BOOKS FROM LATVIAThe Cat King of Havana
Description:
Lolcats. Salsa dancing. Unrequited love. Tom Crosshill's smart and witty debut teen novel treads a colorful coming-of-age journey from New York City to Havana that will appeal to fans of books by Matthew Quick and Junot Díaz. When Rick Gutiérrez—known as "That Cat Guy" at school—gets dumped on his sixteenth birthday for uploading cat videos from his bedroom instead of experiencing the real world, he realizes it's time for a change. So Rick joins a salsa class . . . because of a girl, of course. Ana Cabrera is smart, friendly, and smooth on the dance floor. He might be half Cuban, but Rick dances like a drunk hippo. Desperate to impress Ana, he invites her to spend the summer in Havana. The official reason: learning to dance. The hidden agenda: romance under the palm trees. Except Cuba isn't all sun, salsa, and music. As Rick and Ana meet his family and investigate the reason why his mother left Cuba decades ago, they learn that politics isn't just something that happens to other people. And when they find romance, it's got sharp edges.
Reviews:
(5 months ago) |
07 May, 2025
The Cat King of Havana by Tom Crosshill wasn't what I was expecting it to be. Honestly, I was in it for the cats and it definitely didn't deliver in that regard. The dance competition and Cuba itself wasn't bad, but I wasn't really fond of any of the characters and the story definitely hinges on that that given the romantic element of this coming of age story (though I wouldn't consider this a romance). For me the book was also much too long and felt like it dragged, but maybe that's just me getting bored and a bit annoyed with how the outdated the internet stuff sounded.
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