Dreaming in Cuban Quotes

"He used to write her letters every day, when he still had the strength, long letters in old-fashioned script with flourishes and curlicues...They were romantic letters, too...He called Abuela Celi...

"[Lourdes] imagines her footprints sinking invisibly through the streets and the sidewalks, below the condensed archaeology of the city to underground plains of rich alluvial clay. She suspects the...

"Her husband emerges from the light and comes toward her, taller than the palms, walking on water in his white summer suit and Panama hat." ("Ocean Blue," 5)

"The yanquis, rumors go, have ringed the island with nuclear poison, hoping to starve the people and incite a counterrevolution. They will drop germ bombs to wither the sugarcane fields, blacken th...

"A long time ago...Jorge boarded the plane for New York, sick and shrunken in an ancient wheelchair. 'Butchers and veterinarians!' he shouted as they pushed him up the plank. 'That's what Cuba is n...

"Her father had been a fastidious man, impeccable, close-shaven, with razor-sharp creases pressed into his trousers. He took pride in never walking barefoot, even in his own home, and shuffled arou...

"He stops at the ocean's edge, smiles almost shyly, as if he fears disturbing her, and stretches out a colossal hand. His blue eyes are like lasers in the night. The beams bounce off his fingernail...

"Rufino's body ached from the exertions. His joints swelled like an arthritic's. He begged his wife for a few nights' peace but Lourdes's peals only became more urgent, her glossy black eyes more i...