A review by stingo
The Fourteen Sisters of Emilio Montez O'Brien by Oscar Hijuelos

5.0

What an amazing book. I have to admit, it took me a while to get into it, but the brilliant writing kept me interested until I got hooked on the story. It is the tale of Irish-born Nelson O'Brien and Cuban-born Mariela Montez and their fifteen children, though much of the story is related from the eldest's (Margarita) and youngest's (Emilio) viewpoint. A wonderful mass of life, it chronicles their hopes, dreams and travails, starting in the early 1900s and continuing into the 1990s. To use a favorite term of a friend mine, Hijuelos is a fine adjective mongerer, who writes beautifully, and whose magic may be slow to enthrall, but once it captures you you stay got. A most excellent way to start out the 2015 year in books.