Rating: 
Summary: Sex tourists gone astray
Review: Chavarria is no Dashiel Hammett. Nor is he a Reinaldo Arenas . . .and 'tho he shares Pedro Juan Gutierrez's (Dirty Havana Trilogy) appreciation of the consolations of tropical sexuality, he's not nearly as monomaniacal as Gutierrez, preferring instead to chain his erotics to a fast-paced and intriguing mystery plot. Set in contemporary Cuba, a nation desperate to modernize by delicately balancing the fruits of European and Latin American capital against the achievements of the Cuban Revolution, Adios Muchachos exploits that most typical setting where foreigner and native meet in Cuba - - the sexualized body of the Cuban woman. Chavarria's heroine possesses the most perfect "culo" in Havan, and like the enterprising jineteros or hustlers who sustain a dynamic entrepeneurial culture under the noses of the Revolution's guards, she deploys that asset to pull herself into the tourist economy and its prized dollars. When Cuban sexuality and ingenuity meet European libidos on a long leash from home - - the result is a whirlwind of disguise, counterplotting, and subterfuge. Buried within Adios Muchacho is a kind of charming allegory about the everyday power of the Cuban people to foil the return of postmodern, neo-liberal imperialists. A fun read.
Rating: 
Summary: Depressing
Review: Daniel Chavarria's Adios Muchachos is a fun little book exploring the world of prostitutes, unseemly businessmen and death in post-revolutionary Cuba. Uruguayan Daniel Chavarria seems mostly known for more literary work, but according to the bio on the inside flap he is said to have two passions: "classical literature and whores". Well, it shows. Chavarria's main protagonist is Alicia, a high class prostitute who gets wealthy foreigners to buy her beautiful, expensive things so that she and her mother (a pre-revolutionary Cuban socialite) don't have to deal with the infirmities of life in Castro's Cuba. Alicia has an elaborate scam involving a bicycle accident that she works, along with her body, into an act of perfection. The precision timing is hilarious, as is the strategy her mother and her have worked out to squeeze the maximum sympathy out of their clueless (yet sexually aroused) victims. The crux of the story happens when Alicia's latest conquest, Victor, is not who he seems. Death and mayhem ensue. The subject matter could easily be salacious, but Chavarria has a neat trick of using beautiful prose to describe people doing less-than-beautiful thing. He has a writing style that is simultaneously sophisticated, but not elitist. He's just telling a good story, and doing it in the best way possible.
Rating: 
Summary: A disapointment
Review: I had read very optimistic comments on this book and its author in the New York Times for some time, so I finally decided to get into the Latin mood. The expectations were high and the starts very promising, really amusing. But little by little the emotion goes down. It's like you are expecting some twist in the story or something great to happen but there is nothing. It is just that. The story is told in a fast pace but it lack interest, at least to me. Only can I save from drowning this book the gorgeous hips of that belle cuban female, or that's how she seems to me.
As a side note, I should say that the idea of touring Cuba for good and cheap sex -taking advantage of their slavery- is not a laudable one, on which the author doesn't seem to agree.
No problem of conscience?
Rating: 
Summary: Overhyped
Review: I'm only 1/3 of the way through this but already I know that I'll be buying this for lots of friends. Simply outstanding. There are no great shakes here but as a book to simply amuse and enjoy it can't be beat. Adios Muchachos is so well writen that I have lost all desire to look for deep meaning. It's that rare book that can be simply enjoyed just for the craft that is displayed. Lots of laughs everywhere and quite informative if I'm ever looking for a hooker in Havana. ;-) I'm looking forward to trying something else from Daniel Chavarria and I feel very sorry for all the folks who gave this book only 1 or 2 stars. I suspect they were offended by some of the setting.
Rating: 
Summary: If you are thinking about it, do it.
Review: I'm only 1/3 of the way through this but already I know that I'll be buying this for lots of friends. Simply outstanding. There are no great shakes here but as a book to simply amuse and enjoy it can't be beat. Adios Muchachos is so well writen that I have lost all desire to look for deep meaning. It's that rare book that can be simply enjoyed just for the craft that is displayed. Lots of laughs everywhere and quite informative if I'm ever looking for a hooker in Havana. ;-) I'm looking forward to trying something else from Daniel Chavarria and I feel very sorry for all the folks who gave this book only 1 or 2 stars. I suspect they were offended by some of the setting.
Rating:
Summary: A definite winner
Review: It seems like every year the Edgar committees nominate one book that is so unusual that it stands out amongst the usual fare. Sometimes these books are excellent and would otherwise have remained undiscovered. For example, immediately comes to mind OUTCAST by Jose Latour, which was first published in English by the same publisher as this book. ADIOS MUCHACHOS is a black comedy that also could be considered a noir fiction. Characters are quite wacky and the plot extremely clever. In Havana, Cuba, Alicia literally pedals her wares as a bicycle hooker. However, she isn't simply out for money. She views each 'client' as a prospective ticket out of her poverty-laden life via marriage or a long-term commitment. With the help of her pragmatic mother, Margarita, she seduces her johns with food and drink prior to their sampling of her sexual wares. Into this set up wanders her latest john, Victor King. Victor is involved in hunting for treasures on shipwrecks around the island. The people backing him are extremely wealthy. At first Victor uses Alicia for his own purposes. Later he proposes using her for his plan entailing voyeurism. However, a very unfortunate accident might possibly, with a bit of scheming, leave Alicia and Victor extremely wealthy. The question is, can they pull it off by outwitting the wealthy backers? The rampant descriptions of blatant sex would preclude placing this book among the ranks of the cozies. For those who enjoy hard edged humor, this book will very well fit the bill. The characters, all despicable creations are a pure delight. In spite of their immorality, the reader will find them quite sympathetic. Interest never wanes as the reader roots for Victor and Alicia to succeed in their deception. The book never tries to be a social commentary in that the living conditions in Havana never plays a central role. ADIOS MUCHACHOS is a definite winner and is my pick as the best of the paperback original nominees. However, I really don't think it will win in that it is too unconventional.
Rating:
Summary: Exquisite
Review: Of course it's pulp fiction. The huge majority of books published today are pulp fiction. And so what? The difference is that Adios Muchachos is WELL WRITTEN pulp fiction. I roared with laughter at the descriptions and at the nonesensical plot, and any book that can make me laugh is worth a good few stars. Congratulations to Daniel Chavarria for writing a picaresque novel about a young lady whose aim in life is to please (in return for certain favours) without falling into the trap of writing pure pornography. I enjoyed the book, not only for the plot, but for the beauty of what was on the page. Chavarria covers many a 'sensitive' topic with a nod and a wink and a sentence structured in erotic innuendo. Brilliant.
Rating:
Summary: Two stars are all I could find.
Review: The stars tell it all. The future is not happening for this book. But I don't want to be a shrew, so I'll just say, I don't like to be bored while reading and leave it at that.
Rating:
Summary: Disappointing
Review: This book was a big disappointment to me. The first third of the book is interesting but afterwards it all goes downhill from there. At the beginning of the book we meet Alicia, Havana's best bicycle hooker. She is a professional who has mastered the con and just goes through the paces looking for her next customer. She seduces her victims by riding her bicycle near their cars and when she catches them staring, she moves in for the kill. She has an `accident' and the victim immediately rush to her aid. Alicia takes pride in her work and she has her routine down pat and we get to learn how she works. We see how she prepares for every scenario, how her mother helps her daughter, and how she always refuses taking money from her clients. "What kind of girl do you think I am," she tells her escorts. She knows of better ways to get paid and we see it throughout the book. Alicia is happy with her life and she hopes one day to make the big score when she lands a rich man. Her life (and the reader's) changes once she meets Tom King. This is when the story begins to fail. Mr. King is a con man who is trying to get Dutch interests to give him money to excavate Cuba's oceans. When things are going well for him he finds Alicia. Apparently he has studied Alicia before and he knows what she is all about. He lets her become the latest victim and he gets to see up close and personal how she works. He later offers her a deal, which she accepts, and it will help her do more for her craft and earn more money. It is not until Mr. King's employer dies that the comedy of errors begins. Alicia goes way over her head and participates in a fake kidnapping to disguise an accidental death. Chavarria spoils what he created with Alicia's character and it spoils the story. It was like reading a cross between THE CRYING GAME and WEEKEND AT BERNIE'S. Everything is resolved at the end and the status quo is brought back at a high cost. It was a promising start that just went astray.
Rating:
Summary: A Decent Bit of Pulp Fiction
Review: This punchy little bit of pulp crime follows the schemes of Alicia, a Cuban prostitute looking to rope a millionaire husband, and Victor, a bank-robber turned executive in Dutch conglomerate. The two gold-diggers meet and forge a mutually beneficial arrangement based on her providing live sex shows for him and his wife. Their partnership takes on a new dimension when a Dutch millionaire dies, and they figure out a plan to make a cool $4 million out of it. While Chavarria is reputedly a scholar of prostitution, Alicia's character comes as more of a Hollywood construct than a real person. She's the independent hooker who loves sex, is strictly upscale, and is always in control of her rich men. She's only in it to rope a wealthy husband who will take her and her mother (who is her practical assistant) out of the country. Let's be clear, this is pulp, not noir; the book is lively and farcical, the story flows with many a nod and a wink, with none of the nastiness and evil characterized by noir. And although the book is set in Havana, the setting doesn't figure very prominently, one gets the impression the story could have taken place in any large city in the world. The book is fast-paced, full of explicit sex, and ends with the requisite twist-and is fun, though unlikely to be all that memorable.
| 
