Dancing to Almendra A Novel [Paperback]

ANew York Times Book ReviewEditors' Choice

Havana, 1957. On the same day that the Mafia capo Umberto Anastasia is assassinated in a barber's chair in New York, a hippopotamus escapes from the zoo and is shot and killed by its pursuers. Assigned to cover the zoo story, Joaquin Porrata, a young Cuban journalist, finds himself embroiled in the mysterious connections between the hippo's death and the mafioso's in this intoxicating story of murder, mobsters, and, finally, love.

Discussion Questions

1. What kind of a person is Joaquin? Describe his voice. Does he seem idealistic to you, or does he strike you as cynical? Or both?

2. As the story unfolds and we see Joaquin's character develop, how does he respond to situations as they become more serious? Does he seem childish? Might one get that impression from Yolanda's narration? Does her estimation of him seem accurate, or do you think she might have a bias?

3. Toward the beginning of the novel, there is a flashback of Joaquin and Julian as children spying on gangsters, and Joaquin believes that they are somehow invisible to detection. Julian tells him that it is really the gangsters who are invisible. Then later, when Joaquin is at Juan Bulgado's house, Joaquin feels a little nauseous, and then says: ...it occurred to me that I'd become invisible, everything was so unreal, it was a passing moment and, to a point, a pleasant one, I'd never felt anything like it before, and I'd never feel it again. What does he mean by this? What causes him to feel this way? Do you see any connection between this scene and the earlier one with the gangsters? Is there something about this feeling that makes Joaquin feel connected with the gangsters?

4. What is the Almendra ? What does it symbolize to Joaquin? Does it have a larger significance? How might the dance symbolize Cuba? Why do you think the book has this title?

5. On page 86, Joaquin is laying in his hló*