HOME AGAIN

by Jose Yglesias ‧ RELEASE DATE: Sept. 25, 1987

Yglesias' first book in ten years is about a writer who hasn't had a book out in ten years. Pinpin is a 65-year-old Cuban-American writer who has come home to Tampa, Florida; he is at the end of his tether. His wife Cora, a Wasp from a Boston Brahmin family, has just died of cancer; his own health is shaky. He is estranged from his two sons, Hollywood screenwriters: ""I knew you couldn't count on today's children."" An ex-communist and supporter of the Cuban revolution, he is estranged from Havana, too, over the issue of a jailed poet; he has no beliefs now, only old hatreds. No sooner is he through the door of his Tampa house (bequeathed to him by sister Celia, killed in a car crash) than he is embroiled in family intrigues. Who will get Celia's sewing machine? Is Pinpin going to stay or sell? Dinner at cousin Tom-tom's is described with affectionate malice; only late in the evening (too late, for the reader) does Pinpin discover the painful drama beneath the tittle-tattle. Tom-tom's retarded granddaughter Dulcie has married a Marielito pimp, Tambor, who has her turning tricks in the back of a van. An overly compressed ending has Pinpin transformed into knight-in-shining-armor, besting Tambor and rescuing Dulcie; en route numerous flashbacks have detailed Pinpin's marriage to Cora, his stint as movie critic for the Daily Worker, and his riff with his sons. Dulcie's story might have made a workable novella, but it has to compete for equal time with Pinpin's sour, mean-spirited ramblings on his situation as writer and family member. ""I have given up graciousness,"" writes Pinpin. It shows.

Pub Date: Sept. 25, 1987

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Arbor House

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 1987

Categories: FICTION