In Cuba I Was a German Shepherd

The stories in the collection incorporate multiple narrative points of view, time shifts and compression, and magical realism and allergy to illuminate the ways that perception influences memory. The stories characters tell may or may not be factually accurate, but factual accuracy is not the point of telling stories. Characters tell stories to preserve emotional truths, connect with others who have had similar experiences, and create meaning from their memories, with both salutary and destructive effects.

Collectively, the stories and their multiple perspectives show the mutability of memory and demonstrate that stories must be seen in conversation rather than as isolated truths. Only through such juxtaposition can the complex and multi-faceted nature of truth be revealed, as the stories told about Joaquin in “The Party” demonstrate. Characters have different individual memories of him that collectively create a larger understanding of his personality. He could be creative and empathetic, had personal demons, and sought order and meaning. His actions led to an outcome that torments Ernesto—the imprisonment and death of a young man who was possibly Ernesto’s brother—but that one outcome does not tell the whole story of who Joaquin was.