Thoughts Without Cigarettes: A Memoir

The memoir by the Pulitzer Prize winning novelist Oscar Hijuelos was an absolute delight that pulled me in from the first page. Hijuelos writes about his struggle with his identity and his journey to discover who he is both as a writer and even more fundamentally, as a person.
He begins by painting an almost dreamlike picture of his parent’s beginnings in their native Cuba. Shortly after their unlikely marriage in the 1940’s (neither family is thrilled with their union), they immigrate to Morningside Heights on New York’s Upper West Side. He recounts their struggles and adjustment to an entirely different kind of life both financially and culturally. Oscar and his brother are immersed in their family’s culture and language, which culminates in a trip the boys take with their mother back to Cuba. Though he was only four at the time, Hijuelos recounts the pure joy and freedom he experiences there. While the trip and his happy experiences there should have instilled in him, a love of his ancestral home, he develops nephritis and upon returning to the U.S., is confined for a year to a convalescent hospital in Connecticut. The experience leaves him isolated and cut off from both his family and culture. One way this rupture is manifest is that upon his return home, he no longer speaks Spanish.
Hijuelos describes further attempts at independence from both his overprotective mother and his family in general as he grows up in a dangerous time and place. He witnesses what happens to his neighborhood as Columbia University expands & the university dispossesses huge swaths of neighborhood residents. What had been an economically and culturally diverse neighborhood, replete with Columbia professors, working class and middle class residents, becomes a dangerous, marginalized and crime ridden area. Hijuelos rejects his culture and his home and essentially becomes a streetwise *hood*, both preying and being preyed upon. Eventually, to even his surprise, he enrolls in City College. It is there that he meets and is mentored by the likes of Donald Barthelme and Susan Sontag and discovers writing. It is more or less through this discovery that he re-discovers and comes to appreciate and love both his roots and his family.
At times, like a contemporary Proust, his memories are sparked by the foods that symbolize his relationship with each of his parents, with his community and culture. Hijuelos’s writing style is conversational and often funny (complete with little asides to both the reader and those to whom he is referring). His eventual embrace of his personal and cultural heritage is told in an informal and earthy style and in the end, had me in tears. ( )

Love all things, Oscar Hijuelos- Where ever he takes me, I go wellingly. Always enjoying the trip. He writes like the perfect drink, Smooth, Freshing and oh, so satisifing. Not good to write about the narrative, just invite You to set back, and enjoy what He has chose to tell You. ( )

A young man's quest for identity in New York.

Thank you First Reader's Giveaway for bringing this memoir to my attention. I found Hijuelos' narrative like talking about his personal history in the light of listening to a friend share their family stories. I related to his loss of his Spanish language relate-able and touching, as well as the relationship that he has with his father. I also found it enlightening in the history of 50-60's immigrant New York and Cuba with its struggles. The author is modest about his achievements and his career as a writer. ( )

My review may be read on my book review blog Rundpinne: http://www.rundpinne.com/2011/06/book-review-thoughts-without-cigarettes-by-osca... ( )