We came all the way from Cuba so you could dress like this?

Obejas' title, with its jokey promise of comic cross-cultural coming-of-age mishaps, misleads. Her collection contains seven pieces--personal memoirs and essays as well as short fiction--all exploring the outsider's pain and existential angst, all shot through with irrepressible wit and dark humor, but all ultimately sadly tragic, seeing little hope of redemption or insightful change either for the specific protagonists portrayed or for men and women generally. With its population of refugees and exiles of all ilks--Cuban boat people, junkies, gays (some dying of AIDS, some not) and lesbians--the book's strongest pieces are its vignettes concerned with parts of Obejas' own life as a Latina lesbian refugee. Whether she chronicles the obsessions of a broken-hearted, jilted lover trying unsuccessfully not to circle the block of her ex-girlfriend's apartment, or the humiliation of being offered donated, unwashed clothing as part of the alternately boring and anxious "processing" into the U.S. as a political refugee from Castro's Cuba, Obejas' prose moves us. These writings of the disenfranchised are for any spiritual immigrant, huddled and yearning to be free.

-Whitney Scott

Achy Obejas is the queen of the quirky short story. Her prose hits you with a swift blow while entertaining you with its razor-sharp wit and intelligence. The Cuban/American writer describes the immigrants, gays, and outsiders she knows so well, while reflecting on her own painful and extremely funny break-ups. She reminds me of a grown-up Cuban/lesbian Holden Caulfield. Obejas proves you can engage the brain of your readers and still entertain them with good stories.