The Lamentable Journey of Omaha Bigelow into the Impenetrable Loisaida Jungle

by Edgardo Vega Yunqué

From one of the most powerful voices in contemporary fiction comes a fantastic adventure through the concrete jungle of New York City

Failed in all his career aspirations, recently laid off from Kinko's, and burdened with a frustrating anatomical shortcoming, Omaha Bigelow finds salvation on the streets of New York City's Lower East Side in the form of a Nuyorican homegirl equipped with an array of powers to cure his problems. Their misbegotten romance transforms him from a perpetual loser to an overnight success, but fame comes with a hefty price. Omaha must soon struggle to remain faithful as he becomes entangled with an irresistible WASP law student and a sinister ex-CIA agent who happens to be her father.

Writing with a perfect-pitch ear for the American idiom, and vividly capturing the cultural landscape of post–September 11 New York, Edgardo Vega Yunqué challenges the received wisdom of contemporary life and its politics with vitality, humor, and an abiding affection for pop culture, youth, and American optimism.

Genres: Fiction, Magical Realism

350 pages, Hardcover

First published October 21, 2004

Reviews

[Lolo S. · Rating 2 out of 5]

The beginning of this book is amazing, especially if you have a connection to New York's lower east side. The magical realism- Puerto Rican witches and animal transformations and bohongo enlargments all actually make sense if you've felt the energy of the LES. But the momentum kind of tapers off and the story gets bogged down in all the characters, and to an annoying extent, the author interjecting himself upon the action. At first the author-as-character as cute, but then it just got old. And then you find out the whole book is about 9/11, and it sort of falls apart, kind of like this review: Never forget.

[Robert Friedman · Rating 5 out of 5]

--from my 2005 review in The San Juan Star--

Wassup with the Nuyoricans on the Lower East Side? Well, homegirls are morphing into squirrels and monkeys and seagulls to get around the neighborhood, and occasionally startling an onlooker by fully feathering into magnificent peacocks. The homeboys, who slouch around the projects in baggy clothes by day, are honing in by night on radar, sonar, electronics, navigation and all the other specializations needed for the Puerto Rican Navy being formed to preserve and protect la isla.

When the concrete jungle gets the tenement- dwelling Nuyoricans down, those with the magic touch transform their crummy apartments into the enchanted island, where they wade in the warm, emerald-blue waters and relax on the sandy, palm-studded beach of Luquillo, or receive blessings from the Taíno god Yukiyú on the primordial El Yunque mountain top.

Meanwhile, 15-year-old Maruquita Salsipuedes, a juvenile Jennifer López lookalike, falls for punk-rocker Omaha Bigelow, a simpático Gringo loser who, unfortunately, is less than well-endowed on the anatomical front. Maruquita calls on her family's brujería (witchcraft) background to shape up Bigelow down below.

Omaha is now a big boy with a growing ego. He gives thanks to Maruquita by fulfilling her desire for a "Gringorican" baby—then cheats on her by impregnating four other Loisaida ladies. But nobody monkeys with Maruquita, the good witch of the Lower East Side.

Omaha Bigelow, who the 15-year-old Maruquita considers her "pet," gets his comeuppance in terms both figuratively and literally poetic. Read it and weep. Or laugh. Or whatever.

It's all happening in Edgardo Vega Yunqué 's magically realistic, highly raunchy and deeply resonant novel, The Lamentable Journey of Omaha Bigelow into the Impenetrable Loisaida Jungle, published by Overlook Press.

And that's not even the half of it. You've got the writer and his characters trading thoughts and opinions on how things are turning out in the novel. The marvelous Maruquita goes from down home Spanglishisms ("What for it gotta be like that?" "Papito, wassup?") when she's in character during the narrative, to sophisticated polisci-speak when she addresses the author in asides about where the novel is going ("is this some sort of metaphysical affirmation of the hegemonic power of the United States juxtaposed against the destiny of the hemisphere?")

You've got the writer commenting in mini-essays on the very unmagical reality of Puerto Rican politics and the plight of the people, and of the sorry state of American life and politics, not to mention the country's fast decaying tastes in literature. The author slices into the heart of conservative America and is on target when he says it often seems that Americans "learn geography by bombing places." (You want ferinstances? How about Kosovo, Fallujah, Samarra, et al.)

The author's poetic imagination swings more than his political prose—he's more profound and gives us deeper insights when he's riffing on the human comedy. And there are intimations of the meaning and/or meaninglessness of it all, with takes on "Oedipus Rex" to "Waiting for Godot," from Greek god Zeus to, well, Geraldo. And Bill Clinton, Bush the Younger, the CIA and Vieques also are wrapped into the satirical package.

What you've got is an exceptional American writer of Puerto Rican descent taking chances with both the content and structure of the novel, and bringing most of it home beautifully. Whether you're from Bayamón or the Bronx— and maybe even Omaha, Nebraska—this hilarious and heart-felt novel should hit home with its dark humor and its bittersweet humanity.

The Puerto Rico Rico-born, New York-raised Ed Vega passed away in August, 2008, but his wild and wonderful prose keeps on going on in Omaha Bigelow, and in his many other works.

[Jon · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was strongly impressed with the Lamentable Journey of Omaha Bigelow, the tale of a gutter punk 34 year old who catches the eye of 15 year old Puerto Rican Bruja. Omaha Bigelow has the curse of a underdeveloped male member and his Bruja girlfriend is willing to improve him magically, both his genetic abnormality as well as giving him success in life. However these characters are human and, in the manner of a Grecian fable, Omaha's life becomes a contemptible Iliad of Woes.
There is almost nothing in this novel that is savory, the title "Lamentable Journey" refers both to the outcomes of each successive step toward disharmony as well as well as the individual character's Lamentable demeanor's and goals.
But like the great Grecian fables, there is a great joy gotten every time that Omaha, or any of the other characters, show their base humanity and are struck by the results of those actions. In Edgardo Yunque's novel however there is not judgment from the Gods but instead joyful laughter from the storyteller. Yunque takes great joy in his anti-heroes and places them in nothing but tragically humorous circumstances. He doesn't write characters that should be put on a pedestal but instead beautifully mistaken people that remind the reader why to live a kind,moral life.
I give this novel the highest possible praise. The novel is selfish for all of the right reasons. It may not impress the elite effete but it will entertain my sort of reader.

[the real Italian reader · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very interesting book connecting the mystical world of Santeria and Caribbean folklore with the Lower East Side, 9/11, political and sexual relationships. The characters were all fleshed out beautifully and the commentary by the author himself helped to further the plot.

[Frank Dodd · Rating 1 out of 5]

Ok - I was that close (holding up two fingers pinched close together) to finishing this book. The books fantasy aspect of a secret Puerto Rican society controlling the social structure of the world and use of animal transforming witches was just too overwhelming for moi comprehend. There was no background structure to hold it together and the structure offered was itself a strange manifestation. Men In Black (the movie) did a much better job of connecting the viewer to an almost believable fantasy alien world among the boringly everyday weave of our worldly society. Yes I do believe Micheal Jackson was an alien. The only thing that kept me going on the book was the belief that something this bad could get better and the brief sexual encounters in the book. Well the book did not get better, it got worse, and I finally got a girlfriend so I didn't need the sex in print.
I gave it 1 star for the sex and that is that. Now I don't know what to do with the book - I know my library won't take it. Hell, they might even turn me into the Freak Police. I will have to bury it in the back yard with my Beta copy of John Water's, Pink Flamingos.

[Eve · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is one of the best books I've ever read.

Other folks have remarked that the author "intrudes" on the work, as if he's a kid who just can't stop himself from gorging on something bad for him. Yunque is not just a kid with a bad habit, but a writer in full control of his literary techniques. Yes, it's a rather experimental device, but it's just that - an intentional device. This novel is not what the first couple of chapters might lead you to expect. That is, it's not a hipster action novel with a big vocabulary a la Warren Ellis, but a rumination on the nature of storytelling and of American hegemony. If you like Delany when his stories are barely a step away from lit crit, you'll love this. If the very thought makes you annoyed, this probably isn't the book for you.

[Christina · Rating 2 out of 5]

the author is so wildly full of himself that his dialogues with the reader, which make up roughly half the book, quickly become intolerable. the story itself is very fine and creative, but he frequently suggests that if you just want to get back to the plot then you're only interested in trash fiction and not "real literature." the many fine authors he cites as example of real literature, however, manage to tell THEIR stories without constant interruption to explain obvious plot devices and metaphors. this book would have been great if he had managed to do the same, but instead he grossly underestimates the intelligence of his readers.

[Ryan · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book made my eyes burn with ick. The first half is well-written, gripping and fast-paced. However, inexcusably sexual material in it is disgustingly vivid. It just seems as if the author wrote down whatever he wanted about all things gross! The second half of the book is even more excruciating because it abandons all snappy plot points in exchange for silly dialogues between the author and protagonists. If that weren't deeply annoying enough, we also get Vega's senseless political musings in every chapter. So....skip this book. The first 100 pages are fine, but disturbing. I can always spoil the ending for you and you won't have missed a thing.

[Jesse · Rating 4 out of 5]

yunque tears it up in this experimental piece of fiction, with all kinds of surreal twists and turns...much of it taking place in post 9/11 new york. he's the puerto rican tom robbins!

[Kristi Brendle · Rating 3 out of 5]

Over the top & gratuitous, it's like Christopher Moore and Tom Robbins mixed together (with some salsa & merengue). Interesting, a bit too sexual at times, but a good read.

[Cassie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great novel despite the social commentary and recap of historical events. Definitely a magical story.