Mayra
A Novel
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3.7 • 3 Ratings
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- $13.99
Publisher Description
An eerie, hypnotic debut about friendship, desire, and memory set against the sultry backdrop of Florida’s swamplands.
“A mesmerizing, hallucinatory adrenaline rush of a novel.”—Claire Luchette, author of Agatha of Little Neon
LONGLISTED FOR THE CENTER FOR FICTION FIRST NOVEL PRIZE
It’s been years since Ingrid has heard from her childhood best friend, Mayra, a fearless rebel who fled their hometown of Hialeah, a Cuban neighborhood just west of Miami, for college in the Northeast. But when Mayra calls out of the blue to invite Ingrid to a weekend getaway at a house in the Everglades, she impulsively accepts.
From the moment Ingrid sets out, danger looms: The directions are difficult, she’s out of reach of cell service, and as she drives deeper into the Everglades, the wet maw of the swamp threatens to swallow her whole. But once Ingrid arrives, Mayra is, in many ways, just as she remembers—with her sharp tongue and effortless, seductive beauty, still thumbing her nose at the world.
Before they can fully settle into the familiar intimacy of each other’s company, their reunion is spoiled by the reemergence of past disagreements and the unexpected presence of Mayra’s new boyfriend, Benji. The trio spend their hours eating lavish meals and exploring the labyrinthine house, which holds as much mystery as the swamp itself. Indoors and on the grounds, time itself seems to expand, and Ingrid begins to lose a sense of the outside world, and herself.
Against this disquieting setting, where lizards dart in and out of porches and alligators peek from dark waters, Gonzalez weaves a surreal, unforgettable story about the dizzying power of early friendship and the lengths we’ll go to earn love and acceptance—even at the risk of losing ourselves entirely.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Two childhood friends reunite in Gonzalez's expressive if underdeveloped debut. Ingrid still lives in the Cuban enclave of Hialeah, Fla., where she grew up with the bold and sassy Mayra, who once helped draw Ingrid out of her shell. The women haven't seen each other since Mayra headed north for college a decade earlier, but Ingrid accepts Mayra's invitation to join her at a remote house in the Everglades. Expecting to be there alone with Mayra, Ingrid is "deflated" to discover that Mayra's boyfriend, Benji, whose family owns the house, is there, too. During her visit, Ingrid witnesses such strange things as Benji devouring the lint he'd just cleaned from a window, and she finds a staircase that leads into what appears to be a tree trunk. Eventually, Ingrid uncovers clues about the house's mysteries in an old diary kept by a woman who lived there decades earlier. The plot is weighed down by extended flashbacks to Ingrid and Mayra's childhood, but Gonzalez offers a nuanced depiction of their intense friendship and what drove them apart, exploring Ingrid's resentment of Mayra for leaving and bitterness at the way Mayra now views Hialeah as a "gringa" would. Though uneven, this promises good things to come from Gonzalez.
