The Cigar Roller: A Novel

Pablo Medina has written a novel that recounts the life of a Cuban cigar-factory worker, now in a Florida hospital after a massive stroke has left him paralyzed. Amadeo Terra’s body no longer works, but his mind is very much alive, as is his ruthless and audacious wit. Amadeo’s only contact is with his caregivers: the callous Nurse who constantly scolds him; the Orderly who barely acknowledges him; and the Nun who prays for Amadeo’s salvation while he fantasizes about what’s under her habit.
One day Nurse feeds Amadeo mango from a baby-food jar – a change from the tasteless mush he frequently rejects with defiance – and the taste of it on his tongue brings memories of his life in Havana flooding back to him. Once an imperious patriarch of enormous appetites, Amadeo now recalls his turbulent but passionate relationship with his wife, Julia; his numerous romantic transgressions; his three sons toward whom he feels a shocking ambivalence; and the political strife that forced his family to relocate to Florida. Abandoned by them all, Amadeo is now forced to confront the long-buried facts of his previously unexamined life.
The Cigar Roller is a portrait of a man whose life – once governed unapologetically by his basest urges – is now reduced mercilessly to its most basic functions.