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Summary
Summary
" Say Hello to My Little Friend is a masterclass in pace and precision. Crucet can make you cry before you've even realized you've become invested and make you laugh even through the hurt. Brilliant." -- Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah, National Book Award Finalist of Chain Gang All Stars
Scarface meets Moby Dick in this groundbreaking, darkly comic novel about a young man's attempt to capitalize on his mother's murky legacy--a story steeped in Miami's marvelous and sinister magic.
Failed Pitbull impersonator Ismael Reyes--you can call him Izzy--might not be the Scarface type, but why should that keep him from trying? Growing up in Miami has shaped him into someone who dreams of being the King of the 305, with the money, power, and respect he assumes comes with it. After finding himself at the mercy of a cease-and-desist letter from Pitbull's legal team and living in his aunt's garage-turned-efficiency, Izzy embarks on an absurd quest to turn himself into a modern-day Tony Montana.
When Izzy's efforts lead him to the tank that houses Lolita, a captive orca at the Miami Seaquarium, she proves just how powerful she and the water surrounding her really are--permeating everything from Miami's sinking streets to Izzy's memories to the very heart of the novel itself. What begins as Izzy's story turns into a super-saturated fever dream as sprawling and surreal as the Magic City, one as sharp as an iguana's claws, and as menacing as a killer whale's teeth. As the truth surrounding Izzy's boyhood escape from Cuba surfaces, the novel reckons with the forces of nature, with the limits and absence of love, and with the dangers of pursuing a tragic inheritance. Wildly narrated and expertly rendered, Say Hello to My Little Friend is Jennine Capó Crucet's most daring, heartbreaking, and fearless book yet.
Reviews (3)
Publisher's Weekly Review
Crucet (How to Make Your Home Among Strangers) brilliantly brings readers inside the mind of a nonhuman intelligence in this tour de force, which alternates perspectives between Lolita, a captive killer whale housed at Miami's Seaquarium, and Izzy Reyes, a 20-year-old Cuban Miamian who works as an impersonator of the rapper Pitbull. Lolita was separated from her pod and captured in 1970; almost 50 years later, she still remembers the family she lost. Like Lolita, Izzy misses his mother, who drowned while trying to get them to the States when he was seven. When Izzy is forced to stop his unauthorized impersonations, he revives his "original life plan"--to "remake himself into Tony Montana for the new millennium." He starts by seeking out someone to be his Manolo, Montana's right-hand man, then decides that, instead of obtaining a pet tiger like his role model, he will attempt to acquire Lolita. The goofiness of his plan is balanced by Crucet's vivid and plausible delineation of Lolita's inner life, imbuing the gonzo plot with genuine emotional depth. This is an impressive feat. (Mar.)
Booklist Review
Crucet follows her essay collection, My Time among the Whites (2019), with a fast-paced and atmospheric absurdist novel starring a 20-year-old Cuban American Pitbull impersonator and over-the-top Scarface fanboy named Izzy. The obsessed fan of the 1983 flick tries to mimic the life of protagonist Tony Montana, going as far as finding his own Manolo (Tony's best friend), an exotic pet (perhaps a whale instead of a tiger), and a Michelle Pfeiffer-type girlfriend. Though Izzy lives with his loving aunt, he is haunted by memories of how he was smuggled out of Cuba by his communist mom who died en route to Miami. Adding to the intriguing plot, the novel also features the thoughts of a killer whale named Lolita, who forms a bizarre telepathic connection with Izzy, who gets migraines whenever Lolita thinks of him. Between his business dealings with shady characters and the cease-and-desist letter from Pitbull's management, Izzy's troubles intensify when he recklessly tries to look up balseros (boat people from Cuba) who journeyed with him and his mom. Readers are in for a wild ride.
Library Journal Review
Twenty-year-old Cuban American Izzy Reyes lives in the slowly submerging city of Miami. As a professional celebrity look-alike, Izzy is at a crossroads; he has just been enjoined from impersonating the rapper Pitbull. To fill this intolerable void, Izzy hits on the idea of re-creating Al Pacino's Scarface character Tony Montana, complete with supporting cast. Meanwhile, Lolita, an orca at Sea World, ruminates in her too-small pool, waiting, waiting, waiting… Crucet (How To Leave Hialeah) masterfully manipulates her clown car of wacky characters and wild situations to hilarious effect. However, the novel's comedy flows into the more serious riptide of Izzy's search for clarity about his arrival in the United States as a child. Crucet spoofs Cuban American culture in Miami, popular culture, gangster culture, drug culture, urban culture, and just plain culture and does so in a conversational style that sneaks in occasional asides to the reader. VERDICT Hilarious in places, poignant in others, this novel is a literary dessert not to miss.--Michael F. Russo