Recently a book of short stories was advertised an Shelf Awareness, The Beautiful One Has Come by Suzanne Kamata.  I read about it and became intrigued, so requested the eBook ARC.

This past weekend, I read the first story, Havana.

Alica hadn’t seen her old Japanning friend and college roommate, Nagisa  in years.  After graduating Nagisa married a Jiro for his “good salary and mild disposition.  They moved to Havana, Cuba for Jiro’s work and had two children.

Alicia and Nagisa kept in touch and Nagisa invited Alica to come to Havana.  Nagisa arranged for her driver, Javier to take Alicia anywhere she wanted to go ti sight see.  He took her to Ernest Hemingway’s’ house.
“Alicia has never been a big Hemingway fan—all those macho stories about hunting and bullfighting and war! She has never even read The Old Man and the Sea, but his house was one of the few places on the tourist map that she could think of.”
After, Alicia wanted to get something to eat so Javier took her to a restaurant that Hemingway used to eat at,  La Terraza.  She asks him to come in to eat with her, her treat.  Javier, knows his place and that he could be fired but Alicia insisted.  Javier gets nasty looks from people in the restaurant who also know his place but Alicia was oblivious to it.
When Javier brought Alicia back to the house, she tried to give him $100, the same amount he was paid for his monthly salary.  He politely refused but again, Alicia insisted and put it in his pocket. Later Alicaia thinks to herself:
“Is Javier attracted to me? In her mind, she picks through every moment of the day, trying to come up with a significant look or gesture. The way he had opened the car door for her, the way he had bumped his knees against hers under the restaurant table.”

Alicia noticed right away when she arrived to Havana that Nagisa had changed.  While roommates they did all kinds of fun things together, dancing meeting boys, drinking, and smoking pot, just to name a few.  Now Nagisa hardly leaved her house.  Alicia suggested that they go out to Salsa together while she’s there but Nagisa says that she has too look after the children.  Instead she said that she would pay Javier to work late the next day and he would take her.
You will have to read the story to find out what happens next.  The writing is bright and poetic and the character development was excellent for such a short story.  I can tell already, that Suzanne Kamata is a true artist of the short story.  I am looking forward to reading more stories in the book.  Highly recommended.

If you would like to participate in Short Story Mondays, go to John of The Book Mine Set. He has a short story review every Monday and a place for you to link your short story review. Come join in the fun and add to my short story TBR!


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