Cuban-American Chicago-based novelist Achy Obejas has nicely captured the tattered, crumbling reality of contemporary Cuba in her new novel, Ruins, according to the Los Angeles Times and others.
Out this month, Ruins tells the story of a shopkeeper named Usnavy, who is blindly loyal to a failed regime.
While we love the gifted Obejas (and welcome any opportunity to shed light on the realities of life in today's Cuba) we did scratch our heads at the name of her lead character. Usnavy? Haven't we seen this before?
Oh, right. Alisa Valdes-Rodriguez's debut novel The Dirty Girls Social Club and its sequel Dirty Girls on Top both had a character named Usnavys. And the Tony-winning play In the Heights also had a character named Usnavy. Et tu, Achy?
We are sad to report there are several real people, male and female, with this miserable name in various Latin American countries, so none of the aforementioned writers can claim to have invented it. But, seriously, Gomez is tired of it already.
How about Frigidaire, or Usmail next time? We heard both in Cuba, as well as Mileidi.
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