Dreaming in Cuban
This book’s opening and main setting takes place in Cuba beginning in the 1970’s through the 1980’s and it contains flashbacks from various earlier time frames. It records the history of a family that has gone through many trials in a country that was in economic and political turmoil. The main character in this novel is Celia del Pino. She is the glue that holds the other characters together. Each character tells their view of periods of their lives. Celia was sent to live with her aunt in Havana when she was four years old. She learned to play piano as a child and when she grew up she met a man named Gustavo Sierra de Armas while working at a department store. She immediately fell in love with him. He was a Spanish lawyer and already married. Celia had two passions in life; the revolution and Gustavo. When he returned to Spain, Celia was heartbroken. She took to her bed for eight months because she was so depressed about missing Gustavo. While she was in this depressed state, Jorge del Pino courted her and told her to write to Gustavo and that if Gustavo didn’t answer her letter, that she should marry him (Jorge). Gustavo never answered her letter so she married Jorge. Jorge and Celia had three children, daughters Lourdes and Felicia, and a son named Javier. Jorge and Lourdes felt a special connection to each other spent much time together when Jorge was not traveling because of his job. Felicia was a child that needed much attention and would often manipulate herself in Jorge’s and Lourdes conversation by throwing temper tantrums. Javier and his father never bonded in a father-son way.