Loving Che

Rating:
Summary: TWO POETIC AND POIGNANT VOICES
Review: Champion voice performers Adriana Sananes and Eileen Stevens breathe life into this story of a love affair between a young artist, Theresa, and rebel Ernesto "Che" Guevara. At times the narrative is softly emotional at other times fraught with danger; it is also an incomparable painting of revolutionary Cuba.

Although she has been searching for a number of years a young Miami woman has not unearthed a clue about her birth mother whom she has never seen nor heard about. One day an unexpected package arrives containing pages of writing and photographs. Slowly these items are pieced together to reveal the life of her mother and the youthful affair she had with "Che" Guevara.

Related in two distinct voices "Loving Che" is poetic, passionate, and poignant - an altogether irresistible listening experience.

- Gail Cooke

Rating:
Summary: Exquisite
Review: Menendez is an eloquent, lyrical, strong writer that captured my attention from the first sentence in "Loving Che." I am Cuban and collect Cuban books. Finally, the market is opening its doors to exceptional Latino writers. If you are a collector of Cuban everything, there is a little gem of a Cuban picturebook (for kids) set in Miami's Little Havana Calle Ocho Festival titled, "Drum, Chavi, Drum!/Toca, Chavi, Toca!" These two books are must read --must have -- for your Cuban book collection.

Rating:
Summary: Loving Or Hating Che..this book is remarkable.
Review: This first novel by Menendez whose short story collection, In Cuba I was a German Shepherd first showed us her talent, builds on what will be a growing reputation as one of America's newest literary talents. The book which deals with a woman's search for her mother who sent her to America with her grandfather, and her mother's extraordinary life, including an affair with Che. Like so many authors writing today, the lines between where truth begins and end is explored, not only within the context of the story, but within our own experiences.

Menendez economical use of words shows that she is a master of the fiction craft, expecting the reader to delve deeper into the story, but also those assumptions they bring to the work.

Some writers tell a story for the story's sake. Menendez is concerned with art for art's sake as passage to passage is filled with the sensory details and wonderful characterization that would be perfect for study by the would be writer or in writing programs.

Besides that, the reader who latches on to young writers like these can look forward to everything they produce for years to come. It would be like reading the early Alice Walker, or Amy Tan, or Louise Erdrich....knowing that to start out this compelling will only be a prelude of things to come.