Crisscrossed with exotic shadows, memories of romance and displacement, Ana Menéndez’s new novel, The Last War , is a seductive meditation.” — O, The Oprah Magazine
“Menéndez’s descriptions of the city are haunting and shadowy. . . . A precise and subtle book, full of finely realized flashbacks, the narrator’s memories of a marriage and detailed descriptions of Istanbul and of the experience of adjusting to another home, another culture.” — Miami Herald
“[A] potent literary novel . . . A deft portrait of an estranged couple whose pain is veiled by the fog of war.” — People
“[An] impressionistic and introspective tale . . . Menéndez offers astute and perceptive commentary on both the hidden and obvious effects of war and its aftermath.” — Booklist
“Poetic, atmospheric, and introspective . . . A quietly piercing cultural and philosophical think-piece, comparable in its low-key, allusive moodiness to a European art-house movie.” — Kirkus Reviews (starred)
“Menendez shows with unblinking honesty in her self-assured second novel The Last War how in conflict and its aftermath journalists can find or lose themselves. . . . Mendendez’s deep wisdom about people and their relationships is the payoff that always makes this insightful author worth reading.” — St. Louis Post-Dispatch
“An exquisitely crafted work . . . A novel, lyrically written, that feels strikingly real and heartfelt, a narrative by a woman destroying herself with imagination and doubt.” — Denver Post
“Menendez is a skilled novelist - even admirers of her acclaimed short story collection, In Cuba I was a German Shepherd or her earlier novel, Loving Che, will be impressed with the deepening maturity of her writing. . . . [A] fully convincing psychological portrait.” — South Florida Sun Sentinel
“Ana Menendez’s The Last War offers us a moving and probing portrait of lovers and media warriors in this poignant and touching novel of crumbling friendships and marriages—betrayals, large and small—in a dicey and dangerous world.” — Edwidge Danticat, author of Breath, Eyes, Memory and Brother, I'm Dying
Praise for IN CUBA I WAS A GERMAN SHEPHERD: “A raucous, heartfelt debut...Deft, talented and hilarious....” — Junot Diaz
Praise for IN CUBA I WAS A GERMAN SHEPHERD: “Powerful... A bright debut that points to even brighter accomplishments to come.” — Michiko Kakutani, New York Times
Praise for IN CUBA I WAS A GERMAN SHEPHERD: “Menendez taps into [a] wellspring of broken promises and unfulfilled desires and gives us a ... peek at ... the Cuban-American experience.” — Miami Herald
Praise for LOVING CHE: “[Loving Che] puts [Menendez] in the company of other Latino writers such as Junot Diaz and Sandra Cisneros.” — Vanity Fair
Praise for LOVING CHE: “A tart fable about history and identity that is equal parts detective story, travelogue and fever dream...Inventive and hypnotic...[An] evanescent pas de deux.” — Los Angeles Times Book Review
“Powerful. . . . A bright debut that points to even brighter accomplishments to come.” — Michiko Kakutani, New York Times on In Cuba I Was a German Shepherd
“Menendez taps into [a] wellspring of broken promises and unfulfilled desires and gives us a . . . peek at . . . the Cuban-American experience.” — Miami Herald on In Cuba I Was a German Shepherd
“A tart fable about history and identity that is equal parts detective story, travelogue and fever dream. . . . Inventive and hypnotic. . . . [An] evanescent pas de deux.” — Los Angeles Times Book Review on Loving Che
“[Loving Che] puts [Menendez] in the company of other Latino writers such as Junot Diaz and Sandra Cisneros.” — Vanity Fair on Loving Che
“[The Last War] speaks to Ana Menéndez’s maturity—as a woman and a writer. . . . A character study of those who have found their purpose in bearing witness to bloodshed.” — New York Times Book Review
Crisscrossed with exotic shadows, memories of romance and displacement, Ana Menéndez’s new novel, The Last War , is a seductive meditation.
Ana Menendez’s The Last War offers us a moving and probing portrait of lovers and media warriors in this poignant and touching novel of crumbling friendships and marriages—betrayals, large and small—in a dicey and dangerous world.
An exquisitely crafted work . . . A novel, lyrically written, that feels strikingly real and heartfelt, a narrative by a woman destroying herself with imagination and doubt.
Menendez is a skilled novelist - even admirers of her acclaimed short story collection, In Cuba I was a German Shepherd or her earlier novel, Loving Che, will be impressed with the deepening maturity of her writing. . . . [A] fully convincing psychological portrait.
South Florida Sun Sentinel
Praise for IN CUBA I WAS A GERMAN SHEPHERD: “A raucous, heartfelt debut...Deft, talented and hilarious....
[An] impressionistic and introspective tale . . . Menéndez offers astute and perceptive commentary on both the hidden and obvious effects of war and its aftermath.
Menendez shows with unblinking honesty in her self-assured second novel The Last War how in conflict and its aftermath journalists can find or lose themselves. . . . Mendendez’s deep wisdom about people and their relationships is the payoff that always makes this insightful author worth reading.
[A] potent literary novel . . . A deft portrait of an estranged couple whose pain is veiled by the fog of war.
Menéndez’s descriptions of the city are haunting and shadowy. . . . A precise and subtle book, full of finely realized flashbacks, the narrator’s memories of a marriage and detailed descriptions of Istanbul and of the experience of adjusting to another home, another culture.
Praise for LOVING CHE: “[Loving Che] puts [Menendez] in the company of other Latino writers such as Junot Diaz and Sandra Cisneros.
Praise for IN CUBA I WAS A GERMAN SHEPHERD: “Powerful... A bright debut that points to even brighter accomplishments to come.
[The Last War] speaks to Ana Menéndez’s maturity—as a woman and a writer. . . . A character study of those who have found their purpose in bearing witness to bloodshed.
New York Times Book Review
Praise for LOVING CHE: “A tart fable about history and identity that is equal parts detective story, travelogue and fever dream...Inventive and hypnotic...[An] evanescent pas de deux.
Los Angeles Times Book Review
A tart fable about history and identity that is equal parts detective story, travelogue and fever dream. . . . Inventive and hypnotic. . . . [An] evanescent pas de deux.
Los Angeles Times Book Review on Loving Che
Menendez taps into [a] wellspring of broken promises and unfulfilled desires and gives us a . . . peek at . . . the Cuban-American experience.
Miami Herald on In Cuba I Was a German Shepherd
[Loving Che] puts [Menendez] in the company of other Latino writers such as Junot Diaz and Sandra Cisneros.
Vanity Fair on Loving Che
Menéndez’s descriptions of the city are haunting and shadowy. . . . A precise and subtle book, full of finely realized flashbacks, the narrator’s memories of a marriage and detailed descriptions of Istanbul and of the experience of adjusting to another home, another culture.
"[A] potent literary novel . . . A deft portrait of an estranged couple whose pain is veiled by the fog of war."
"[Loving Che] puts [Menendez] in the company of other Latino writers such as Junot Diaz and Sandra Cisneros."
In her third work of fiction, Pushcart Prize-winner Menéndez (In Cuba I Was a German Shepherd ) pits an ambivalent American expatriate photojournalist, nicknamed Flash, against everything she thought was real. While her war-correspondent husband, nicknamed Wonderboy, waits for her in Iraq, Flash wanders the streets of Istanbul, gazes from her apartment balcony and drinks bitter Turkish wine rather than deal with a marriage crippled by personal ambition and possible betrayal: early on, an anonymous letter arrives informing Flash of Wonderboy's infidelities abroad. From there, one scene blends into the next as Flash reconsiders her once-dependable husband; his occasional phone calls from Iraq puncture Flash's dream state with spikes of resentment, guilt, adoration and desperation. An old friend, beautiful Alexandra, plays the role of ideal expat; Flash has always "tried, without success, to emulate" Alexandra's "worldly looseness" and "calm assurance." Focusing on modes of suppression, the internal politics of memory and the tension between guilt and independence, Menéndez produces a story that slips by quickly, but leaves behind the resonant idea that it's human nature to "fear return" and "loathe the familiar," rather than the other way around. (June)
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[An] impressionistic and introspective tale . . . Menéndez offers astute and perceptive commentary on both the hidden and obvious effects of war and its aftermath.
Praise for LOVING CHE: “A tart fable about history and identity that is equal parts detective story, travelogue and fever dream...Inventive and hypnotic...[An] evanescent pas de deux.
Los Angeles Times Book Review
