comment on style / language

elex from Cuba has an atmospheric, densely-written style that evokes both the romantic luxury of 1950s Cuba and the bleak poverty that is its mirror image. This is already clearly shown in the novel’s first paragraph: “There it was on the globe, a dashed line of darker blue on the lighter blue Atlantic. Words in faint italic script: Tropic of Cancer. The adults told her to stop asking what it was, as if the dull reply they gave would satisfy: ‘A latitude, in this case twenty-three and a half degrees” (1). The novel often returns to symbols like the Tropic of Cancer, particularly when they relate to the island nation’s weather, flora, and fauna. As the novel is written in the past tense, there is also often a hazy, nostalgic feeling to the otherwise vivid descriptions, particularly during the chapters written from K.C.’s older self’s point of view. This creates the sense of 1950s Cuba as an isolated place in time, and adds drama to the immense cultural and political revolution that ends the opulent decade.