The Tower of the Antilles by Achy Obejas

The Tower of the Antilles by Achy Obejas

--Finalist for the PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction

"Obejas writes like an angel, which is to say: gloriously . . . one of Cuba's most important writers." --Junot Díaz

"Floating somewhere between magic realism and brutal reality, Obejas's restless characters are deniers, escapists, adventurers." --The Booklist Reader

The Cubans in Achy Obejas's story collection are haunted by islands: the island they fled, the island they've created, the island they were taken to or forced from, the island they long for, the island they return to, and the island that can never be home again.

In "Supermán," several possible story lines emerge about a 1950s Havana sex-show superstar who disappeared as soon as the Revolution triumphed. "North/South" portrays a migrant family trying to cope with separation, lives on different hemispheres, and the eventual disintegration of blood ties. "The Cola of Oblivion" follows the path of a young woman who returns to Cuba, and who inadvertently uncorks a history of accommodation and betrayal among the family members who stayed behind during the revolution. In the title story, "The Tower of the Antilles," an interrogation reveals a series of fantasies about escape and a history of futility.

With language that is both generous and sensual, Obejas writes about existences beset by events beyond individual control, and poignantly captures how history and fate intrude on even the most ordinary of lives.