Scarface meets Moby Dick in this groundbreaking, darkly comic novel about a young man’s attempt to capitalize on his mother’s murky legacy—a story steeped in Miami’s marvelous and sinister magic.
Failed Pitbull impersonator Ismael Reyes—you can call him Izzy—might not be the Scarface type, but why should that keep him from trying? Growing up in Miami has shaped him into someone who dreams of being the King of the 305, with the money, power, and respect he assumes comes with it. After finding himself at the mercy of a cease-and-desist letter from Pitbull’s legal team and living in his aunt’s garage-turned-efficiency, Izzy embarks on an absurd quest to turn himself into a modern-day Tony Montana.
When Izzy’s efforts lead him to the tank that houses Lolita, a captive orca at the Miami Seaquarium, she proves just how powerful she and the water surrounding her really are—permeating everything from Miami’s sinking streets to Izzy’s memories to the very heart of the novel itself. What begins as Izzy’s story turns into a super-saturated fever dream as sprawling and surreal as the Magic City, one as sharp as an iguana’s claws, and as menacing as a killer whale’s teeth. As the truth surrounding Izzy’s boyhood escape from Cuba surfaces, the novel reckons with the forces of nature, with the limits and absence of love, and with the dangers of pursuing a tragic inheritance. Wildly narrated and expertly rendered, Say Hello to My Little Friend is Jennine Capó Crucet’s most daring, heart-breaking, and fearless book yet.
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“Say Hello to My Little Friend…enlarges our sense of the possible, recalling the vanity of human aspiration not through a lens of ridicule but through one of empathy.”
— The Atlantic
“Crucet’s book…is so rich with dark humor that its sentences can both lift and break the reader’s heart…a superb, incredibly entertaining and purposefully off-kilter novel.”
— San Francisco Chronicle“Crucet’s vivid and plausible delineation of Lolita’s inner life imbue[s] the gonzo plot with genuine emotional depth. This is an impressive feat.”
— Publishers Weekly (starred review)Be the first to write a review about this audiobook!
Jennine Capó Crucet is the author of four books, including the novel Make Your Home Among Strangers, which won the International Latino Book Award and was cited as a best book of the year by NBC Latino, the London Guardian, Miami Herald, and others. Her story collection How to Leave Hialeah won the Iowa Short Fiction Prize and the John Gardner Book Award. Her essay collection My Time Among the Whites: Notes from an Unfinished Education was longlisted for the PEN/Open Book Award. She is a recipient of a PEN/O. Henry Prize and the Hillsdale Award for the Short Story, awarded by the Fellowship of Southern Writers. She was born and raised in Miami to Cuban parents.
Frankie Corzo is a film and voice-over actress and audiobook narrator. She obtained a BA degree in theater studies from Montclair State University.