Thursday, February 9, 2023

SciFi/Fantasy Book Review: The Book of Lost Saints by Daniel José Older

 


The Book of Lost Saints is a novel of magical realism (sorta?) and historical fiction written by Cuban American author Daniel José Older, author of the YA Shadowshaper Cypher trilogy, various Star Wars books, and a bunch more. I've enjoyed some of Older's works a lot - the Shadowshaper works are excellent YA - so when I saw this book on sale at a bookstore in Astoria, I bought a physical copy...which has been sitting on my bookshelf for a few months. But I finally got a chance to read it in January 2023 as one of my first books of the New Year, and was very pleased with the result.

The story essentially tells two tales of two generations - first, more importantly, it tells the tale of a woman Marisol who was caught up in the Cuban Revolution and disappeared, and has seemingly become a ghost haunting a young man who turns out to be her nephew Ramon, with Marisol using her possession to send Ramon her memories of what happened to her while he sleeps, and occasionally interferes with the modern world....albeit to limited extent. But the story also tells the story of Ramon, security guard at a New Jersey (mental) hospital by day, successful and internet famous DJ by night, as he attempts to understand his family's past, with the dark choices made by his mother and others, as well as to figure out his growing love of a doctor at the hospital and his online connection to those smuggling him music out of cuba for him to remix. It's a story that works really well at showing two generations of Cubans during both the revolution and afterwards, in the diaspora and back at home, and I very much liked this and recommend it.

TRIGGER WARNING: Torture, Suicide, discussions of rape but never shown. None of this is gratuitous and is shown to the least extent possibly by the author, but is a necessary part of a story dealing with a dark time in history.


------------------------------------------------------Plot Summary-------------------------------------------------------------
A spirit awakens from the ether, with little memory of who she is or was, only that she was lost somehow and that she is tied to a young man in New Jersey, Ramon. Soon some memories return, memories that she begins sharing with Ramon - her nephew - while he is sleeping, memories of how she was born in Cuba on the verge of revolution, the youngest of three sisters (the middle of whom is Ramon's hated mother) and how her sister got involved in the Cuban Revolution. The spirit continues to remember and reveal these memories, which she pushes on Ramon in a seeming attempt to get closure...or something or other.

Ramon has his own life - he's a security guard at a hospital largely used to treat patients with mental issues (which often involves trying to restrain the patients from hurting the staff), has a friends with benefits relationship with a dcotor, Aliceana, who he realizes now he's starting to actually love, and is on the side a very successful DJ. His DJ work of remixing songs, especially those from the old country of Cuba, has even earned him internet fame and connections with those still on the Island and who are willing to commit the crime of reaching out to a person like Ramon in the US to share music back and forth. Things aren't perfect however - Ramon has a connection to a Cuban mob boss who wants him to work for him in keeping anti-Cuban government sentiment alive...and whose grandson is way too eager to use violence to get Ramon to comply.

The Spirit's influence on Ramon however will push him to break out of his shell and really try to find out the truth behind his family: who was his Aunt and what happened to her? Why does his Aunt hate his mother and why did his mother do her horrible actions? And what was Cuba like then and how is it now? The answers to these questions will shape Ramon's love for friends and family and may require a journey to Cuba itself, where his very existence can put himself and others in jeopardy.
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The Book of Lost Saints is told, from the first person perspective of Marisol, its ghost protagonist. This results in an odd dual type of narrative, with the first person perspective feeling normal in flashbacks, as Marisol is telling her own story, but feeling a little bit detached in the present day scenes, as Marisol's spirit mostly observes what Ramon does with her influences and with the issues in his own life. The perspective serves to really show off its lead characters, who work really well.

And both of those characters are dealing with the present and past ramifications of the Cuban revolution and how it affected and still affects those of Cuban blood. For Marisol that was seeing her beloved older sister leave her to join the rebels only to be betrayed by those she supported for a better life not only not living up to those ideals, but being just as bad as the Yanqui-supported former government, and trying desperately to do something to help that older sister. Without spoiling, it obviously doesn't go well, and it is sometimes a very hard story to read, one full of betrayal from family, friends, and government. For Ramon, that is dealing with older expats who still want to fight the old war and dealing virtually with those still living in Cuba, who wish for the freedom he now has - freedom to share and explore music, love, and sexuality. It means figuring out how his family and older friends acted during the war and understanding that not everyone, like his mother, is as he thought they were. And Ramon also has to deal with his own present problems, like his growing attraction to Aliceana, his roommate Adina's own struggles with a long term relationship, and his DJ business being the target of a cuban mob boss (sorta) who wants to use him as a propaganda tool to force anti-Cuban government sentiment down others' throats.

The combination of these two plots works really well in a journey that shows the struggles of people to do right things in impossible situations, the struggles to be free and enjoy a better life, and that explores how Cuba and its culture both inside of it and in the exile diaspora. It's not perfect - the plot with Ramon dealing with the mob boss who wants to use his DJing skills is abruptly sorta dropped after Marisol uses some ghostly influence she doesn't really have any other time - but it still works really well, and a late second act where Ramon and his friends return to Cuba itself and connect with an underground of gay/queer party-goers is really well done, even if it's dark in how depressing the reality of their lives can be.

A really good novel filled with magical imagery and real life, both historical and present. It can be difficult to read at times, as the Cuban revolution was dark in its events - suicide and torture are included - but it is worth your while.



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