Our House in the Last World
A Novel

I have a great interest in both immigrant stories and New York stories, this book seems to check both of those boxes plus there was that reassurance of quality based on the author being a Pulitzer winner. Did it live up to expectations? Well, yes and no. The quality was there, most impressive for a......more

3.5*** Hijuelos’ debut novel spans five decades, telling the story of the Santinio family from 1929 in Cuba to 1975 in New York. Alejo and Mercedes emigrate to New York City from Cuba in 1943, where he finds work as a cook in a fancy hotel and she tries to make a life in an apartment so far from her......more

I read this title after reading the author’s novel, Mambo Kings Play Songs of Love and his memoir, Thoughts without Cigarettes. This is an endearing read, bundling very nicely an autobiographical novel (without being too biographical) with magical realism (without being too magical, or too real for......more

What a treat to revisit Oscar Hijuelos by reading his first novel Our House in the Last World. Hijuelos writes with a rhythm that is unmistakable. It’s as if, as you read, there is a Cuban guitarist softly strumming in the background. Although he writes sometimes of brutality and heartache, Hijuelos......more

The lives and experiences of a family of immigrants with roots in Cuba In 1930’s Cuba, a lovely young woman named Mercedes meets Alejo, a handsome young man who courts her. Mercedes is from a fine family whose financial status worsened upon the sudden death of her father, necessitating a move to humb......more