably only about fifty pages long.

[Jackie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I loved this book for the voice of the author, although a somewhat unreliable narrator, she does finally get the message.

[Melissa DeFabritiis · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great discussion of memory, sexuality, and family relations. The ending was very unsatisfying, but I also think that’s part of the appeal of this book—that is, the characters are all imperfect.

[Lauren · Rating 3 out of 5]

I tried to like this book, but it never happened for me. I've read some other reviews, and it isn't that I disagree with their sentiments, I just don't extend them quite so far. I felt the writing very heavy handed (which I almost feel bad saying, the author is so respected). I'd like to cite the point where Nena and Juani are talking in Nena's place in Miami about memory:

"Nena, everybody in our family's a liar...I mean how do you wander through it all? How do you tell Bernie about our family? What do you say?"

"Well, I just tell Bernie what's true for me, and I let him know I have doubts, and that there are varying stories," Nena said. "For example, if I were gonna tell hi about Titi and Patricia, I'd tell him Manolito's story adn then maybe your story and then my story--what I believe--and by the end, there's a new story--Bernie's."

I shook my head. "Very relative," I said. "It must take forever to tell all the stories."

"Hey, we're into communicating, okay?" she said with a chuckle. "It's sort of like singing 'Guantanamera'--everyone gets a chance to make up their own verse."

"Memory mambo," I said, one hand in the air, the other on my waist as if I were dancing, "one step forward, two steps back--unnngh!"

Unnngh is right. I read this and in spite of myself cringed. It was not a moment of incredible clarity for me, when everything I'd read in the book snapped into place, the theme became clear, and the title tied into it. Maybe it could have been, but the theme of memory, what is real, what is pretend, whether it matters, and if we can all have our own, true, and different story had been been beat into my head by the time I got to this part in the book. I had similar issues with the writing throughout the book--it just felt so, so incredibly forced, especially the dialogue. People said things that, the way they were written, seemed incredibly unlikely to actually be said, but yet inevitable that the author was going to have them say it. Also, I felt like the treatment of men in this book was a little biased. I absolutely hated Jimmy from the moment he was introduced, and I thought he was a rather flat character. He is destined to commit a horrible act, and the reader knows it the whole story, so when it happens it isn't as surprising or impacting as it could have been. All of the men are rather one dimensional: drunk, unemployed, close minded, obsessed with their sexuality and manliness, womanizers, and willing to abandon their families in pursuit of a lark.

This being said, I do think there were some great, great aspects to this book. I found the portrayal of abuse within a lesbian relationship incredibly moving and beautifully written, in spite of its innate ugliness. The plot of this book was great, and at times the writing really helped that plot and fleshed it out like it should, and at other times the writing, for me, really detracted from the characters and the plot. I also liked the avoidance of traditional butch/femme stereotypes. I thought the ideas created by the inspection of the difference among the Cubans in exile, the description of the uncle's artwork, the description of the academic, hippie-dippy friends of Gina who were all pro-independence for Puerto Rico, and many other things were creatively and skillfully painted.


I did enjoy this book, I guess I just expected more. There were incredible positives, with the discussion of abuse in a lesbian relationship being the most impacting. The author showed courage in writing about such difficult material, charged with race and sexuality issues, but I would have liked this book so much more if it was just a little less heavy handed and respected the reader a little more.

[Laine · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ok maybe i missed something here? The lives and loves of an extended family of cuban exiles, who are all played to stereotype and mainly awful at love. Some truly interesting characters but heck. Their complications are never explained. Either not enough or just too much.

[Madds · Rating 5 out of 5]

*Memory Mambo* is the kind of book that you have to begin to read with no expectations of what you want it to be and take it as it comes to you. What I loved about it was that it read like a memory; I felt as though I was sitting in a dark room, late-at-night with the narrator, Juani, listening to her as she spun a story about her life as a Cuban exile in the United States. She would explain to me her scars, her fears, her confusion. I wouldn't know anything she hadn't told me, and we would each be allowed to believe our own versions of the story at the end of it all. Even though it's not a memoir, it read like one; Juani would be completely honest. That is what this book ended up being. The messiness of it, the winding narrative and all of its different threads, pulled me in.

Regardless, quite a few of the instances of the book were disturbing, but it's a kind of book that leads you into a greater contemplation about what it means to juggle multiple identities and what that can mean for someone who is already so conflicted. It hurt to read at times, but I feel like I have gained something from it. While it was assigned to me for a class, I ended up reading ahead, basically getting through it in one night, and I liked that I had others to discuss it with later on (I believe that helped me a lot with my enjoyment of the novel). I highly recommend it, but you do have to be emotionally prepared to read some of the stuff in it.

[Ana · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book had me intrigued from the beginning. The main character Juani keeps her own personal matters to herself but is always there for her family. It’s one of the first books I’ve read that’s able to express a characters love for her family and also her own solitude within it. She walks the fine line between being true to herself but also withholding her natural instincts to touch her lover when she’s around; because that wouldn’t be expressing love but rather forcing her “lifestyle” on them. But wait until you read about her family’s choices! It’s a sad line but also not the only thing she deals with. The story also delves into her struggle as a Cuban exile, her family’s craziness, and the confusing task of finding your “place” in society. She ponders about what she wants to do after two significant incidents I can't tell you about because they're considered spoilers. Here’s a line that broke my heart because I can relate to it when it comes to some relatives, “Because he can think of nothing worse than having to look me in the eye and make a decision about whether to accept or reject me, my father creates an illusion of normalcy about the emptiness of our interaction, our meaningless chats.”

[Kandice · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read this because it was assigned in my daughter’s lit. class. It’s not something I would have ever read on my own, so I’m glad I read it in that respect, but otherwise? Not so much.

The writing was first person, and I tend to like this. Unreliable narrator is even better and I think that’s a given here. Juani is telling her story and while doing so, examining just how our memories work. She has “memories” of things that happened in her family before she could possibly remember them. When we examine our own memories we realize that often we only “remember” something because we have been told the story so many times.

In addition to the examination of memory, many turbulent events take place in Juani’s life during the course of the season she writes. The final event is just… appalling. So appalling that I honestly thought I had misunderstood. The event is not described and only one line is dedicated to it. I am unsure if I feel this is because it’s so awful the author feels we can’t handle more, or because she dismisses it as a small thing so feels it deserves no more mention.

This is a sexually charged narrative, and I am no prude, but I think that’s why I didn’t enjoy it. It wasn’t love making in most cases, it was just icky.

[Raquel · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is a bit jumbled and raw in spots (and my god, this press could have used both a competent copy editor and book designer, I can't get over the ugly cover), but I haven't yet read a book that so accurately captures the exact feeling of being a Cuban American trapped between two countries and cultures. The senses and feelings it evoked in me as it traced the web of lies, secrets, and inflated family mythology that are at the heart of every Cuban family in diaspora... I was able to overlook the other flaws in it because of how honest that was, how strongly I connected to that. Maybe this will sound odd, since a book is considered a static object, but this book made me feel incredibly seen and understood. It felt like a trusted prima who truly gets you, even when you maybe don't always get yourself.

It covers race, family, gender, sexuality, personal mythology, coming of age, and of course the fickle nature of memory. Despite its flaws, I loved this book for how it made me feel and how it made me reexamine and reframe my own feelings about my own experiences in the diaspora.

[Vlora · Rating 3 out of 5]

1) That was messed up
2) I'm sure it was very smart but
3) can someone frickin explain what the hell was going on here because
4) I have absolutely no fucking clue

This is one of those books where the form definitely reflects the content. Juani's quest to find the truth of her family's past and to untangle the web of memories and lies she considers her life is just as disjointed as the actual novel. The writing is jumbled and non-linear, but that actually mainly worked for me. I did wish there was a bit more of a resolution and I still can't quite make sense of Juani's character. I liked the look at Junia's (extended) family and their dynamics. The writing oscillates between powerful and weird and I have no idea how to feel about the ending. Something really dramatic happens, but it feels so much like a nightmare that I almost wasn't sure it actually happened (kind of reminded me of The People of Forever Are Not Afraid in that way).

[Kim · Rating 2 out of 5]

Like many others, I found out about Obejas through a Cuban lit class where I was impressed by one of her short stories. So when I came across her novel on a remainder shelf, I decided to give it a chance. I have mixed feelings about this book -- much of the writing is very powerful, and it is definitely valuable to read of Juani's conflict with her Cuban heritage and how she and her family are perceived by others. However, I found that some of the more uncomfortable, even twisted visuals presented by the author over the course of the novel were out of place among the rather narrative storyline. I appreciate that the author is illustrating how violence pervades the lives of families, but I can't help but wonder why the author imagined some of the horrific scenes she did. Basically, I found Memory Mambo interesting to read, but I'm not sure I'd recommend it to anyone else.

[Sierra · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this novel in a Gender & Literature course at Michigan State. The course itself focuses on how gender, sexuality and race intersect and I believe Memory Mambo was a great book to have on the reading list. I was immediately drawn in by the energy of Juani's family. There were many stories and characters to keep track of, but I think this really gives the reader a picture of a large family composed of others besides blood relatives. The book grapples with sexual orientation and is considered an LGBT book, but it is so much more than that. Obejas discusses memory, family, truth, and asks the question of whether or not we can have true self, or if we're just a collection of other people's opinions. I now view stories and truth in an entirely different way. I definitely recommend reading this book.

[Nairne Holtz · Rating 5 out of 5]

In this quite dark novel about the nature of perception, history, fantasy, and reality collide in a Cuban American family. Employing a deceptively laid-back first person narration, Obejas introduces the reader to Juani Casas, a twenty-something Cuban-American working in her family’s laundromat and trying to come to terms with two train wreck relationships: her own with a closeted woman, and that of her beloved cousin, who is being abused by her husband, a man whom Juani is both repulsed by and drawn to. To make sense of her life, Juani recounts one outrageous family story after another, peeling away the competing and untold versions. As she tries to expose the lies her lover and her family tell themselves, she discovers she, too, is capable of collusion and denial, of being a perpetrator as well as a victim.

[Katrina · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book hooked me from the beginning. The main character keeps her own personal matters to herself but is always there for her family.

Its rare that a writer can express a characters love for her family and also her own solitude within it. Juani out of respect for her family is withholding her natural instincts to touch her lover when she’s around; because that wouldn’t be expressing love but rather forcing her “lifestyle” on them. The story showcases her struggle as a Cuban exile and the confusing task of finding your place in society. It delves into her family relationship and the choices her family has made and how those choices affect her.

I thoroughly enjoyed the book.

I won this book on goodreads, firstreads.

[Sarah · Rating 3 out of 5]

I kind of wish I hadn't finished this book. I really liked it when I first started reading it and then I couldn't read it for like 2 or 3 weeks and I sort of lost the thread of the story and the character's neuroses. It was kind of like Animal Dreams meets Greetings From Jamaica Wish You Were Queer. Lots of obsession with the accuracy of memory and familial history but I didn't think she pulled it off nearly as well as B Kingsolver does. Evertime I reread Animal Dreams I notice new things about it. But this book, I don't know, I mean it was good. It just wasn't brilliant. And I wasn't real into the end.

[Amc · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love Obejas' writing particularly because her novels and short stories struggle with issues of identity. This book took me by surprise though with a few graphically violent passages. It definitely took me out of my protected bubble and made me realize that others' lives can be ridden with violence and contempt. I think it hit home even more because it's set in Chicago and I know the neighborhoods and places it referenced. She always brings up good questions about life, love and one's sense of self that keep me wanting to read more of her work.

[Lee · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was beautiful to me- themes that really resonated (memory, truth, the shiftiness of reality)and the occasional paragraph that one wants to committ to memory the words are so striking. Then the last few chapters she threw in a real dramatic twist and ended it in a somewhat sloppy way. I think I might have had the same complaint about another one of her books. In any event, I kinda couldn't put it down.

[Joanna Eleftheriou · Rating 3 out of 5]

Just finished this novel--started it last night. That never happens! I loved the sub-theme regarding return to Cuba, wanting to go back to know why being a Cubana matters so much. I think this resonated more with me than anything I've ever read about being Greek!


I am looking for reviews regarding its merit as a novel. I found it terribly fun to read, lots of things happening--but I imagine that many of the narrative choices would get reamed in a thesis defense...

[Concordia West · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book, rather than focusing on a person, follows the dynamics of an entire family. It does have a definite queer element, but only as part of the main character's identity, so I wouldn't really read it for that reason alone. The most interesting part is rather everyone's Cuban heritage and the way their lives are formed by it. The book does leave many loose ends and no real resolution to anything, and the violent elements are pretty gruesome, but still... well worth reading.

[Cynfinit · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed the insight into the family dynamics which are very different from my own family. It definitely shed some light on things I have observed and experienced in my current relationship.I was quite surprised by the events towards the end of the book - unsettling and not necessarily necessary - but I think I understand why the author chose to go there.

[natasha singh · Rating 4 out of 5]

At the risk of sounding trite, this is such a beautiful coming of age story about a Cuban-American lesbian who is struggling not only with her sexuality but her heritage. There are some graphic parts which are shocking to read, but these parts only add to the depth of the novel.