The Tower of the Antilles Summary
Achy Obejas

The Tower of the Antilles Overview

The Tower of the Antilles, by Achy Obejas, is a collection of short stories about Cubans and Cuban-Americans, and the influence that the islands exert over them. The collection takes on immigration, the legacy of Castro's revolution, gender, sexuality, and the search for home and identity. Some stories lean towards comedy, like "Superman," the story of a famous burlesque performer's rumored exploits, while others are more troubling, like "The Maldives," where a woman reckons with her brain tumor diagnosis. Each story is grounded in a gentle realism that does not shy away from social issues in both Cuba and the United States. Many of Obejas' main characters are lesbian or bisexual Cuban women, and so the collection gives voice to perspectives that are often underrepresented in mainstream American literature. The Tower of the Antilles examines what it means to be Cuban, and presents a host of different characters to illustrate the ways fate and circumstance can determine one's fate.