Redwood Apartments
Most of the characters in the novel call the Redwood Apartments home. The landlord has a different name for the complex:
“I try to make this building like an island for all of us washed-ashore refugees. A safe harbor.”
Not Panama...but a Very Disappointing Simulation
Though the Redwood Apartments are distinctly located in America, the specter of Panama hangs heavy over the narrative. Especially in relation to the decision by Pres. George H.W. Bush to invade the country in 1989 as part of his monomania about dictator Manuel Noriega. The author’s father was himself from Panama and many of the characters have a connection to the country. At one point, the family at center of the narrative is shuffled off to Delaware as a metaphorical answer to the rhetorical question, “You want Panama?”
“A beach is the closest thing you’re going to get.”
Assimilation and Misunderstanding
A significant theme of the book is assimilation as seen through the eyes of those of who it is expected—as seen through the prism of those expecting it. The character Nelia Zafón bemoans all the myriad confusion of Americans who consider anyone speaking Spanish to represent just one huge collective culture of which Rita Moreno is one its metaphorical representatives:
“The world already had its Rita Moreno, I guess, and there was only room for one Boricua at a time. That’s how it works. Americans can handle one person from anywhere.”
Nicaragua, Baby!
Therefore, it should come as no surprise that not every character hails from Panama. Benny Quinto, for instance, is from Nicaragua and is proud of it. He introduces himself, in fact, by providing some information about his homeland that many Americans likely don’t know:
“I came from Nicaragua, baby. The Land of Lakes and Volcanoes.”
That is actually a fairly official designation, metaphorical though it may actually be.
Maribel, Before
The driving impetus behind the entire narrative occurs prior to the events detailed: an accident which has left Maribel brain damaged. The accident has not changed her physically, however, which lends the metaphorical observation of what she was like before a profound sense of irony.
“Maribel had the kind of beauty that reduced people to simpletons.”
