Dreaming in Cuban, published in 1992, was Cristina Garcia's
first novel and was a finalist for the National Book Award. The
novel has been critically and academically acclaimed. It is
frequently anthologized as well as taught in literature classes.
Garcia highlights many themes, such as family, relationships,
politics, and spiritualism. The fragmented narrative jumps back
and forth in time, incorporates some epistolary chapters
(letters from Celia) and is told from the perspective of
multiple narrators: primarily from the three generations of
women in the del Pino/Almeida family.  As fragmented as the
narrative can be, there is a rhythmic balance, a lucid ebb
and flow between the often turbulent events and the lush imagery
that describes them. Garcia has stated that the novel began as a
poem and this poetic tendency, which might be described as
Symbolist and/or Romantic, interweaves relatively seamlessly
with Garcia's brand of magical realism, most often associated
with the work of Gabriel Garcia Marquez.  Th