The Perez Family

From Publishers Weekly
After 20 years in Cuban prisons, Juan Raul Perez is hauled from his cell without any explanation. Is he facing his own execution? But a fate stranger than death awaits him: he is shipped off to Miami. Instead of being reunited with his wife and daughter, whom he'd sent to safety there just before his arrest, Juan travels through government processing centers, bewildered and not quite believing in his liberation. One U.S. agent's error results in his being registered as the husband of a fellow tranportee with the same last name, sexy Dottie with the "Cuban-madonna hips"; another bureaucrat's slipup lands Juan and Dottie in a shelter for the homeless instead of a refugee center. Dottie, ever-enterprising and desperate to get at the spoils of democracy ("John Wayne, Elvis Presley . . . blue jeans, nail polish"), persuades Juan that they will gain their freedom more swiftly if they allow the authorities to think them married; they subsequently "adopt" a grown son as well as a senile father. The two Perez families, the genuine and the self-invented, continue to form and reform as this lustrous black comedy unfolds. Bell ( Saint ) sustains her feverish plot with wit and verve; her humor and dexterity are matched by her mercy for her characters and the chaotic world so unforgettably rendered here. Copyright 1990 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal
A fast-moving, hilarious epic novel about a Cuban ex-prisoner's arrival in America in the Mariel boatlift? Strange, but true. Juan Raul Perez was imprisoned 20 years ago for his political views in his native Cuba, while his wife and young daughter fled to Miami. Few letters have gotten through in the ensuing 20 years, and Juan doesn't know what to expect when he finds them again. But before the reunion, Juan must survive the dizzy world of refugee relocation (he's sent to the Orange Bowl) in his frail and nearly toothless condition. He must also survive wild Dottie, a fellow Marielita who latches on to him because they share the same last name and she believes couples will be resettled first. A rollicking story full of surprises; quite out of the ordinary.- Ann H. Fisher, Radford P.L., Va.Copyright 1990 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From the Publisher
Made into a major motion picture that starred Academy Award winner Marisa Tomei, The Perez Family is "a profound little parable about the redemptive power of love. And when you put it down . . . you have glimpsed a single human truth, brilliantly stated. And it will linger in your mind for a long time."--New York Times Book Review


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A fast-moving, hilarious epic novel about a Cuban ex-prisoner's arrival in America in the Mariel boatlift? Strange, but true. Juan Raul Perez was imprisoned 20 years ago for his political views in his native Cuba, while his wife and young daughter fled to Miami. Few letters have gotten through in the ensuing 20 years, and Juan doesn't know what to expect when he finds them again. But before the reunion, Juan must survive the dizzy world of refugee relocation (he's sent to the Orange Bowl) in his frail and nearly toothless condition. He must also survive wild Dottie, a fellow Marielita who latches on to him because they share the same last name and she believes couples will be resettled first. A rollicking story full of surprises; quite out of the ordinary.-- Ann H. Fisher, Radford P.L., Va.


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