Loving Che

Kliatt, May, 2004 by Nancy Chaplin

LOVING CHE. Ana Menendez. 2003. Read by Adriana Sananes & Eileen Stevens. 4 cds. 5 hrs. HighBridge Audio. 1-56511-841-3. $26.95. Cardboard; plot, author notes. A

This story begins in Miami where a young woman, raised by her Cuban exile grandfather, seeks answers to her family's past. She is told that her father was killed in the revolution. Her mother, however, is an unmentionable. Only after the grandfather's death does a mysterious package arrive with photographs and journal writings by the artist mother, which reveal a startling story of her love affair with Che Guevara.

Menendez writes with sensual beauty and eloquence. The narration of Sananes and Stevens is flawless, providing a separation of the mother's voice in the journals and the predominant voice of the daughter in the narrative. The drama of pre-and post-revolutionary Cuba comes alive with vivid and often lyrical detail. Some questions: Is the account of the love affair fantasy or reality? Who is the source of the journals? Would even the most liberal mother leave a journal for a daughter that conveys such explicit sex in erotic derail? Yet, Menedez's brilliant command of language trumps these plot-based flaws. Nancy Chaplin, Libn., VCCW, Goochland, VA