Review of How to Leave Hialeah by Jennine Capo Crucet

In How to Leave Hialeah, Jennine Capo Crucet explores south Florida and the world of the Cuban immigrant. This book of short stories mainly takes place in Hialeah, a city in Miami-Dade county that is home to a very high percentage of Cubans. Almost every story has some sprinkling of Spanish in it, which adds to the flavor of the book.

The characters in these 11 stories tend to be young and observant, often struggling with the disconnect between their parents' generation, born in Cuba, and their own, born in the U.S. Family plays a huge role in this book. In the title story, one of the strongest, the narrator, a young Cuban-American woman, heads off to the Northeast for college, the first person in her family to leave the Miami area. In "The Next Move," a widower relates memories of his wife while dealing with some unruly grandchildren. "Men Who Punched Me in the Face," we again have a young female narrator, this time documenting the various boys and men who have been violent toward her. I thought "How to Leave Hialeah" and "Men" were among the two best in the collection.

This book won The John Simmons Short Fiction Award from the University of Iowa, and I can see why. The stories are complex as are the characters, but they are clearly written with love and affection and an understanding of Cuban-American culture in Miami.

Below is a passage from "Men Who Punched Me in the Face:"

My mother declared him the The Best Looking Guy To Ever Talk To Me three minutes after meeting him. He had the hard-line chin and perfect eyebrows that looked like a professional Hialeah beautician had sculpted them. He never got carded when he ordered beer at El Rey Pizza. He could grow a beard in two hours. After a game, he smelled so much like man sweat and dirt that I worried just smelling him would make me pregnant. He was light brown but close enough to white that my abuela didn't hate him.


Just One Pink gives How to Leave Hialeah an 8.5.