Empress of the Splendid Season

by Oscar Hijuelos

Oscar Hijuelos vividly brings to life the joys, desires, and disappointment of American life witnessed through the experience of a formerly prosperous Cuban émigré named Lydia Espana--now a cleaning woman in New York. In magnetic prose, he juxtaposes Lydia's tale with the stories of her clients, contrasting her experiences with the secret lives of those for whom she works. No one writes better of love or the pulse of a city, nor has any writer better captured the complexity inherent in the emigration experience; how assimilation is at once the achievement of dreams, yet also a loss of the past. Empress of the Splendid Season is Hijuelos at his masterful best, a novel filled with incantatory, rhythmic prose and rich in heartfelt vision.

Genres: Fiction, Historical Fiction, Novels, New York, Book Club, Cultural, Contemporary

352 pages, Paperback

Published December 23, 2003

About the author

Oscar 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.

Reviews

[Tara Chevrestt · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was enthralled with Hijuelos's upcoming release, Beautiful Maria of My Soul so when I ran across this in the library, I literally jumped up and down and made some gleeful noises. However, Hijuelos's previous work, namely this particular novel, did not live up to my expectations.

Around page 125 or thereabouts I started wondering.. "What is the plot? What the heck is this about, really?" It's written somewhat like a biography about a fictional Cuban American maid, Lydia. Lydia cleans rich people's apartments and fantasizes about being like them. She is always trying to be someone she is not or at least give them the impression that she is better than those around her. Her husband has a bad heart. Her daughter is sexually curious Beatles fan and her son has a near miss with a life of crime. Basically, it is about a family living in the 1960s in New York. That's it. They just happen to be Cuban, but very little Cuban culture comes to light in any part of the novel. BORING!

I stuck with it because I had no other book on my person today. However, in the end, I did realize that there was a moral to the story. "Money doesn't necessarily mean happiness. You can be poor and happy or rich and miserable or vise versa." Hopefully, Lydia realizes that before it is too late.

[Karis North · Rating 2 out of 5]

Meh. Too many short vignettes. Not enough plot or flow. Felt like I was always being distracted. Wanted Moore Cuba, less Bronx.

[Russell Sanders · Rating 4 out of 5]

I am a huge fan of Oscar Hijuelos. I love that he somehow accomplishes a Cuban rhythm that lies underneath his writing. It is as if a Caribbean breeze softly wafts a bolero constantly as I read. His novel Empress of the Spendid Season is no different: that captivating melody pervades it. And I was once again transported to the seductive world of Oscar Hijuelos. That being said, this is my least favorite of the five books of his that I’ve read. This one has its charms and is certainly a worthwhile read, but I just didn’t fall in love with it as I did with the others. I think it is because it has very little plot, and while the episodes in the life of Cuban immigrant Lydia Espana are rich and satisfying, there is no linear development of her life and those around her. That, however, is also the charm of the book, for Hijuelos seems to be interested in showing the simple life of a Cuban immigrant and how it is not much different from those of other cultures here in America. Once again, the characters reside in that great melting pot New York City. As with so many immigrants, Lydia is thrust into a world different from the life she led in Cuba, and she must sink or swim. Early in the story, in order to support her family, she becomes a cleaning lady, a job that does not jibe with the privileged life she led in her home country. This, too, is so indicative of many immigrants’ lives. We’ve heard of doctors in Vietnam who became day laborers when they came to the states, so Lydia’s plight is quite believable. And yet, she becomes a great housekeeper, one who is proud of her work and her clients. She never lets her diminished circumstances get her down. Her husband Raul, a dreamer, is the one who dubs her the Empress of the Splendid Season, and that title is both ironic and not. Never does Lydia become anything approaching the American equivalent of an empress, but she never loses sight that she has worth and deserves respect. She also is always striving for a better life and striving to make a better life for her two children. So this is a story of perseverance, of gain, of the best choices made. Hijuelos is a master craftsman, and though I deem this one of his lesser works, it is far better than the best of many authors.

[Heli · Rating 3 out of 5]

Kirjan nimi ja kansi ovat sellaiset, etten olisi muuten tullut tarttuneeksi kirjaan, ellen olisi löytänyt sitä yliopiston kirjaston kahvilasta. Ilmeni, että nide on kiertävä BookCrossing-kirja. Otin sen mukaani, vaikka takakansiteksti oli ällöttävän adjektiivinen. Nyt kahden vuoden säilyttelyn jälkeen sain vihdoinkin luettua kirjan loppuun.

Kirja koostuu enimmäkseen lyhyistä episodeista, joissa kerrotaan välähdyksiä kuubalaistaustaisen siivoojattaren elämästä Yhdysvalloissa. Merkitsin romaanin myös novellikategoriaan, koska episodeja voi lukea myös irrallisina novelleina (ja niin olenkin lukenut aina muutaman silloin tällöin). Päähenkilöt tulivat niin tutuiksi, että nyt kaksivuotisen tuttavuuden päätyttyä tuli lähes haikea olo.

Huomasin palaavani kirjan pariin usein silloin, kun kaipasin jotain aivot narikkaan -viihdettä. Teksti on nimittäin sen verran maukasta, helppo- ja nopealukuista sekä mukavalla tavalla jaarittelevaa. Lukiessa tuntui siltä, kuin olisi käynyt kahvilla milloin kenenkin henkilön kanssa ja kuunnellut hänen tarinointiaan.

Oikein mukava ja lämminhenkinen opus karmeasta ulkoasustaan huolimatta.

[Roger DeBlanck · Rating 4 out of 5]

Hijuelos takes a discerning and compassionate look at the struggles that Cuban immigrants must face between assimilation and preserving cultural identity in his novel Empress of the Splendid Season. It tells the story of Lydia and Raul Espana, Cuban immigrants living in New York City. Lydia cleans houses and Raul waits tables. The novel recognizes the conflicts among cultures, the splits between generations, the role of women in society, and the decay of values. Hijuelos charts the hardworking life of Lydia and Raul in great detail. He examines their adjacent pasts, interweaving successes with sadness and hardship, as they work to balance their Cuban identity with the forces of American culture. The novel also examines the lives of the Espana children, Alicia and Rico, who represent second-generation immigrant characters.

[Alicia Tompkins · Rating 2 out of 5]

The book was descriptive of the main characters fall from limited glory, her coming to terms or not with that, her relationship with her children and the people she worked for. I found it interesting in sort of an anthropological way but I was not drawn into any of the characters.

[Whiskey Tango · Rating 3 out of 5]

Lydia Espana has very definite values about she feels is the proper way to act, which she enforces for herself and her family. She holds a high view of herself, which prevents her from slipping into despair; however, she does experience isolated moments of despair, when reality manages to break through the defensive barrier of her imagination, and realizes that she will never win the lottery or be whisked away by a rich handsome gentleman. Yet, she remains in a world in which she is an empress.

Lydia dreams of an affair with her boss, Mr. Osprey. Her mixing of Spanish and English, neither of which she speaks extremely well, her freely imagined sexual encounters, her strictness with her own children, her unshakable awe of the Ospreys, all point to the difference between the identity she wants and the identity that she actually possesses in the eyes of those around her. As she grows older, she also slips from the role of the beautiful, desired woman, the role for which she feels best suited, and which she enjoys the most.

Mario dreams of being a famous bandleader. While he waits for his big break, he spreads joy among the community with his upbeat attitude. He never gets it, but he supplies the music that is the life force of the community. Mr. Fuentes the butcher, is a poet, eventually self-published and despite the thoughts of everyone in the neighborhood, not very good. Neither man attains success as Lydia defines it but become loved by their community whose lives are enriched.

Conduct counts. If one cannot be rich, then at least one can have the richness of decorum and gentility.

[Margaret Collins · Rating 2 out of 5]

I don't usually leave reviews because I'm very picky about what I read. I won't even open a book if I don't think I'll like it. So, it seems odd to review books I was predisposed to like. Anyway, I picked this up for free I think; I have read some stories about Cuban immigrants and exiles and I thought it would be interesting. Then I saw he wrote The Mambo Kings Play Songs of Love. How could I not like it, right? He won a Pulitzer Prize for it! But, even putting aside the casual sexism (which is why I, for the most part, don't read men authors anymore), I really, really didn't like the writing. I kept getting bored and starting to think about something else. But the story was really great, and I wanted to know what happened. I don't believe it has ever taken me 6 days to read a 342 page book. It felt like homework. His sentences are, like, a half a page long, and, I think are supposed to conjure poetry and mysticism, but they're just annoying. And, after all that, the characters remained very flat. Hardly any of them were likable, but I don't mind that if it's told well. I've read women writers who were Cuban, and they are poetic and non-linear and many characters only speak Spanish. But they just do it all so much better.

[Becky Motew · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.7 stars

Not a gripping work but a thoughtful one and very analytical.

A Cuban family living in NYC is examined in some detail, including the mother Lydia (mostly), the father Raul, the daughter Alicia who ends up far away from her culture, and the son Rico who is caught forever between Cuban life and values and “American” ones. I sometimes wondered if he stood for the author, examining his family and trying to embrace a culture he never knew.

Lydia works as a cleaning lady for many clients and especially loves Mr. and Mrs. Osprey who are rich in her eyes. They have antiques and valuable art and Lydia aspires to what she sees as their classiness. However, Lydia herself is classy. She holds herself with dignity, dresses well, and tries to better herself and the fortunes of her children. She is polite and behaves with courtesy, although engaging in some snobbiness. If we are tempted to look disdainfully at Lydia, who is poor, we should re-evaluate our own moral compass.

Time goes by and everyone gets older. That's what happens.

[Missy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Lydia came from a prosperous family in Cuba and finds her fall to cleaning woman supporting her family in New York a disappointment. Through vignettes we learn about Lydia and the people around her, flaws and all. The work is a thought provoking look at the Cuban American experience through the lives of emigres and their children's struggles with identity as well as universal themes of regret, love, and poverty. A slow and steady read told in a non-linear fashion will mean this book is not for all readers. Even for fans of this type of fiction might enjoy the authors' pulitzer winning work better. Recommended as an additional purchase.

[Sheila · Rating 5 out of 5]

I totally missed this when it came out in 1999, but I picked it up at a used book sale because I loved the author's other books. Such a beautiful, tender story. Lydia was so relatable to me. Complex and mostly - but not completely - likable, trying to get through her days while dreaming of better things. Just like all of us. I enjoyed every vignette of her ordinary life, like the gain, and loss, of a fur coat she had long coveted. So achingly, beautifully told. I don't understand the reviewers who disliked the book because it had no plot. It didn't need a plot.

[Marsha · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'd like to give this a 4.5. Hijuelos beautifully crafted novel that seems to ramble, but never leaves the crux of its story gives the reader a birds eye view of what it is to be a emigre-in this case Cuban-in the US. And it is more than that, as it is novel that deeply probes its characters through the passage of their day, their inner thoughts and the stories they tell about others that people their life. I am a fan of Latin American writers and Hijuelos is a star among them.

[Ed Heinzelman · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not sure how I feel about this book...it is a compelling read...that draws you in and pushes you forward. Lydia leaves a society lifestyle in Cuba for NYC and finds love and family and a place in the world...but there is a lot of sadness and nostalgia and truth about an immigrants life. I picked this up originally because of other great literature that I have enjoyed from Latin American authors...this isn't up there with Borges say...but it is very good.

[KitCat · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed the descriptive writing and the character development. I will find other books by this author.

The story itself was a mirror to life and depending on your mood it could reflect either the selfish, narcissistic side of humanity or the strong willed dedication to family that keeps us moving forward through adversity and drudgery. The central character is very human, both good and bad - she wouldn't be my choice as a friend but I know many people like her.

[María-Columna · Rating 3 out of 5]

No sé qué decir. No conocía (¿debo avergonzarme por ello?) a este autor y esta obra me ha gustado a ratos y me ha aburrido en otros. Y el final me ha defraudado, no sé muy bien a dónde lleva. En fin, he disfrutado con su prosa en muchos momentos pero me falta algo. Bueno, ya está.

[Trudy · Rating 5 out of 5]

I enjoyed this book, although it took me a while to get used to the (over use?) of parenthesis. His style was easy and relaxed as I traveled through the life of the main character. Great reading for pandemic isolation.

[Gargi · Rating 5 out of 5]

Does what the best of books do: reveals truths about the human condition while telling us an engaging story about a person and a place. A gorgeous read, and I will be living with these characters a long time.

[Elizabeth · Rating 3 out of 5]

DNF - Good but not great. The writing is beautiful but after reading 100 pages, I’m still not hooked. There are too many good books to read and not enough time to spend on the mediocre ones. I’m sure someone will love this book, though.

[Shauna · Rating 1 out of 5]

A tiresome montage about a Cuban woman in New York. Too slow for words.

[Dale · Rating 1 out of 5]

not finished…, really not bad, just didn’t ‘grab me’ enough to continue…sorry women stories written by men are not my cup of tea

[Steven · Rating 4 out of 5]

Beautiful and enchanting. Pobre Lydia, yet she manages a wonderful life which shows us that it isn't money that makes you happy.

[Rosa · Rating 3 out of 5]

Rich Cuban lady becomes poor New York Cleaning lady. Son is educated psychologist, daughter marries well. The cleaning woman and her friendships.

[Christina Gagliano · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this book; however, I didn't fully understand how and why Lydia and Raul got together and were presumably so in love with one another. Otherwise, a fantastic read.

[Indie Book Reviews · Rating 1 out of 5]

Did not finish. Beautiful writing but so dull

[Paola Sanchez · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great book, the story kept me reading.

[Celia · Rating 4 out of 5]

It was slow in parts but made it made an impact on me. I like Oscar Hijuelos. It made the working person seem very dignfied.

[Helen · Rating 3 out of 5]

I love other works by this author and this one was weak in comparison. The characters were simply nit that interesting.

[Anita Wallace · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really enjoyed this :)

[Alan Haffner · Rating 3 out of 5]

FWRC. Gord Sorry, I don't remember much. Didn't leave an impression I guess.

[Stefanie Jones · Rating 5 out of 5]

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