El Asalto / the Assault
Kisses only. Any sex is implied and fully off page.
Euphemistic. Softened or poetic language, little direct anatomy.
Estimated from the blurb · 0 reader votes
Tropes
None listed yet.
Content warnings
Blurb
In this, the final volume in the series of five novels that constitute his "secret history of Cuba", Reinaldo Arenas paints a harrowing, and at times boldly entertaining, Kafka-esque picture of a dehumanized people living in a world where homosexuality is a crime punishable by death and a cockroach hunt makes for a national holiday. Narrated by a hate-filled government torturer who has become an agent for the "Bureau of Counterwhispering"," The Assault follows his travels through a blackly humorous shadowland as he winnow out whisperers, sexual deviants, and dissidents of every sort--until memory has been banished and spoken language has been nearly forgotten.
Read it? Rate it
Old Rosa
The Color of Summer, or the New Garden of Earthly Delights
Night Music
Also about survival after loss and rebuilding a life, but warm and romantic instead of brutal political satire — far lighter and hopeful.
O Presente do Meu Grande Amor
A total tonal reversal: sweet, chaste holiday romances for when you need relief from dystopian cruelty and want comfort instead of dread.
My True Love Gave to Me
Offers gentle queer and straight teen love stories where affection is celebrated, not criminalized — light where the seed was punishing.
A Glimpse of the Mersey
Keeps the themes of lost identity and searching for belonging, but as a warm working-class saga rather than a nightmarish regime.