- Introduced In 2003
- Retired
Some people would call Frank Guerra fussy, even compulsiveâ"but theyâre wrong. He simply believes in perfection. He strives to make every textbook he writes into a work of art, and he intends that every Cuba Libre he mixes come out textbook-perfect. (The key? Exactly six drops of lime juice for each ounce of rum.) And Frank also believes in romantic love.
In fact, he believes in love so strongly that heâs willing to divorce his faithful wife Marta (whoâs a real mensch about it), lose his old friends, and even leave behind his adoring daughter Emilyâ"all for the sake of his new americana, a sedate but supremely! sexy schoolteacher named Catherine OâNeal, or Cat for short. But itâs worth all the pain: Cat believes in their love, too.
So why, when he looks deep into Catâs cool sphinx-like eyes, can Frank never penetrate into her depths? Why does he begin to see only his own gaze reflected there, as if from twin funhouse mirrors? Is she hiding something from himâ"anything? (Everything, maybe?) Is his Cat merely toying with him? Frank finds the possibility disturbing. He expects his perfect love to be fully and equally reciprocated. After all, in an imperfect, unstable world filled with disappointment, isnât there any ideal, anything, thatâs really worth living for, maybe even dying for? Frank canât think of anything but love.
Born in Havana, GUSTAVO PÃREZ FIRMAT is the author of the acclaimed, best-selling Next Year in Cuba, published in Spanish by Arte Público Press as El año que viene estamos en Cuba, described by Library Journal as âA fascinating acco! unt of a 30-year search for a homeland and a new national iden! tity... Engrossing and full of insights into the Cuban exile community,â and hailed by The Washington Post Book World as âA serious work of literature â" as well as a ripping good bookâ¦[Perez Firmat] offers us an eloquent, amusing, often moving testament of a long moment in the troubled history of two countries.â A professor at Columbia University, he has published numerous nonfiction works and three collections of poetry.
The conflicted protagonist of Anything but Love, the steamy and sardonic first novel by Gustavo Pérez Firmat (author of the acclaimed Next Year in Cuba) may remind some readers of Peter Tarnopol in Philip Rothâs painful sexual farce My Life as a Man, and others of Bob Slocum in Joseph Hellerâs dark corporate satire Something Happened ... but Pérez Firmat has imbued his fiction debut with a Cuban-American flavor uniquely his own.
Some people would call Frank Guerra fussy, even compulsiveâ"but theyâre wrong. He simply believes in perfecti! on. He strives to make every textbook he writes into a work of art, and he intends that every Cuba Libre he mixes come out textbook-perfect. (The key? Exactly six drops of lime juice for each ounce of rum.) And Frank also believes in romantic love.
In fact, he believes in love so strongly that heâs willing to divorce his faithful wife Marta (whoâs a real mensch about it), lose his old friends, and even leave behind his adoring daughter Emilyâ"all for the sake of his new americana, a sedate but supremely sexy schoolteacher named Catherine OâNeal, or Cat for short. But itâs worth all the pain: Cat believes in their love, too.
So why, when he looks deep into Catâs cool sphinx-like eyes, can Frank never penetrate into her depths? Why does he begin to see only his own gaze reflected there, as if from twin funhouse mirrors? Is she hiding something from himâ"anything? (Everything, maybe?) Is his Cat merely toying with him? Frank finds the possibility disturbing! . He expects his perfect love to be fully and equally reciproc! ated. Af ter all, in an imperfect, unstable world filled with disappointment, isnât there any ideal, anything, thatâs really worth living for, maybe even dying for? Frank canât think of anything but love.
Born in Havana, GUSTAVO PÃREZ FIRMAT is the author of the acclaimed, best-selling Next Year in Cuba, published in Spanish by Arte Público Press as El año que viene estamos en Cuba, described by Library Journal as âA fascinating account of a 30-year search for a homeland and a new national identity... Engrossing and full of insights into the Cuban exile community,â and hailed by The Washington Post Book World as âA serious work of literature â" as well as a ripping good bookâ¦[Perez Firmat] offers us an eloquent, amusing, often moving testament of a long moment in the troubled history of two countries.â A professor at Columbia University, he has published numerous nonfiction works and three collections of poetry.
Porcelain girl holding a "care package" (a b! ox of hearts).
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