One phone call shatters the facade of tranquility presented by the entire Torres family, pitching its members into shockwaves of emotional upheaval that reveal the unsavory realities the clan prefers to ignore. Told in a fast-paced documentary style, Havana Thursdays is a compelling collection of voices of a Cuban-American family gathering during the crucial aftermath of a family member’s death. In alternating chapters, six strong-willed and vibrant women unfurl before the reader the richly hued tableau of their lives. Suárez delivers a hopeful message that human dignity and good will provide the resilience to help overcome crises. Ultimately, the Torres family of Cuban exiles is no different in its sorrows and joys than any other American family, regardless of ethnicity. With forays into the individual psyches of characters in crisis over love and loyalty, growing up and growing old, marrying and dissolving, Suárez’s portrayal of women is as daring as their resolve to pioneer generational changes for this conservative clan.
- Cover
- Title page
- Copyright page
- Primera Dawn
- Segunda Morning-Afternoon
- 2 A different Thursday
- 3 Why Some Women Drink
- 4 All-American High
- 5 Leaving
- 6 Golden Baby
- 7 Eagles Have a Real Thing for Freshly Road-Killed Armadillos
- 8 Talk
- 9 Bad News
- Tercera Evening
- 10 Flying Projectiles
- 11 Roadside Casualties
- 12 Their Arrangement
- 13 Back in the U.S.A.
- 14 Long Distance Call
- 15 Kink
- 16 The Red-Eye Express
- 17 Broken Glass
- 18 Casa Maura
- 19 Last Call for Alchohol at the Bottoms Up
- 20 No Sleep
- 21 Alone at Night in a Foreign Country
- Cuarta Funeral Arrangements
- 22 The Queen of Bitch
- 23 After the Balcony Scene
- 24 Pets
- 25 Dawn, Next Day
- 26 Sick Call
- 27 Gisell in the Morning
- 28 A View of the City
- 29 Home at Last
- 30 On the Road to Corpus Christi
- Quinta Wake
- 31 The Real M
- 32 A Few Words from Gisell about Pain & Grief
- 33 Slides & Stills
- 34 Secretary
- 35 Super 8
- 36 An Olympic Hopeful
- 37 What He Thought of Her
- 38 Gathered
- Sexta Burial
- 39 Juan Carlos
- 40 Norberto
- 41 Samuel
- 42 Lorenzo
- 43 Rafael
- Septima Mourning
- 44 Once You're Gone You Can't Come Back
- 45 The Letter
- 46 Why She Can't Go Home Again
- 47 Worn & Tired
- 48 Waiting Rooms
- 49 Tomorrow's Departure
- 50 Trio
- 51 Steadfast Sammy & The Steady
- 52 Second Place
- 53 Self Help
- Octava Last Words