The Perez Family (1990) by Christine Bell

 1,001 Novels: A Library of America

The Perez Family (1990)

by Christine Bell

Miami, Florida

Florida: 20/21

  I had to buy a copy of The Perez Family- a movie edition copy, no less.  The movie was made by Mira Nair, Mayor Mandani's Mom, and starred Anjelica Houston and Marisa Tomei.   Her Amazon product page only has five listings- one is a Japanese translation- none appear to be in print.  At this point, I think I'm good on the Cuban immigrant experience at least as far as it extends through South Florida.  Many people found the move hard, particularly those with a limited skill set.  The inability to speak English as an issue- which frequently arises in immigrant novels of all types, does not appear to be a problem for the Cuban immigrants, nor does categorical racism/blanket discrimination. Due to the circumstances in Cuba almost all (all?) have some kind of lingering PTSD from their Cuban experience, and family and friends who were left behind. 

  Here, we have a character who spent 20 years in a Castro prison for being an opposition newspaper editor, he is sent to the US during the Marielito boat lift- at the tail end- and has difficulty reuniting with his family, but he makes new friends along the way. The New York Times called it "oft maudlin" and I would concur, but I would also say that maudlin is a very Cuban mode and that the shared experience of this group as a class of people has maudlin attributes that you would expect to see in fiction.

  One more Florida title to complete the chapter! And a book from blog-favorite Elmore Leonard.