Review by Booklist Review
Crucet follows her essay collection, My Time among the Whites (2019), with a fast-paced and atmospheric absurdist novel starring a 20-year-old Cuban American Pitbull impersonator and over-the-top Scarface fanboy named Izzy. The obsessed fan of the 1983 flick tries to mimic the life of protagonist Tony Montana, going as far as finding his own Manolo (Tony's best friend), an exotic pet (perhaps a whale instead of a tiger), and a Michelle Pfeiffer-type girlfriend. Though Izzy lives with his loving aunt, he is haunted by memories of how he was smuggled out of Cuba by his communist mom who died en route to Miami. Adding to the intriguing plot, the novel also features the thoughts of a killer whale named Lolita, who forms a bizarre telepathic connection with Izzy, who gets migraines whenever Lolita thinks of him. Between his business dealings with shady characters and the cease-and-desist letter from Pitbull's management, Izzy's troubles intensify when he recklessly tries to look up balseros (boat people from Cuba) who journeyed with him and his mom. Readers are in for a wild ride.
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
Crucet (How to Make Your Home Among Strangers) brilliantly brings readers inside the mind of a nonhuman intelligence in this tour de force, which alternates perspectives between Lolita, a captive killer whale housed at Miami's Seaquarium, and Izzy Reyes, a 20-year-old Cuban Miamian who works as an impersonator of the rapper Pitbull. Lolita was separated from her pod and captured in 1970; almost 50 years later, she still remembers the family she lost. Like Lolita, Izzy misses his mother, who drowned while trying to get them to the States when he was seven. When Izzy is forced to stop his unauthorized impersonations, he revives his "original life plan"--to "remake himself into Tony Montana for the new millennium." He starts by seeking out someone to be his Manolo, Montana's right-hand man, then decides that, instead of obtaining a pet tiger like his role model, he will attempt to acquire Lolita. The goofiness of his plan is balanced by Crucet's vivid and plausible delineation of Lolita's inner life, imbuing the gonzo plot with genuine emotional depth. This is an impressive feat. (Mar.)
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Review by Library Journal Review
Twenty-year-old Cuban American Izzy Reyes lives in the slowly submerging city of Miami. As a professional celebrity look-alike, Izzy is at a crossroads; he has just been enjoined from impersonating the rapper Pitbull. To fill this intolerable void, Izzy hits on the idea of re-creating Al Pacino's Scarface character Tony Montana, complete with supporting cast. Meanwhile, Lolita, an orca at Sea World, ruminates in her too-small pool, waiting, waiting, waiting… Crucet (How To Leave Hialeah) masterfully manipulates her clown car of wacky characters and wild situations to hilarious effect. However, the novel's comedy flows into the more serious riptide of Izzy's search for clarity about his arrival in the United States as a child. Crucet spoofs Cuban American culture in Miami, popular culture, gangster culture, drug culture, urban culture, and just plain culture and does so in a conversational style that sneaks in occasional asides to the reader. VERDICT Hilarious in places, poignant in others, this novel is a literary dessert not to miss.--Michael F. Russo
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Review by Kirkus Book Review
The author of Make Your Home Among Strangers (2015) delivers a stunning second novel. In this captivating narrative, Crucet immerses readers in the life of Ismael Reyes, a young man trying to come to terms with his Cuban heritage and the truth about his mother while navigating both the glamour and the danger of Miami. This is one way to describe this novel, and it's not wrong. But neither is it quite right. What this summary leaves out is that Izzy needs to find another job, since lawyers have informed him that impersonating the rapper Pitbull at parties is not a viable career choice, and that, confronted by this impasse, he has decided to model his life on Tony Montana, as portrayed by Al Pacino. While savvy readers may have guessed the Scarface connection from the title, it seems safe to assume that few will anticipate the role that Lolita--an orca imprisoned in a tiny tank in the Miami Seaquarium--plays in Izzy's life. Indeed, to call this a novel about Izzy at all is maybe to miss the point. Is Lolita a supporting player in Izzy's story, or is he a supporting character in hers? One thing that should be clear by now is that Crucet isn't interested in presenting a straightforward narrative, one with a beginning, a middle, and an end. For both Lolita and Izzy, the beginning never ends. Lolita spends many lonely decades remembering what it was like to be part of a community. Izzy's need to know how he got from Cuba to the United States when he was 7 overrides his instinct for self-preservation. And Crucet fills a whole chapter listing Miami cliches that a novel such as hers should maybe contain more of--cigars, thongs, music, food smells, color--while also asking if we're looking for Pitbull Miami or Miami Vice Miami, because they are not the same, and neither one is the real Miami. None of this is to say that Crucet sacrifices story for postmodern flourishes. Both Ismael and the whale are singularly compelling characters, and both will break your heart. Unclassifiable and unforgettable. Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
