The Aguero Sisters [Hardcover]

THE AGUERO SISTERS isn't the structural mess that DREAMING IN CUBAN was (though it still isn't "clean") and the characters, while not deep, aren't as shallow as those in MONKEY HUNTING (which read more like an outline for a novel, albeit a very good one, than an actual novel, itself).

THE AGUERO SISTERS is the story of Constancia and Reina Aguero, two very different Cuban sisters who've been estranged for thirty years before meeting once again in the United States. The book's opening, however, focuses on the sisters' parents, naturalist, Ignacio Aguero and his wife, Blanca. Ignacio, for reasons that are never made clear, kills Blanca, then, two years later, just as mysteriously, kills himself as well, leaving no note. Although the book opens with the death of both Ignacio and Blanca, Garcia who is inordinately fond of flashbacks, lets both Ignacio and Blanca "speak," however, as do Constancia and Reina, their daughters, Dulce and Isabel and a third person narrator. (Garcia is also fond of multiple points of view, something I love when it's done well and in THE AGUERO SISTERS Garcia does it better than she has in her other books.)

While the petite Constancia, who is the very picture of her mother (really), was unloved and ignored, the tall and exotic Reina (who has a different father) was adored. When the revolution breaks out, Constancia flees to the US from Cuba and eventually becomes a successful cosmetics consultant and marries her brother-in-law, while Reina, a master electrician and master seductress, chooses to stay behind in Cuba, instead.

The characterization in THE AGUERO SISTERS is somewhat comedic and over-the-top but I loved this aspect of the book and I think Garcia's style lends itself far better to comedy than it does to more serious subject matter, although I thought some of Garcia's metaphors were too outlandish, even for a comedic book such as this. Another quibble I have with THE AGUERO SISTERS is that the characters were too much alike in the way they thought and expressed themselves. I thought this "sameness" caused them to be a little less "alive" than they could have been.

Garcia's strong point in THE AGUERO SISTERS is, as in her other novels, her exquisitely beautiful prose, but sometimes I think she lets her prose get in the way of her characterization and plot. I think MONKEY HUNTING is, to date, her weakest book precisely because of the shallow characterization. She does a better job in bringing depth to her characters in THE AGUERO SISTERS and, even though this book touches on some serious issues (such as the bond between sisters and the loss of one's parents and homeland), it's written with a light touch that I thought was, at times, captivating.

Although I didn't find the THE AGUERO SISTERS particularly memorable or even original, I did find it entertaining and I, for one, hope Cristina Garcia's next novel will be one with a "lighter touch" rather than something that simply tries too hard to be solemn.