Search - Mambo Kings Play Songs of Love

The story attempts to portrays a very thin slice of life: the alleged life of Cuban musicians in exile, and I'm not sure why it merited a Pulitzer Prize. But I read it with interest to the end because the characters were so well developed. If you saw the movie, do not compare the movie with the book. We saw the movie last night. The movie was really shallow by comparison to the book. The characters in the book are more fully developed; sometimes to their detriment. It was a worthy read, but difficult to maintain sympathy for the major character.

I wasn't prepared for all the sex in this book. Oh my goodness, there is so much talk about this guy's "pinga" that you'd think the whole book was about it. I think the constant mentioning of sexual positions detracted from the story as a whole. It's a shame because the story, itself, wasn't bad - quite touching while describing the relationship between a man and his brother. I wouldn't recommend this to anyone because it does drag quite a big and there's a lot of repetition in what the author says.

Very funny. A great read.