Migrants and other ghosts in a classic novel.

This is a great, sweeping, magical realist novel of Cuba and the diaspora to Miami, reminding me of Allende's "The House of Spirits". It is very much a ghost story, with the thread being the tales of the ghost's family over several generations, which finally links with the 'real' heroine's life. The evocation of the attitudes and times of the various branches of the family - negro/mulatto, spanish, and chinese are vivid and interesting, and the recreation of their interaction in Cuba lively and enjoyable. The ghostly elements seemed to fit the characters, and so to be a way of enriching them, even to this rationalist reader. It has a strong theme of what it is to be a migrant and so only partly rooted in the place where each of the characters finds themselves. This range of characters, places, and times, all of which are intercut with the present, was a bit of a challenge in an audiobook. (I think the printed version has a family tree to refer to! This was read out, but my memory is not sharp enough to grasp and recall so much information.) The language is rich and enjoyable but was by itself a challenge to my limited Spanish. In summary, to be recommended as a classic novel, which will encourage me to search out others by Daina Chaviano.I thoroughly enjoyed the reading by Pilar Laguna.

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