About the Author:
Oscar Hijuelos is the international bestselling author of eight novels, including Mambo Kings Play Songs of Love, for which he became the first Latino to win the Pulitzer Prize for fiction. He has also received the Rome Prize and prestigious grants from the National Endowment for the Arts and the Guggenheim Foundation. Born in Manhattan in 1951, he divides his time between New York and North Carolina, where he teaches at Duke University.
Review:
"In "Thoughts Without Cigarettes", a brilliant novelist reveals what makes him tick and where he and all his characters have come from, offering us a mesmerizing glimpse of that mystical realm where the grittiest of realities are transformed into art and memories are redeemed."
--Carlos Eire, author of "Waiting for Snow in Havana"
"Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist Hijuelos proves himself again with his autobiography... Readers who enjoyed Hijuelos' novels will enjoy his memoir, a revelation of the personal sources of most of his fiction."
--"Library Journal"
"In "Thoughts Without Cigarettes", Hijuelos revisits Oscar the child, the adolescent, the man, and finally the writer, in self-effacing, humorous, and sometimes heartbreaking moments that remind us why he's one of our most treasured contemporary authors."
--Esmeralda Santiago, author of "Conquistadora "and "When I Was Puerto Rican"
"Oscar Hijuelos looks back at his own life, and brings the same fine-grained detail, and prodigious powers of observation that mark his novels. He spares no one, least of all himself, in taking us from the isolation of a sick little boy to the success of a novelist just breaking big on the national scene. Oscar introduces us to great characters--including himself--and a great city during challenging times. That "Thoughts Without Cigarettes" reads like a novel will come as no surprise to Hijuelos fans."
--Ray Suarez, Senior Correspondent, "PBS Newshour
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"In this memoir Oscar Hijuelos achieves the miracle of transforming ordinary daily events into extraordinary happenings while recovering the lost time of childhood. He shines a light on the traumatic experience of being a Cuban forced to abandon his native language before becoming an American writer, a process which ironically draws him back to his roots."
--Jose Miguel Oviedo
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