Puzzles of love and history.

• Position: Oscar Hijuelos, A Simple Habana Melody (from When the World Was Good

A Simple Habana Melody (from When the World Was Good,) by Oscar Hijuelos. New York: HarperCollins, 2002.

Oscar Hijuelos's prose flows like ... well, like a simple Havana melody--buoyant, bittersweet, and rich in modulations and harmonies. Born in New York of Cuban parents, Hijuelos captures exquisitely the relaxed gentility of Havana's upper middle class at the turn of the twentieth century. Refreshingly devoid of the political and social agendas that encumber much Latin American fiction, A Simple Habana Melody eschews stereotypes. Without ignoring the realities of racial and social abuse, Hijuelos depicts a white bourgeoisie consisting of people who are for the most part decent and kind.

Isaac Levis, the novel's protagonist, is an internationally famous composer and pianist. One of two surviving sons of a highly respected doctor, Isaac grows up in a comfortable home in which the intellectual elite gathers to enjoy music and to discuss literature, politics, and science. His interest in composition kindled by his early exposure to the great musical traditions of Europe, including Catholic liturgy, Isaac displays his prodigious talent at a young age. His father encourages him, and soon Isaac is performing at local soirees and at church during mass. A deeply spiritual man, the elder Levis teaches his sons to see God in the physical world. He takes them with him on his expeditions to the country to serve the rural poor, and Isaac's musical sensitivity grows as he becomes aware of the throbbing melodies of birds, streams, and every aspect of nature. At the same time, he becomes increasingly responsive to the rich musical traditions of Cuba's African and Indian populations, and later, of the jazz and blues styles of U.S. blacks.

Pampered by his mother, who looses three of her five children to disease or accidents, Isaac develops a love for fine food and drink and creature comforts. A large, corpulent child who becomes an enormous man, he is uncomfortable with his body and never achieves a truly healthy relationship with a woman. From his mother, who is given to religious excess, Levis acquires a sincere love of the Church, whose rituals and aesthetic richness appeal to every aspect of his personality. He sees no conflict between his love of pleasure and his religiosity. In the exuberant, sensuous climate of the tropics, each has its place.

The great love of Levis's life is the singer Rita Valladares, a close friend for whom he writes "Rosas puras," the song that will make him famous. In spite of his tremendous expertise in European music, it is this simple Havana melody, which draws on Cuba's complex and diverse traditions, that not only brings him and Rita international recognition, but also revolutionizes popular music on both sides of the Atlantic. The timid Levis passes up countless opportunities to tell Rita how much he adores her, and she drifts from one marriage to the next, in love with Isaac but unsure of how to interpret his reticence.

Although not particularly politically active, Isaac has made offhanded criticisms of the Machado dictatorship in public. Worse yet, he hangs around with militants, notably his lyricist, Manny Cortez. When Manny is brutally murdered, Levis leaves for Europe, where he lives in luxury, wined and dined by key figures on the American and European musical scene. Frustrated by his inability to declare his love for Rita, he takes up with a young Frenchwoman, Sarah Rubenstein, and almost marries her. However, Nazism is on the rise, and Sarah is forced to flee Paris...