The Fourteen Sisters of Emilio Montez O’Brien (Magill’s Survey of American Literature, Revised Edition)
At a glance:
- Author: Oscar Hijuelos
- First Published: 1993
- Type of Work: Novel
- Genres: Long fiction, Family literature
- Subjects: Family or family life, North America or North Americans, United States or Americans, Twentieth century, Social life, California, West, U.S., Ethnic groups, Immigration or emigration, Multiculturalism, Photography or photographers, Cuba or Cubans, Intermarriage, Hollywood, Bilingualism, Latinos, Ireland or Irish people, Alaska, Arctic
- Locales: California, New York, Pennsylvania, Cuba, Ireland, Alaska
The opening sentence of Hijuelos's third novel proclaims that “the house in which the fourteen sisters of Emilio Montez O’Brien lived radiated femininity.” That radiation is powerful enough to cause horses to throw their riders, cars to skid into ditches, and a plane to fall from the sky. Patriarch Nelson O’Brien senses himself condemned to solitude in his own crowded home, and his proficiency at generating daughters perplexes and perturbs him. He rejoices when his final, fifteenth, child turns out to be a son. For Emilio, surrounded and coddled by a mother and fourteen...
[The entire page is 966 words long]
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