Excerpts from reviews of Cristina García's The Agüero
Sisters
"An extraordinary new novel does justice to the Cuba of history as well as
the Cuba of imagination. . . . Garcia has crafted a beautifully rounded work
of art, as warm and wry and sensuous as the island she so clearly loves."
--Time
"In 1992, Cristina Garcia's Dreaming in Cuban announced the
presence of a new star in the American literary firmament. . . . Garcia's
remarkable second novel, The Agüero Sisters, is even better, a
deeper, more profound plunge into the mysteries of loyalty, love and
identity (national, familial and otherwise). . . . Cristina Garcia again
proves herself a gifted chronicler of exile's promise and peril."
--Newsday
"Five years after her debut, the former journalist has made good on her
early promise with a superb second novel, The Agüero
Sisters. . . . With sensual prose and a plot that captures the angst of
the Cuban diaspora. . . Garcia seductively draws us in and refuses to let go."
--Newsweek
"The conventions of magic realism can either amplify the story and give it
resonance or fragment the narrative, draining it of clarity. Garcia's
beautifully written second novel. . . seems to embody both extremes. . . . Her
prose is lush and rhythmic, so that the novel has an almost feverish air."
--Booklist
"A bold and very richly detailed portrait. . . Fluid, graceful, and extremely
rewarding: a work of high seriousness and rich detail."
--Kirkus Reviews
"Cristina Garcia neatly sidesteps the curse of the much-feted first
novel. . . with the assured The Agüero Sisters, a vibrant tale of
a repressed Manhattan cosmetics saleswomen and her sexy, Havana-based
sister that blends family, culture, and Garcia's shapely prose into a
rich, velvety world one is loath to leave."
--Elle
"This is no paint-by-numbers allegory. Garcia's characters are
three-dimensional and her novel is filled with rich and compelling detail."
--San Francisco Chronicle
