Reviewed by Tvor of Corrieblog
Valerie Block's third novel focuses on the world of classic cinema and a love story that's less conventional than usual. I liked the book a lot. It has elements of politics, it has the escapism of the movies, it shows the ups and downs of living in New York, highlights how relationships evolve and change and finally, it's about finding your home. Keris has been looking forward to reading this book. I think she'll like it, too!
Diane Kurasik is nearly 40, never been married, and newly homeless. She runs a successful art theatre in New York City but her life seems to be at a standstill. In the process of renovating the theatre, she meets a good looking but surly architect called Vladimir Padrón, a Cuban expatriate who is still vehemently immersed in the politics of his former country.
Diane spends the next few months struggling to find a new home while camping out on the couches and beds of various friends, family, hotels and grubby sublets. She grapples with her relationship with the volatile Cuban who also happens to have a wife and a 17-year-old son, neither of whom he's seen in 12 years. Over a hot, sticky summer and into the fall we follow Diane's life but also the journey of Vladimir and his son Javier through one setback after another. We also see some scenes from their pasts and get to know a few of the people in their lives as the story weaves them all into the fabric of the book.
The story centres around a cinema that shows classic movies from around the world. Diane's whole world revolves around movies and every situation she finds herself in, every person she meets, every reaction, every observation is peppered with a comparison to a scene from a classic movie or with an anecdote from the life of one of the actors or directors from the silver screen. I kept thinking that this woman might be more successful finding a man or understanding why her life seems to be at a dead end if she stopped comparing everything to the all too perfect stories on screen or the larger than life personalities behind the moving images. We see her in a series of disastrous blind dates, both with men and appalling apartments.
It's clear that Vladimir is not the man for her and that she's "making do". It's clear that Vladimir is obsessed too, with politics of the country he left behind, with his dysfunctional family, particularly a dominating father and grasping wife, with whom he has screaming encounters with over the phone every two weeks. Yet if he were ever to obtain a divorce, or find Castro had died in the night, what would he do with his life without these roadblocks to a way forward?
An unlikely catalyst enters the stalemate that both of their lives has turned into and it shakes up their lives. Now they have to deal with reality, and reality is a bit scary when you've been jolted out of your comfort zone. Both Diane and Vladimir both discover the old adage "Be careful what you wish for" can bring changes that you never expected. But that's not necessarily a bad thing.
Rating: 5/5
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