In The Mambo Kings Play Songs of Love, Nestor Castillo is depicted as being deeply attached to the memory of María, with whom he had a romantic relationship in his early twenties. Although their affair lasted only a few months, Hijuelos provides readers with several reasons to question whether their love was truly as profound as Nestor recalls. For instance, the book highlights several awkward moments between them, likely because María was trying to hide her relationship with the man she eventually married.

Nestor knows very little about María and seems unaware of his own reasons for being drawn to her. The novel introduces their initial encounter by describing Nestor wandering among the waterfront prostitutes and reflecting on how he could only find restful sleep in the arms of his mother, also named María. He fails to recognize the psychological possibility that he might be projecting onto María the dancer a sense of purity he associates with his mother, overlooking the fact that he does not truly understand María at all.

The most telling sign that Nestor’s love for María is more fantasy than reality is his inability to connect their romance to real life. As a composer, he is fixated on writing just one song, repeatedly revising it in an obsessive manner. He spends nights reworking his song about María and penning letters to her, neglecting the relationship he should be nurturing with his wife and two children. He is trapped in a fantasy, continually revisiting a love that was never as genuine and steadfast as he imagines it to be.