One Hundred Bottles, with its intersecting characters and unresolved whodunits, can be read as a murder mystery. But it's really a survivor's story. In a voice that blends gossip, storytelling, and literature, Z—the vivacious heroine of Portela's award-winning novel—relates her rum-soaked encounters with the lesbian underground, the characters carving up her home, and the terrifying-but-irresistible Moisés. As entertaining as any detective drama, One Hundred Bottles is ultimately made real by very rough love, intense friendship, and something small that decides to live.
A brilliant, scathing Havana fever dream about a lost, overweight girl in love with an abusive, older man—so brilliant that the allegorical aspect of the book doesn’t strike you until after you’ve closed it.
Ena Lucía Portela is the author of numerous works of fiction, including this novel, winner of the 2002 Jaén Prize. This is her first novel published in English.
Born in Havana, Achy Obejas is the author of Ruins, Days of Awe, and other books. She is the editor and translator (into English) of Havana Noir, and the translator (into Spanish) of Junot Díaz's The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao.
