Neruda on the Park, Cleyvis Natera
Neruda on the Park, Cleyvis Natera
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Neruda on the Park

Author: Cleyvis Natera

Narrator: Imani Russell, Annette Amelia Oliveira, Alma Cuervo

Unabridged: 13 hr 33 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 05/24/2022


Synopsis

NEW YORK TIMES EDITORS’ CHOICE • An exhilarating debut novel following members of a Dominican family in New York City who take radically different paths when faced with encroaching gentrification

“Strikes all the right notes—captivating characters, lyrical language, and a storyline that captures your imagination and refuses to let go . . . an unforgettable debut!”—Tayari Jones, New York Times bestselling author of An American Marriage

ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR: PopSugar

The Guerreros have lived in Nothar Park, a predominantly Dominican part of New York City, for twenty years. When demolition begins on a neighboring tenement, Eusebia, an elder of the community, takes matters into her own hands by devising an increasingly dangerous series of schemes to stop construction of the luxury condos. Meanwhile, Eusebia’s daughter, Luz, a rising associate at a top Manhattan law firm who strives to live the bougie lifestyle her parents worked hard to give her, becomes distracted by a sweltering romance with the handsome white developer at the company her mother so vehemently opposes.
 
As Luz’s father, Vladimir, secretly designs their retirement home in the Dominican Republic, mother and daughter collide, ramping up tensions in Nothar Park, racing toward a near-fatal climax.
 
A beautifully layered portrait of family, friendship, and ambition, Neruda on the Park weaves a rich and vivid tapestry of community as well as the sacrifices we make to protect what we love most, announcing Cleyvis Natera as an electrifying new voice.

Reviews

Goodreads review by Catherine on June 13, 2023

**Many thanks to NetGalley, Random House-Ballantine, and Cleyvis Natera for an ARC of this book! Now available as of 5.24!!** "The ache for home lives in all of us, the safe place where we can go as we are and not be questioned."-Maya Angelou For over twenty years, the Guerrero family has been able to......more

Goodreads review by BookOfCinz on January 28, 2023

Updated January 28, 2023 Re-read for book club and YASSSSS!!!! This is going to be a 2022 favorite for sure! Neruda on the Park explores the age old question of “where is home”, is it a place? What is it? Home, she told herself, could be a place, a person, a feeling, at times, a profession, the en......more

Goodreads review by Mai on September 12, 2024

$5.99 audiobook sale @ Libro.fm While I meant to finish this book for Latine Heritage Month, that obviously isn't the case. I'm usually a very fast reader. I keep my epubs on my phone, so I can read at lunch or in line. I listen to audio when work is monotonous or I do chores. The physical book that......more

If you enjoyed Olga Dies Dreaming, you will enjoy reading Neruda on the Park by Cleyvis Natera. This debut is a gripping family drama that will pull at your heartstrings. Synopsis: Luz Guerreros, is an ambitious lawyer in a competitive career. She has lived in New York for twenty years in a Dominican......more

Goodreads review by Bam cooks the books on May 19, 2022

Luz Guerrero is an up and coming lawyer working for a Manhattan law firm, fully expecting to be given news of a promotion when she meets her boss for breakfast at a fancy restaurant...but instead she is shocked to be told she is going to be let go. How to tell her Dominican parents, Eusebia and Vlad......more


Quotes

“Cleyvis Natera had me in her thrall from beginning to end. Neruda on the Park speaks to so many of our current challenges with moral imagination, grace, and wickedly good, page-turning storytelling.”—Julia Alvarez, bestselling author of Afterlife and How the García Girls Lost Their Accents

“A lush, beautifully layered look at class, culture, and change. . . . Natera’s prose is intricate, tender, and perfectly calibrated. This is a tremendous debut novel from a profoundly gifted writer.”—Kimberly King Parsons, National Book Award–longlisted author of Black Light

Neruda on the Park is a book so honest, so implicating, so liberating that it is at once beautiful and terrifying. . . . A loud triumph that caresses like a whisper.”—Robert Jones, Jr., New York Times bestselling author of The Prophets

Neruda on the Park is as poignant and perceptive as it is sexy and thrilling, the rare book that manages to be chilling and fun and profound all at once. . . . A remarkable feat of imagination from a wholly original writer.”—Naima Coster, New York Times bestselling author of What’s Mine and Yours

“Natera is a writer to watch. Her excellent debut novel is lyrical, absorbing, and slyly funny.”—Jenny Offill, New York Times bestselling author of Weather

“Natera has written a powerful and arresting novel with unforgettable characters. Neruda on the Park is the book we need and the reason I read.”—Angie Cruz, author of Dominicana

“Armed with wit and a warm sense of humor, Natera deftly scales questions as huge as the luxury building that looms over her characters’ lives. . . . A beautifully observed and propulsive debut.”—Dawnie Walton, author of The Final Revival of Opal & Nev

“An insightful narrative that sifts through the layers of the family, lovers, and places we choose to find home in.”—Elizabeth Acevedo, National Book Award–winning author of The Poet X

“A dazzling triumph . . . Every beat of Natera’s gorgeous prose pulses with urgency, humanity, and a whole lot of heart.”—Zakiya Dalila Harris, New York Times bestselling author of The Other Black Girl

“A wondrous debut . . . Natera’s novel is a compelling, crucial work of fiction.”—Mitchell S. Jackson, Pulitzer Prize–winning author of Survival Math

“Natera plays with definitions of home and material and spiritual success, showing how the personal and political can become confused even when a cause, or a crime, seems straightforward . . . A savvy melodrama, warmhearted and as astute as a lawyer’s brief.” Kirkus Reviews