Say Hello to My Little Friend

Crucet (How to Make Your Home Among Strangers) brilliantly brings readers inside the mind of a nonhuman intelligence in this tour de force, which alternates perspectives between Lolita, a captive killer whale housed at Miami’s Seaquarium, and Izzy Reyes, a 20-year-old Cuban Miamian who works as an impersonator of the rapper Pitbull. Lolita was separated from her pod and captured in 1970; almost 50 years later, she still remembers the family she lost. Like Lolita, Izzy misses his mother, who drowned while trying to get them to the States when he was seven. When Izzy is forced to stop his unauthorized impersonations, he revives his “original life plan”—to “remake himself into Tony Montana for the new millennium.” He starts by seeking out someone to be his Manolo, Montana’s right-hand man, then decides that, instead of obtaining a pet tiger like his role model, he will attempt to acquire Lolita. The goofiness of his plan is balanced by Crucet’s vivid and plausible delineation of Lolita’s inner life, imbuing the gonzo plot with genuine emotional depth. This is an impressive feat. (Mar.)