Our House in the Last World

Hector Santinio is the younger son of Cuban immigrants living in New York. Caught between his mother's anxieties and his father's macho expectations, he struggles to find an identity for himself while wrestling with both cultural and personal isolation. Meanwhile Horatio, his older brother, falls into the womanizing and drinking pattern demonstrated by their father. This is a sweeping, poignant tale of the immigrant experience in New York--as a homeland the brothers have never visited exerts an undeniable influence on them both.

Our House in the Last World is the first novel by Pulitzer Prize-winning author Oscar Hijuelos. Containing strongly autobiographical elements, it is told with compelling lyrical power--demonstrating the mastery over language, character, and narrative that would later win him so much acclaim.