Cadillac 59

Written as a labor of love and nostalgia, this debut novel by Cuban expatriate and stand-up comedian Guedes chronicles the history of contemporary Cubans on the island and in Miami from the 1959 revolution to the present. The narrative vehicle employed by the author is a 1959 Cadillac. Yes, the automobile tells the story a creative variation of ""if the walls had ears."" The car is ""exiled"" in Miami and pines to return to its life in Cuba: ""What I long for is to return to my homeland, once it is freed. And when my four wheels roll through the streets of Havana, I'll be the happiest Cadillac in the world."" The story is rich in local characters, idioms, slang, humor, insights, and references that will strike a chord with Cubans everywhere. However, for this same reason it may leave non-Cuban readers a bit confused. Thus, this work is primarily for the Cuban community and is best suited for the public libraries and bookstores that serve it. Nelly S. Gonzalez, Univ. of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign