Old Rosa
One or two intimate scenes, fade to black or lightly described.
Direct. Plain anatomical words, moderately crude dialogue.
Estimated from the blurb · 0 reader votes
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Blurb
A terrifying and beautiful novel, Old Rosa is composed of two stories that converge on a single charged point in the lives of a Cuban mother and son. In the first, the mother finds her son in bed with another boy; in the second, the son is imprisoned in one of Castro's camps for homosexuals.
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Otra vez el mar
Same author's lyrical rage against Castro's Cuba and closeted desire, but told through a marriage's dual voices, quieter and more fragmented than prison violence.
False Steps
Also a forbidden attachment across rigid social lines, but far lighter: a Regency courtship with wit and a guaranteed happy ending.
Hide and Seek
Another story of someone trapped by family and status, though it trades political terror for playful Regency intrigue and a slow-burn romance.
Celestino antes del alba
Arenas again on a brutalized child in the Cuban countryside, with the same surreal lyricism but focused on abuse and imagination rather than queer persecution.
Strife and Peace
Another literary novel about domestic conflict and temperament clashing, but a gentle 19th-century Swedish courtship instead of state violence.
Kiss Me Deadly
Shares the forbidden-love pull, though recast as YA paranormal short stories—much lighter, tidier, and supernatural rather than politically brutal.