Tomorrow They Will Kiss

by: Eduardo Santiago

Published by: Back Bay Books/Little Brown and Company imprint

Reviewed by Laura Langer

Novelist Eduardo Santiago has constructed a circle of women who are united by three things: emigration from Cuba, their carpool to work, and the telenovelas, which encompass all the romance their own struggling lives lack. The novel is set in 1967 New Jersey, where the six women work in a plastic doll factory.

There are three narrators who tell Graciela's story in alternating chapters. Graciela is the only one determined to become as American as she can--to learn English, move ahead at work, and make an American life.

The other women are, in varying degrees, waiting for the day when they can return to Cuba, when all will be as it was before. Imperio and Caridad are mirror images as narrators. Neither one cares much for Graciela--the girl who didn't live by the rules in Cuba, and doesn't in New Jersey either. Imperio tell her stories, of her own life and that of her neighbors, in a harsh, stringent voice. Her name fits her view of the world--she knows she is right, and she is not hesitant to voice her opinions. Caridad, on the other hand, tries to live up to the charity of her name, but differs from Imperio only in not wanting to say publicly what she thinks.

The other three women--Leticia, Berta, and Raquel, all play their parts as the carpool-novela unfolds. All six have come to New Jersey, some in the first, legal wave of emigrants, others as escapees, because there is work, and because there are other Cubans there. Even when they are not truly friends, they help each other.

By the time we have read the intertwining stories of all six women, we have a distinct view of each, and some sympathy for the dreams they hold dear. Santiago shows these women as fully rounded portraits. They are vivid, all too human, and they emerge in an immensely readable format.

Armchair Interviews says: If you're looking for an unusual take on immigrant life, written to keep you turning the pages, you'll like this novel.