Ya no podré escuchar a César Castillo hablar de sus conquistas, sus decepciones, y de su Cuba; y ya no sabré qué será de Eugenio o de Dolores. Me hubiera gustado conocer mejor a Leticia, pero Hijuelos le dio un final a la historia y tengo que aceptarlo, así como se acepta que una melodía también termina.
Escribiré dos secuencias que me gustaron mucho en la novela. La primera es una de las descripciones de Néstor, hermano de César Castillo, y de su amor por María; y la segunda es la descripción de la canción que Néstor le compuso a su bella María.
[...] That was Nestor on the living-room couch, strumming a chord on the guitar, looking up, and writing in a notebook. That was Nestor's voice heard on the street at night, on La Salle, on Tiemann Place, on 124th Street and Broadway. That was Neston down on his knees playing with the children, pushing a toy truck into a city of alphabet blocks, the children climbing on his back and riding him like a horse, while in his head there bloomed a thousand images of María: María naked, María in a sun hat, María's brown nipple filling his mouth, María with a cigarrette, María commenting on the beatuy of the moon, María dancing long-legged, her body wobbling in perfect rhythm in a chorus of women in feathered turbans, María counting the doves in a plaza, Maria sucking a pineapple batida through a straw, María writhing, lips damps and face red from kisses, in ecstasy, María glowing like a cat, María dabbing her mouth with lipstick, María pulling up a flower...
That was Neston, eyebrows arched with the scholarly concentration of a physics student, reading science-fiction comic books at the kitchen table. That was Nestor [...]
He was the man plagued with memory, the way his brother César Castillo would be twenty-five years later, the man with the delusion that the composition of a song about María would bring her back. [...]
Hijuelos, Oscar. The Mambo Kings Play Songs Of Love. In the Hotel Splendour. Pag 47
"Beautiful María of My Soul." A song about love so far away it hurts; a song about lost pleasures, a song about youth, a song about love so elusive a man can never know where he stands; a song about wanting a woman so much death does not frighten you, a song about wanting that woman even when she has abandoned you.
Hijuelos, Oscar. The Mambo Kings Play Songs Of Love. When I called the number. Pag 446
No sabía que este libro se había hecho película hace varios años sino hasta que leí el final del libro, así que busqué la canción en YouTube y la encontré. Lo único malo es que la letra no se parece nada a la del libro. Ni en español ni en inglés; pero no deja de tener una melodía encantadora.
Why did you come to me?
I was happy before you
entered my heart.
How can I hate you
if I love you so?
I can't explain my torment,
for I don't know how to live
without your love.
What delicious pain love has brought to me
in the form of a woman.
My torment and ecstasy,
María, my life...
Beautiful María of my soul,
Why did she finally mistreat me so?
Tell me, why is it that way?
Why is it always so?
María, my life,
Beautiful María of my soul.Hijuelos, Oscar. The Mambo Kings Play Songs Of Love. When I called the number. Pag 447
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