A Simple Habana Melody: (From When the World Was Good)

by Oscar Hijuelos

Book Overview

It is 1947 and Israel Levis, a Cuban composer whose life had once been a dream of music, love and sadness, is returning to Habana, Cuba, from Spain, where he has just recovered from the physical and spiritual malaise resulting from his experiences in Paris, then Buchenwald, during the Nazi occupation of France. (A devout Catholic, Levis had been mistakenly identified as a Jew because of his name.)When Levis arrives back in Habana, after an absence...

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0060175699
• ISBN13: 9780060175696
• Release Date: May 2002
• Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers
• Length: 352 Pages
• Weight: 1.40 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.1" x 6.1" x 9.0"

Customer Reviews

A Beautiful Character Study

I loved THE MAMBO KINGS PLAY SONGS OF LOVE (a Pulitzer Prize winner), so when I saw A SIMPLE HABANA MELODY on a bargain sale table, I bought it immediately and I'm so glad I did. Oscar Hijuelos is better known for writing huge, exuberant, rambunctious books and they're wonderful, but A SIMPLE HABANA MELODY is different. It's melancholy and soulful and poignant and bittersweet. It really is a marvelous character study of Israel Levis and Israel Levis is a marvelous character. Israel Levis, the protagonist of A SIMPLE HABANA MELODY is a man who contradicts every (mis)conception about the stereotypical "Latin lover"...except one. Levis was born in Havana in 1890, the son of a doctor with a definite Sephardic ancestor (Levis, however, is a devout Catholic). While still a pre-school child, it becomes obvious that Levis was a musical genius and before he's forty he writes more music than most composers do in a very long lifetime and he writes it with the ease with which other people write a grocery list. Although Levis makes regular visits to Havana's brothels (A SIMPLE HABANA MELODY doesn't, however, contain the coarse sex scenes found in THE MAMBO KINGS PLAY SONGS OF LOVE), his "true love," a cinnamon-skinned, blue-eyed singer named Rita Valladores always seems a little out of reach to Levis, which makes this book all the more poignant and melancholy since Rita cares for Levis as well, or at least she would if he would give he the smallest indication of his affection. It is Rita (and Levis's love for her) that inspires him, in 1928, to write "Rosas Puras," a rumba that becomes more popular than the Cuban national anthem. And, it's not only a hit in Cuba, it's a hit everywhere else as well. Because of the popularity of "Rosas Puras" so many "real" people have walk-on parts in A SIMPLE HABANA MELODY: Al Jolson, George Gershwin, Fred Astaire, Louis Armstrong, Xavier Cugat, Desi Arnaz and several others, making Levis seem all the more "real," himself. "Rosas Puras" becomes so popular that Levis can't go anywhere in the world without hearing the song being played. He hears it in Havana, even many years after he wrote it. He hears it in Paris and, strangely enough, he even hears it in Buchenwald. Political unrest forces Levis from Havana to Paris in the 1930s and, because of his Sephardic name, he spends fourteen months in Buchenwald (this is on the cover blurb, so it gives nothing away). I know some people did not like this aspect of Levis's characterization and thought it overshadowed his other sadnesses. I didn't. While not downplaying the Holocaust, Hijuelos lets us know this isn't a book about a Holocaust survivor, but a man who is simply unfulfilled by life...or unable to take action that would bring him fulfillment and happiness. I don't think being a Holocaust survivor was necessary to Levis's characterization, though. He's a rich enough character without it. Hijuelos definitely has a special talent for characterization and Levis is

Simply beautiful

The writing in this novel about the musical career of a Cuban composer is itself lyrical. The narrative is prose that aspires to be, and is, both poetry and music. The phrasing and the flow of the syntax is melodious as the composer's experience, because of his name, in a Nazi concentration camp runs counterpoint to the theme. And "Rosas Puras", his most famous and enduring composition, reappears faithfully as a leitmotif throughout the narrative. El Gordito, Israel Levis, and his close relationships with Rita Valladares (singer), Manny Cortez (composer)and his family are full of tender and touching moments. He is simply a man on a quest to find the beauty of life, the music hidden just beneath its surface and awaiting his discovery of its simple melodies. His devotion to his music can be a demanding mistress whom he has no choice but to love with pure devotion and ultimately proves to be his salvation. Hijuelos reinforces his stature as one of America's most supremely talented writers in this sensuously rich and sonorous novel. The close of the book holds moments of heartbreaking tenderness without sentimentality. A Simple Habana Melody is original, germinal, mesmerizing and sung in a distinctive, if not unique, lyrical voice that could only be proffered by a truly gifted writer of the stature of Oscar Hijeulos.

Interesting, entertaining & thoughful

What a wonderful find. This is the first book I have read by Oscar Hijuelos, but it certainly won't be the last. The character of Israel Levis is so real and "historical" that I found it almost impossible to believe he wasn't. The mixture of culture, history, and music is writing at its best. The complexity of Israel's character causes one to be revolted by him, feel sorrow for him, but at the same time admire him. His naive and optimistic outlook on life may cause him suffering, but shows an indefatigable core of goodness tempered by reality. I would strongly recommend this book to anyone who is interested in the human character.

Lovely

There is something about the way Oscar Hijuelos writes that makes you nostalgic-not just for events he is describing, but for things in your own life. The "Mambo Kings" was one of these, and "A Simple Habana Melody" is another. Beautifully written, filled with appealing characters, he tells the tale filled with longing and joy, of love lost and found, and one unforgettable song.Israel Levis is not Jewish. He is a devout Catholic from a wealthy Cuban family living in Paris whose name puts him in Buchenwald. Levis is something of an innocent genius, a large man who loves women (and possibly men), a composer of beloved popular songs who flees his island home for Europe when his lyricist and best friend is murdered by the Cuban government. He never stops longing for his home, but does not return until the end of the War, when both he and his country are much changed.Hijuelos presents rich scenes from the musical theater of the 1920s and 30s, and uses Levis' celebrated tune "Rosas Puras" to show how Cuban music was embraced around the world. His scenes of Cuban homelife and friendship in the early 20th century radiate with warmth and nostalgia for a time when people were so important to one another. The composer's love for the wise, talented, and compassionate Rita Valladares, his love of his country and his art make him an entrancing character. This is a beautiful book.

A MOVING REFLECTION SUPERBLY READ

There couldn't be a more perfect pairing than the words of Pulitzer-prize winning writer Oscar Hijuelos and the voice of acclaimed actor and Emmy winner Jimmy Smits. Accomplished in multiple venues, stage, film and television, Smits delivers an impeccable reading to the mesmerizing story of Cuban musician, Israel Levis, the maker of rhumbas. The year is 1947 and Levis, slim and old, is returning to Habana, Cuba, following his incarceration in Buchenwald. Although a practicing Catholic, he was thought a Jew because of his last name. His suffering is a marked contrast to his youth in a well-to-do family where he was raised as a child prodigy. Music was his love, his life. In 1928 he had composed "Rosas Puras" or "Pretty Roses" for his favorite singer and the woman he loved, Rita Valladares. This composition became the most famous rhumba in the world. At that time Cuba reeled under a dictatorship, the iron fist of Geraldo Machado. Eventually the dictator forced Levis to leave Cuba and seek sanctuary in Paris. He lived there in relative peace until 1940 when the world was torn asunder, and he became a victim of the Holocaust. "A Simple Habana Melody" in the hands of the brilliant Oscar Hijuelos is so much more than the story of one man. It is a reflection on art and country superbly rendered by Jimmy Smits. - Gail Cooke