Smith Collection Reviews

Cuba and Puerto Rico have been on my mind since the early part of the summer. As I am writing these reviews, I am glued to the Weather Channel as tropical storms Fred and Grace are slowly approaching Puerto Rico. Like many Puerto Ricans living in the United States, I can only nervously watch the weather reports and hope that these tropical depressions will stay as far away as possible from landfall, only to bring much needed rain to quench the pressing needs of an unseasonably scorching hot and dry summer. 

Puerto Rico as a Caribbean island is the frequent target of horrific events related to hurricanes (which is an indigenous Taíno word). It is not surprising that this seasonal and frequent tropical phenomenon is also often a literary inspiration for Puerto Rican writers. Charlie Vázquez in his collection, Fantasmas: Puerto Rican Tales of the Dead, explores ways in which hurricanes are the setting for disturbing horror stories reflective of social ills. In “The River Will Come,” Vázquez highlights the fury of Hurricane María in 2017, poignantly described as “​​Metal sheet roofing crashes into the entryway by the door to the street, a torrent pouring in. Tentacles of hurricane descend, swirling and blinding” (20). The main core of the anthology brings fantastic stories that comment on the island’s unstable social conditions through ghost stories. “Fantasmas” do come in all shapes and, although the “return to life dead” myth is often related to native religious practices, ghosts also come to the land of the living to plainly claim vengeance for their untimely deaths. If you enjoy reading Gothic horror stories, this is a must for you. Vázquez is author of the novels Buzz and Israel (2005) and Contraband (2010) and wrote for the graphic novel collection Ricanstruction (2018). 

Mi María, Surviving the Storm: Voices from Puerto Rico is a collection of electrifying testimonies from a variety of individuals who bravely survived the destructive forces of Hurricane María. “A ‘high end’ Category 4 hurricane, with wind speeds of 155 mph” (301), María hit the island on September 20, 2017, leaving a yet undetermined number of thousands of people dead during and after the storm. Eyewitnesses describe the forces of the wind in rather symbolic terms: “Once we got the door shut, we kept on hearing these noises. The winds sounded like voices—like screaming and growling. It was horrible, like something evil” (42). The physical conditions, especially in the countryside, were dismal: “It was complete desolation. It seemed as if a bomb had exploded” (147). The most striking element of the testimonies goes beyond the human resilience toward survival against ravaging natural elements. Some of the testimonial narratives celebrate people’s kindness toward each other and the innate desire to share the few surviving items (such as food and medicines) with others less fortunate. The following statement summarizes the kindness of an individual who, although without much to give away, insisted on sharing her few goods with others as her condition to allow being the recipient of much needed food items: “She’s like, ‘Don’t give to me without taking something.’ That whole experience was very humbling” (129). 

On a certainly much lighter note, Delia Ruiz’s children’s book, Roquí’s Pandero Beat (2021) is a celebration of the rich Puerto Rican musical culture. It is the endearing story of  a small coquí (a treefrog) Roquí, who travels to New York City with his family. While this is an indirect commentary about the large number of Puerto Rican families historically displaced to the United States, particularly to New York City, the story of Roquí is a celebration of the strong Puerto Rican urban musical scene that thrives in the city’s Puerto Rican barrios. In spite of his young age, Roquí is an aspiring pandero drummer, as the hand-held drums are called on the island, an indispensable instrument in African-inspired native dances such as bomba and plena. Central to maintaining the correct rhythm while beating the pandero drum, Roquí must keep the right beat, known as “la clave,” that gives the characteristic sound to pandero-based music. A natural born musician, Roquí found an ingenious way to play his drum; he created a unique clave while learning to divide into the syllables his favorite word: “ca-fé-con-pan.” This charming short story joins a growing number of children’s books that celebrate the rich cultural contributions of Latinx groups. The book is beautifully illustrated by Texas-based artist Luis Patiño. Ruiz is also an educator and as a rising Latinx writer is planning more educational children’s books.         

The recent public upheaval in Cuba, mainly in Havana, beginning on July 11, 2021, recalls an earlier counterrevolutionary movement, the Mariel Boatlift, an event that has been the centerpiece of my research for many years. The current images of Cubans openly manifesting dissatisfaction against the socialist government is perhaps a hopeful indicator that changes are coming to the island’s Communist system. Cuba has had a long history of political upheaval movements. This is the subject of Gabriela García’s novel, Of Women and Salt, which brings to the forefront two incidents of historical importance in the island’s development of a national identity: the Cuban independence war, known as the War of the Ten Years (1868–1878) and the large immigration of Cubans to the United States as refugees following the triumph of the Cuban Revolution of 1959. Two strong-headed characters, Jeanette, a young Cuban-American woman battling with addiction, and Carmen, her mother, struggle to understand each other due to deeply felt generational and ideological differences. Carmen’s insistence to maintain herself incommunicado from her mother, still living in Cuba, has pushed Jeanette and Carmen even further apart. When Jeanette leaves for Cuba to meet her grandmother for the first time, a family secret is finally revealed. A second plot line divides Carmen and Jeanette even more when Ana, the undocumented child of a Salvadoran woman left behind homeless after her mother’s arrest following an ICE raid, comes into their lives. The differences in their approaches on how best aid Ana in resolving her legal status, as García highlighted in an interview, is one aspect that brings this thought-provoking novel into focus by boldly examining the political gaps among the Latinx community: “I think the idea that all minoritized people will just automatically find solidarity is flawed” https://www.vogue.com/article/gabriella-garcia-women-and-salt). 

García is the author of published short stories and poetry. Of Women and Salt is her first novel.     

Celebrate National Hispanic Heritage Month (September 15-October 15) by reading a book from our Shuronda Gardner Smith Collection, including my edited collection, Folktales from the Hills of Puerto Rico (I know, a shameless self-promotion!). Happy reading!