Mambo Peligroso: A Novel | Patricia Chao

Mambo Peligroso: A Novel | Patricia Chao | unbelievably great

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Mambo Peligroso: A...

	Mambo Peligroso: A Novel Patricia Chao HarperCollins, 2005 - 320 pages average customer review:based on 9 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

Addictive read!

This was like a rollacoaster. So much dance, and more dance. And sex too, tons of it. But what really got me was her writing. Her language has the sort of calm elegance that contrasts so remarkably with the hypnotic rhythm of the book. It's addictive!

unbelievably great

The plot, the characters, the passion, the energy: it's all here, and we'd expect nothing less from the author of the gorgeous "Monkey King." I kept trying to turn the pages slowly so this treat would last, but the tension Chao creates and maintains wouldn't let me. Highly recommended to anyone who loves literature and/or life. How long must we wait for Chao's next novel?

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Loved it!

MAMBO PELIGROSO by Patricia Chao
May 1, 2005

Rating 4/5 stars

MAMBO PELIGROSO centered on the story of several Cuban Americans, but mostly on a woman named Catalina, whose mother was from Japan and father was from Cuba, and part of her childhood was spent in Cuba before Castro took control of the country. Things changed for their family when Castro came into power, and when her father commits suicide, she escapes with her mother to America, where they live with her father's sister in Florida. The bulk of the novel is centered on the New York mambo scene, where Catalina goes to live as an adult. It is Catalina's passion, the New York mambo scene, as she lives and breaths mambo night and day. As she learns more about this very difficult dance, she also finds herself yearning for her Cuban roots, which she let go when her father died all those years ago.

Other main characters include Wendy, who becomes a good friend of Catalina, and at the same time a rival for affections from their mentor, El Tuerto, who is also another main character. The story is told in the present, with the characters going back into the past to tell their individual stories. The book ends in Cuba, back where it all started.

This is a very intense book, with lots of strong language, lots of sex and violence. "Peligroso" means "dangerous", and while at first it's the world of Mambo that it refers to, the reader can see that it actually points to the dangerous life that is led by those who are trying to take down Castro. At this point the novel centers on Catalina's cousin's story (Guillermo). When Catalina had lived in Florida, her life revolved around Guillermo, and her story ends with her life in some way returning back to him.

Anyone that enjoys intense ethnic drama with political overtones will like MAMBO PELIGROSO. There is a lot of Spanish and some Japanese phrases mixed in, which lucky for me I understood. I'm not sure how the non-Spanish and non-Japanese reader will interpret those sentences. Most of it is pretty much translated in some way or another by inference, but I did notice a few places where I had to guess what the meaning was. It shouldn't detract from the enjoyment of the book, but some may not care for it. Otherwise, this book is enthusiastically recommended. It may be one of my favorite books of 2005.

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reviews: 1, page 2

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