The Mambo Kings Play Songs of Love - Wikipedia The Mambo Kings Play Songs of Love From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Jump to navigation Jump to search The Mambo Kings Play Songs of Love First edition cover Author Oscar Hijuelos Country United States Language English Genre Fiction Publisher Farrar, Straus and Giroux Publication date August 21, 1989 Media type Print (Hardback & Paperback) Pages 408 pp ISBN 0-374-20125-0 OCLC 19353741 Dewey Decimal 813/.54 19 LC Class PS3558.I376 M36 1989 The Mambo Kings Play Songs of Love is a 1989 novel by Oscar Hijuelos. It is about the lives of two Cuban brothers and musicians, Cesar and Nestor Castillo, who immigrate to the United States and settle in New York City in the early 1950s. The novel won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 1990, being the first novel by a United States-born Hispanic to do so.[1] It was the basis for a 1992 motion picture, The Mambo Kings, as well as a musical in 2005. The Mambo Kings Play Songs of Love was published in 1989, and soon became a huge international bestseller. It tells the story of Cesar Castillo, an aged musician who once had a small amount of fame when he and his brother appeared on an episode of I Love Lucy in the 1950s. The book chronicles Cesar’s last hours as he sits in a seedy hotel room, drinking and listening to recordings made by his band, the Mambo Kings. Events and characters whirl through Cesar's mind, evoking what he has lost over the years: his brother and collaborator, Nestor, who spent his adult life constantly rewriting one song about a lost love; the many lovers who gave themselves up to him as he rose triumphantly through the mambo music craze of the early 1950s; and the way of life that disappeared for all Cubans after that country was overthrown by an insurrection led by Fidel Castro in 1959. After coming to the US, Cesar's memories include events in the lives of his and Nestor's girlfriends, wives, and children. In telling Cesar’s story, Hijuelos weaves in cameo appearances by several real-life mambo musicians, including Desi Arnaz, Tito Puente, Pérez Prado, Machito and Mongo Santamaría. The novel develops one of Hijuelos' most common themes: how immigrants adjust to coming to the United States and how they see themselves in relation to their new culture in contrast to the culture of their birth. Also, the book showcases Hijuelos' distinctive, richly detailed description of his characters' lives written in a prose-style that evokes the rhythms of Cuban music.[2] References[edit] ^ Oscar Hijuelos on the Hispanic Heritage Awards ^ Gale, "Hispanic Heritage: Oscar Hijuelos", 2010; retrieved 5 October 2011. External links[edit] Dancing into the Dream: Review at the NYTimes. 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Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=The_Mambo_Kings_Play_Songs_of_Love&oldid=898323894" Categories: 1990 American novels Pulitzer Prize for Fiction-winning works Hispanic and Latino American novels Novels set in New York City Novels set in Cuba Fiction set in the 1950s Novels about music Cuban-American literature Farrar, Straus and Giroux books American novels adapted into films 1990s novel stubs Hidden categories: All stub articles Navigation menu Personal tools Not logged in Talk Contributions Create account Log in Namespaces Article Talk Variants Views Read Edit View history More Search Navigation Main page Contents Current events Random article About Wikipedia Contact us Donate Contribute Help Learn to edit Community portal Recent changes Upload file Tools What links here Related changes Upload file Special pages Permanent link Page information Cite this page Wikidata item Print/export Download as PDF Printable version Languages Español Edit links This page was last edited on 22 May 2019, at 20:24 (UTC). 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