The Tower of the Antilles

The Tower of the Antilles

Achy Obejas

#3550 of 8,085 books · #1793 in Fiction

Shortlisted for the PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction (2018).

The Tower of the Antilles won the PEN/Faulkner Award and was longlisted for The Story Prize. In "Superman," several possible story lines emerge about a 1950s Havana sex-show superstar who disappeared as soon as the revolution triumphed. "North/South" portrays a migrant family trying to cope with separation and the eventual disintegration of blood ties. "The Cola of Oblivion" follows a young woman who returns to Cuba and inadvertently uncorks a history of accommodation and betrayal among the family members who stayed behind during the revolution. And in the title story, an interrogation reveals a series of fantasies about escape and a history of futility. The Cubans in Achy Obejas' story collection are haunted by islands: the island they fled, the island they've created, the island they were taken to or forced from, the island they long for, the island they return to, and the island that can never be home again.