In the novel The Mambo Kings Play Songs of Love by Oscar Hijuelos, immigrants from Cuba in the 1940s travel from Havana to New York to perform music in the dance halls of the period while working at whatever jobs they can get during the day. The road taken by these two brothers is one that has been taken by many others, the road to stardom in whatever field has been chosen. These two want to be mambo kings, but just as have thousands before them, they follow in the footsteps of people they admire (in this case Desi Arnaz and Xavier Cugat), they do whatever they can to be heard and seen, they work at menial job while they hone their art, and they make their way to America as the citadel of opportunity for musicians as for others. The book does a better job of creating a sense of what it means to be an immigrant in a strange land than it does with some of the personal details, for the sexual situations in the book seem to dominate in a way that detracts from the central story.
These two brothers experience considerable alienation when they come to new York and try to fit into a different sort of social setting than they are accustomed to in Cuba. The Cuba of this novel is quite a different place from the one that exists today and the one most Americans think of when the name is raised. For these two musicians, Cuba is a nurturing place that gave them their music, their sense of identity, and their cultural background. What they find in New York is very different, and what they do find there that is labeled Cuban is a pale imitation, a sort of pseudo-culture mixing elements of Cuba and America in unequal parts.
The alienation the young men feel is evident in the amount of time they spend reminiscing about Cuba and remembering things that they loved in their home country. Cesar also reminisces about the beginning of his musical career in 1937 singing with Julian's group. Because of such memories, the brothers are always caugh...