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Cubafruit
An award-winning historian is drinking coffee in a Miami courtyard, 30 minutes before the most important interview of his career, when he gets a call from an unlisted number.
“I’m looking at you through a rifle scope. Don’t hang up.”
He can tell from her accent that the caller is from San Mara. A political exile, most likely, from the Caribbean nation he’s been studying for years, whose fascist leader, the late Omar Basto, is the leading subject of his four-volume biography.
The biographer is appearing on the show for two the third volume of his Basto biography has just been released, but also because Basto himself, missing and presumed dead since 2000, seems to have re-appeared online.
Shaky footage from a street market in Ecuador.
Photos from a cruise ship in Mexico.
The shooter's instructions are Stay on the line with me until you get the call. Loop me in. Let me speak. With an audience of millions, she plans to correct his history of the dictator, the regime, the war. To take it back. And to reveal what she alone knows about Omar Basto's fate.
But staying on the line won’t be easy. A curious police officer, an aggressive bystander, and a mysterious death nearby will challenge their plans, and exploit their defenses, as the shooter and biographer fall into a philosophical argument about who owns those who fight for the future, or those who rewrite the past.
Sprawling, fast-paced, and splashed with magical realism, Cubafruit is a deeply-researched story about political violence, the exilic experience, and the three-way scramble for power among those who seek it, those who lose it, and those who tell their story.
“I’m looking at you through a rifle scope. Don’t hang up.”
He can tell from her accent that the caller is from San Mara. A political exile, most likely, from the Caribbean nation he’s been studying for years, whose fascist leader, the late Omar Basto, is the leading subject of his four-volume biography.
The biographer is appearing on the show for two the third volume of his Basto biography has just been released, but also because Basto himself, missing and presumed dead since 2000, seems to have re-appeared online.
Shaky footage from a street market in Ecuador.
Photos from a cruise ship in Mexico.
The shooter's instructions are Stay on the line with me until you get the call. Loop me in. Let me speak. With an audience of millions, she plans to correct his history of the dictator, the regime, the war. To take it back. And to reveal what she alone knows about Omar Basto's fate.
But staying on the line won’t be easy. A curious police officer, an aggressive bystander, and a mysterious death nearby will challenge their plans, and exploit their defenses, as the shooter and biographer fall into a philosophical argument about who owns those who fight for the future, or those who rewrite the past.
Sprawling, fast-paced, and splashed with magical realism, Cubafruit is a deeply-researched story about political violence, the exilic experience, and the three-way scramble for power among those who seek it, those who lose it, and those who tell their story.
- GenresFiction
425 pages, Kindle Edition
Published February 3, 2025
14 people are currently reading
107 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews
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February 14, 2025Jared Henderson (the guy with the soothing voice) says that the author spent years writing this book, and the author's agent shopped the book around. The reception was overwhelmingly positive, but the response was that the publishing industry wasn't sure how to properly classify and market the book.
Sounds like this is an awesome book, and I am always down for a book with an interesting backstory. Step aside, publishers! Nothing will come between me and an incredible book!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l0CPi...
Sounds like this is an awesome book, and I am always down for a book with an interesting backstory. Step aside, publishers! Nothing will come between me and an incredible book!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l0CPi...
July 26, 2025
no one writes like Alexander Sorondo. The final act left me stunned
August 31, 2025
I have finished the book.
Gosh, what a bizarre book.
Gosh, what a bizarre book.
June 14, 2025
A cinematic political thriller with dashes of magic realism and gallons of blood that explores geo-political violence from the ground up. Propulsive and engaging storytelling, dripping with deeper meaning, Sorondo weaves a spider’s web of intrigue that lures you in and holds you there.
January 23, 2025
Advance Reader Copy Review: In Sorondo’s debut novel he shows off his prowess for research and his deep understanding of the history of Latin America and the inner workings of political subterfuge that tampered with its ability to control its own destiny. This novel reminds present day readers that rarely is a tragedy (or genocide) the result of one person’s choice or action. A Miami native, Sorondo weaves local familiarity into sections and creates the country of San Mara that is so vivid it’s easy to believe it is a real place. The suspense and pacing are artfully done - though at times chaotic - but that mirrors the actual coups and revolutions so frequent in Central and South America during the time period. The time periods jump around a little bit which left me wanting a timeline to make sure I had events in the right order but that would probably ruin the suspense. His characters are intimate portraits of people that are difficult to root for. The moment one becomes a little likable he shows their ugliest side. The book contains repeated scenes of very graphic violence - but by the time I was queasy about it I was too invested in the ending to stop reading. The twists are not wild or jarring but they left me more than once with a smirk and raised eyebrows. His examination of power and those who wield it asks us all to reflect on what the people we choose to represent us says about ourselves.
May 19, 2025
I have a deep affection for debut novels, especially debut novels where you can see the writer becoming himself. CUBAFRUIT is a novel like this. I could see the author’s themes emerging, and I could also feel that the writer had a big vision that he was reaching for, sometimes imperfectly, but audaciously nonetheless.
Two of my favorite writers, Terry Pratchett and Dianna Wynne Jones, have similar early work. To read their emerging novels is an enormous pleasure because you can both enjoy the story and see someone climbing the mountain toward mastery.
If you enjoyed Alexander Sorondo’s astonishing and absolutely captivating profile of William T. Vollmann in The Metropolitan Review, you’ll be intrigued to see that same fascination with biography, both its breadth and depth, in this novel here. I’m glad that I read this book, and I’m looking forward to what Sorondo does next. He’s got big writerly goals, and I’m glad he brought this novel into the world.
Two of my favorite writers, Terry Pratchett and Dianna Wynne Jones, have similar early work. To read their emerging novels is an enormous pleasure because you can both enjoy the story and see someone climbing the mountain toward mastery.
If you enjoyed Alexander Sorondo’s astonishing and absolutely captivating profile of William T. Vollmann in The Metropolitan Review, you’ll be intrigued to see that same fascination with biography, both its breadth and depth, in this novel here. I’m glad that I read this book, and I’m looking forward to what Sorondo does next. He’s got big writerly goals, and I’m glad he brought this novel into the world.
September 10, 2025
Delightfully bizarre book. I could hardly stop reading.
A political thriller surrounding a genocidal leader unfolds suspensefully as the story jumps between three different points in time, with each part reaching its climax towards the book's end. The fictional but believable country of San Mara is interwoven with intriguing elements such as the hallucinogenic/amphetamine cubafruit beverage, a species of fish whose ganglian tendons release a toxin which influences human behaviour inexplicably, and a spider with a mysterious venom.
A political thriller surrounding a genocidal leader unfolds suspensefully as the story jumps between three different points in time, with each part reaching its climax towards the book's end. The fictional but believable country of San Mara is interwoven with intriguing elements such as the hallucinogenic/amphetamine cubafruit beverage, a species of fish whose ganglian tendons release a toxin which influences human behaviour inexplicably, and a spider with a mysterious venom.
December 9, 2025
I'll probably end up having more to say about this in a different venue, but given how consistently great his blog is I thought I would like this more. It's long. I wanted to quit reading 2/3 of the way through, when it started to just feel like endless scenes of over-the-top violence...and I kind of wish I had, because the book didn't wrap up in a way that rewarded sticking with it.
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February 21, 2025DNF sorry to say. 25% into this book I found it very disconnected and while I am sure the story will come together, it was too scattered for me. I realize it could be where my head it at, but I found it difficult to ‘pick up where I left off’ and felt more like I was reading several short stories.
May 5, 2025
Really entertaining thriller with Sorondo's distinctive voice. Love the pacey slipping back and forth in time and between characters. Alex has it. The story telling gift.
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November 30, 2025This took awhile to get going, and a few of the ancillary characters weren't as well drawn as the mains, but once it picked up steam it didn't let go.
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews