Prize-winning Cuban writer Nancy Alonso has been chronicling the desperate times of the "Special Period" and Cuban ingenuity in the face of urban problems since 1997. Desencuentro (Disconnect), released in Spanish in 2008, Alonso makes love in all its diverse facets the essential connection between the twelve stories. Yet each one has an internal disconnect of one type or another, revealing the inherent contradictions of life itself. In Disconnect we have a whole gamut of human relations including lesbian love, unconventional mother and son ties, chance encounters, interwoven destinies and even a dreamed death. Consistently characteristic of Alonso's fiction is her creation of everyday scenes and dialogues that are universally understood yet deeply rooted in Cuban reality. She is a masterful observer of human foibles, revealing missteps and hypocrisy with a sure touch and letting her readers discover the many ways that people connect and disconnect with the world around them.
This bilingual edition of Disconnect/Desencuentro will give readers double the pleasure of her subtle humor and word play.
This bilingual edition of Disconnect/Desencuentro will give readers double the pleasure of her subtle humor and word play.