Dear First Love

by Zoé Valdés

“Valdés’s voice embodies a ferocious vitality and sheer existential appetite that can’t be reduced to any ideology. She’s as much a connoisseur of the absurdities of the revolutionary life as she is a critic.” — New York Times Book Review The numbing rhythm of daily life in poverty-stricken Havana has deadened Danae’s mind and spirit. On the brink of a breakdown, she unceremoniously leaves Havana without explanation to her family. In search of her first true love, Danae retreats into the countryside of her adolescence, where the government of Fidel Castro had sent her and other teenagers in the late 1970’s to work in the fields under a corrupt and sadistic overseer. It was here, surrounded by a natural world infused with spiritual wonders, that Danae met and fell in love with Tierra Fortuna Munda, a campesino girl her own age. When the adult Danae finds Tierra, their lives are transformed, their love and its mysteries reborn. However, their return to Havana proves to be the ultimate test of love, not only for Danae and Tierra, but also for Danae’s desperate family.

Genres: Fiction, Spanish Literature

304 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1999

About the author

Zoé Milagros Valdés Martínez estudió en el Instituto Superior Pedagógico Enrique José Varona, pero abandonó los estudios antes de terminar (hizo hasta cuarto año); después ingresó en la Facultad de Filología de la Universidad de La Habana, donde estudió hasta segundo año.1

Desde 1984 a 1988 formó parte de la Delegación de Cuba ante la Unesco en París, y de la Oficina Cultural de la Misión de Cuba en París. Fue subdirectora de la revista Cine Cubano desde 1990 hasta diciembre de 1994. Al año siguiente fue invitada a unas jornadas sobre José Martí en París, donde se quedó y vive con su esposo, el cineasta Ricardo Vega, y su hija. Políticamente, Zoé Valdés es opositora al régimen de Fidel Castro

Fue redactora en jefe de la revista de arte ARS Magazine, Cuba, que dirigía su hermano, Gustavo Valdés. La habían fundado ambos en 19952 y la relanzaron a fines de 2010.3

Zoé Valdés colabora en numerosas publicaciones periódicas españolas y francesas, como El País, El Mundo, El Semanal, Qué leer, Elle, Vogue, Le Monde, Libération, Le Nouvel Observateur, Beaux Arts, Les Inrockuptibles, entre otras. Ha participado en muchos festivales literarios internacionales y ejercido como miembro del jurado de prestigiosos concursos.

Además de escribir guiones, Zoé Valdés ha codirigido un cortometraje —Caricias de Oshún— con su marido, Ricardo Vega, y ha sido jurado del Festival de Cannes (1998).

Reviews

[lauraღ · Rating 3 out of 5]

Why didn’t you go back to Havana? The country leaves a deep mark, more scars than nostalgia.

This was such a weird book and I'm not sure how I feel about it. It's literary fiction with a decided bent towards magical realism and I really love a lot of the creative things the author does with writing style and perspectives, and how she narrates the life of this woman. On the other hand, it's confusing in a lot of ways that I don't think it meant to be, and like, it's really... scatological and gross. Unnecessarily so, I would argue. And I promise, I'm not someone who gets precious about grossness in literature. But this was SO much. Basically, I've been thinking about this since I finished and I'm trying to balance literary merit with my actual enjoyment, and sometimes I feel like my rating should be higher, and sometimes I feel like it should be lower. I think landing on a 3 is as good as I can get.

Danae is a young Cuban wife and mother who loves her husband, but feels horribly and consistently mistreated and underappreciated by him. On impulse, she travels back to the countryside where she spent a few months as a teenager in a work programme, in search of the girl who was her first love. The story is told in a dreamy and magical way, following Danae on her journey, and then delving back into the past. I don't know what it is, but I'm always partial to stories about mothers allowing themselves to be selfish. And gay. The perspectives we get are varied and unexpected: the concept of time, the concept of music, a suitcase, an ancient tree, a manatee... this was the part of the magical realism that I liked and melded very well with the picture the author painted of the Cuban countryside and folklore. A lot of lyrical language, unexpected imagery and metaphor. It's also a snapshot of a hard and devastating part of Cuban history. I was really drawn in by all the descriptions of life both in the city and country, the very stark observations of humanity.

It takes awhile for us to get into the heart of Danae's relationship with Tierra Fortuna Munda, but when we do, it's a version of that kind of unhinged female friendship and instant possessive closeness that can be really fascinating to read about. They are such deeply weird girls, lol. I also enjoyed reading about the social ecosystem in the camp, and the friendships and rivalries among the girls there. The story takes a lot of turns, a lot of them confusing, and I wasn't sure how I felt about the ending, and the particular way in which the author chose to do the ending. Specifically, I don't know how I feel about the choice to write two endings and basically say either one of these might have happened. But in the end, I do think I like the fact that we got both the despair and trauma and tragedy in one ending, and the stark reality, yet lightness and hopefulness and happy ending in another.

Unfortunately a lot about the book just fell flat for me. Some of that has to do with the content which, again, was just needlessly and explicitly and bodily gross in ways I did not want to read about. Sometimes it was frank and matter-of-fact, which I do like, but there are sections in which we literally wallow in mess, and I had to start skimming for my own peace of mind. The incest was... a lot. Many passages were simply confusing or perhaps too smart for me, idk. I liked the use of the songs and poems, but I didn't really get the significance of a lot of them. The writing was great, but sometimes just felt a little bit off. It's a translated book, and all the more admirable for it, but I do feel that it's one of those books that just doesn't hit the same way in any other language than the original one. And again, some parts were just confusing. The POV would switch TOO much. Like, changes in POV or perspective might have been evident in the original Spanish, because of the words or the type of language being used. But that wasn't communicated as well in English. At least not all the time. I could always tell, for example, when it was Andres, but there were so many other points in time when the POV would shift, and I wouldn't have any clue that it had shifted until I was well into the paragraph. And it kind of took away from the reading experience as a whole. I don't say it often, but sometimes a book can be TOO weird, and this was that for me.

But I'm glad I read this; I've certainly never read anything like it. And it's been a while since I came across a book in this way. I was looking around my library for a completely different book, knocked this over by accident, was intrigued by the cover, and was delighted to find when I read the blurb that it was sapphic. Instant borrow. Not everything I could have wanted, but a very interesting foray into some more translated fiction.

Content warning: death, beating, domestic violence, homophobia, institutionalisation, electroshock therapy, rape, a lot of incest, some blood and gore, scatological grossness

“No... there’s no way she’s forgotten you,” I whispered in Tierra Fortuna Munda’s ear. “Right now she’s asking herself what the flavour of sunrise might be if she were in your company.”

[Jennifer · Rating 2 out of 5]

Je suis très mitigée face à ce roman car j'ai énormément apprécié certains passages forts, notamment quand Danaé rédige une lettre imaginaire à son mari pour lui expliquer toutes les raisons qui justifient son départ précipité ou encore tout ce qui a trait au développement de la relation entre cette dernière et Terre Fortune Monde. Là où je décrochais, c'était pendant l'autre moitié où on se perdait dans les métaphores incompréhensibles et où on perdait totalement le fil. Le surnaturel devenait très confus et me faisait lire en diagonale jusqu'à ce que l'histoire reprenne un peu de son sens. Somme toute une découverte intéressante, assez pour avoir envie de lire d'autres romans de l'auteure... mais pas tout de suite. ;-)

[josefina cabo · Rating 4 out of 5]

Zoé Valdés me hace sentir Cuba y narra la realidad del país de forma increíble, hace conectar y aprender sobre la fantasía cubana

esta tan bien escrito que me dan ganas de llorar, como expresa lo cotidiano, el aburrimiento, la pasión… lo es todo, todas las chicas deberíamos leer este libro para conectar con nosotras mismas y la naturaleza (si eso tiene algún sentido?)

y
“la infancia muere cuando muere una madre” 😭😭😭😭🙂‍↔️

[Inés · Rating 4 out of 5]

El bollo-drama que necesitaba mi desesperanzado corazoncito.

[Mar · Rating 5 out of 5]

Mi primer libro del año, y que excelente obra para iniciar. El hábito de la lectura nunca ha sido mi fuerte, y suelo dejar los libros a la mitad, sin embargo la combinación del realismo mágico, con la descripción de Cuba y su espacio rural junto a todas esas referencias y menciones de elementos culturales del caribe crean una narrativa irresistible que hasta me hacen sentir parte de la obra misma.

Al leer las reflexiones, los largos trenes de pensamiento, el sobre análisis de momentos o cosas tan subjetivas como el amor, la muerte, las relaciones y el cuidado en pareja, que llegan a tener los personajes en sus distintos momentos, realmente quede fascinade y fue como si estuviera leyendo mis pensamientos mismos.

Una excelente novela safica coxona latinoamericana caribeña, con matices pretenciosos. La ame.

[Kosea · Rating 4 out of 5]

Réalisme magique bonjouuuuur !
Au programme, une femme qui en a marre de son mari quitte le foyer et ses deux enfants en prime. Direction son premier amour et ses souvenirs de jeunesse.
Entre les ceibas, le lamantin qui parle, Terre fortune Monde et la rumba lancinante à travers les pages (Cumbacan cumbacan cumbaquin 🎶) Zoé Valdes mélange une écriture aussi fantastique que poétique.
Laissant libre au cours au désir de ses personnages et laissant un sous-texte amer sur le régime cubain des années 70, on est emporté dans un tourbillon de personnages et de thématiques.
C'est perché, un peu trop long (un double twist pas très utile sur la fin) et incroyablement inventif mais pas facile facile d'accès

[Laura Valdez · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really liked this book, it mixs cuban folklor.
This book is about Danae, a girl from La Havana who goes in the 70´s to work in the camp with her school, and there, she meets Tierra, a girl from the countryside of La Fe, Viñales, who is a mix between a human been and a mithological creature, she has 6 tits and 6 fingers. But when she gets older, she has a s surgery in a foreign country and now she looks like all the human beens.

Danae is really happy because she has found Tierra, and brings her to the city, even if nobody support this romance, Danae tries her best to do it, and at the same time, to be a good mother and to have a good relationship with her husband and all.

[Marfi]

J'avais adoré Café nostalgia, et depuis je n'arrive pas a retrouver le plaisir de lecture de Zoé Valdès. Il y a dans ce livre des passages hyper forts qui m'ont happé et d'autres loooongs et tellement durs, empêtrés de métaphores qui rendent le tout comme morcelé de petits visuels, qui cassent la fluidité et avec lesquels je n'arrive pas à tisser un récit cohérent. C'est sans doute voulu, ça va avec la violence et les souvenirs. Mais j'ai décroché.

[Marie Leray · Rating 3 out of 5]

c'est un amour beau
une belle célébration de la nature et quelques moments de poésie qui transportent
néanmoins j'ai été bousculée par certains moments délirants où je n'ai tout simplement rien compris

[Scythe Rowan · Rating 2 out of 5]

Die Handlung verliert sich mir etwas zu sehr in den Details.

[KYH · Rating 1 out of 5]

Schade. Am Anfang mochte ich das Buch sehr und hätte mindestens 3 wenn nicht gar 4 Sterne gegeben.
Eine Frau, Danae, verlässt Heim, Mann und Kinder weil sie eine Pause braucht und sich selbst finden will - wie das heute so schön heißt. Dabei hat sie durchaus die Absicht wiederzukommen - irgendwann nach einer unbestimten Zeit. Im Zug schreibt sie einen (imaginären?) Brief an ihren Mann um ihm zu erklären, was in ihr vorgeht. Und das ist durchaus nachvollziehbar und sehr offen.
Dann gibt es einen Zeitsprung und wir begleiten Danae und ihre Klassenkameradinnen zu einem Ernteeinsatz. Das war der momnent in dem ich noch einmal überlegte, in welchem Land das Buch spilete: Kuba. Ach ja, wir bekommen also einen gewissen Einblick in das Leben, der sich in diesem Teil doch von dem eines in West-Deutschland aufgewachsenen Kindes unterscheidet.

Wenn der Koffer anfängt die Geschichte zu erzählen wird es schon ein bischen komisch, aber na gut, mit einem ungewöhnlichen Erzähler kann ich Leben.
Dann aber kommen immer mehr verworrene Sachen ins Spiel. Der Erzähler wechselt kontinuierlich zwischen lebenden Personen und Dingen wie Bäumen, Koffern, Geistwesen etc. hin und her und die Erzählung selbst wird zunehmend absurder.
Irgendwann entschloss ich mich den Text nurmehr zu überfliegen, um wenigstens die Geschichte als solches zu beenden, wenn auch nicht mehr zu geniessen. Leider hat das Aufgrund der Erzählweise bei mir nicht funktioniert. Ich wollte nicht aufgeben (jetzt hatte ich so viel geschafft, jetzt sollte es auch für die Länderchallenge zählen) und habe weitergemacht, mich zunehmend mhr ärgernd. Als die Erzählung dann in die Gegenwart zurückkommt, klappte das mit dem Überfliegen dann besser. Der letzte Kunstgriff war dann, dem Leser eine alternatives Ende zu bieten, das durch die Verwendung von könnte, hätte, würde klar als das nicht passierte Ende gekennzeichnet ist (so gesehen also kein Spoiler), bevor das eigentliche Ende kommt.

Ich habe in dem Buch einiges entdeckt, das mir gefallen hat, auch in dem teilweise ungewöhnlichen Schreibstil. Leider habe ich es aber insgesamt nicht genossen, sondern empfand das Lesen zum Schluss als Qual. Und da bleibt nicht mehr übrig, als auf einen Stern zu gehen. Wie gesagt: Schade.

[Val · Rating 5 out of 5]

Es el libro más hermoso que he leído, conectas contigo misma con la naturaleza definitivamente mi libro favorito hasta ahora

[Lisette · Rating 3 out of 5]

I took this book from my brother's shelves. It is written by a Cuban author who I have read before and enjoyed. I enjoyed reading this book because of how it took me back to the days of "la escuela al campo" in the late seventies when I still lived in Cuba. The author, being Cuban, uses words and phrases that are so familiar to me. The fantasy passages intermingled with the "real" story I did not really enjoyed, although I appreciate that they were poetic. I guess one could interpret the love of two of the characters as the love between man and nature (Cuba's flora and fauna); I plan to research about the author's intent.

[Terry · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the story of Danae of Havana and Tierra Fortuna Munda of the Cuban hinterlands. They meet as teenagers when Danae spends a requisite 45-day span working in the fields as part of School in the Country.
I feel like I am borrowing the translator’s words here, but, this was what struck me when I was not too deep into the novel. There are multiple narrators: quasi-omniscient, unexpected voices of time, of trees, of the myriad chthonic and transposed spirits resident in Cuba.
A beautiful story of love, land, and language.

[Marisol · Rating 2 out of 5]

Una historia donde se hace un uso a mi juicio excesivo del realismo mágico, lo cual provoca que en ciertas partes lo que se cuenta nos parezca inverosímil. Me gusta que sea inesperado el tema, y también alabó que se use un lenguaje cubano que nos acerca a su gente. Me gusto mucho del principio a la mitad de la novela, un tanto escatologica pero divertida, de ahí al final un poco dispersa, y llena de muchos temas e ideas que no acaban de cuajar.

[Teresa · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Valdés weaves this story about the pull towards each other the rational urban Danae and the mystical embedded-in-the-landscape Tierra feel. Valdés is often crude and the story often violent and full of tragedy and yet there’s a strange beauty about it all."
read more: http://likeiamfeasting.blogspot.com/2...

[Jeanette · Rating 1 out of 5]

i loved yocandora in the paradise of nada (my sister hated it) and when i saw this at the bookstore i picked it up. bad idea. i was excited because it was by zoe saldes and about lesbians! yeah- it was bad bad bad. really weird and boring and not worth anyones time.

[Alejandro · Rating 4 out of 5]

This sort of meandered a bit in terms of storytelling and tone, but I found the lyrical and surreal last third of the novel really saved it for me. I read and reread certain paragraphs because the imagery was so surprising and gorgeous. I took a star off because I found the ending a bit too pat.

[Louella Mahabir · Rating 3 out of 5]

I remember thinking, Oh My GOD when i came to the part about the cock escaping the owners cage and pecking at the lady's clitoris in the bus. An interesting view of sexuality and love. Zoe has lived in France for a long time and the "je ne sais quoi" shows. She is worth reading!