Descripciones mejoradas de Syndetics:

"Sirena Selena, un adolescente gay que se ha echado a la calle para ganarse la vida, posee un don especial: una voz dulce, cristalina, fresca ""como el mismisimo mal de amores sobre la faz de la tierra"". Y cuando Martha Divine, una vieja travesti duena de un bar en Puerto Rico, descubre este talento sin igual, decide ""promocionar"" al joven... aunque hay un ""pequeno"" detalle: en Puerto Rico es ilegal el trabajo de los menores."

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Library Journal Review

Arguably the most famous novel by 2009 Guggenheim fellow Santos-Febres, this is the story of Sirena ("mermaid") Selena, a teenage Puerto Rican transvestite with an enchanting voice and a complicated past, who flies to the Dominican Republic with his/her manager, Martha Divine, an older and wiser cross-dresser, in an attempt to find success as a hotel singer. Using first- and third- person narrators, the author explores the emotional, mental, and physical challenges of male sexuality and its transformations within the context of a traditional, superstitious, and classist Caribbean society. Mimicking the nostalgic and tragic aura of the boleros (the kind of songs that Serena learned from her grandma), the language is lyrical and melodic, with tints of humor. The time line of events is sometimes confusing, but the author does a great job of unfolding a story of ambitions and lack of opportunities, mixing flashbacks from Serena's life in the streets, Martha Divine's stand-up routine, and stories about the characters that work at the hotel. Recommended for public libraries with a Spanish-language Caribbean literature or LGBT collection.-Angela Lang, New York, NY (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

Publishers Weekly Review

Santos-Febres won the 1996 Juan Rulfo prize for her short story "Oso blanco" ("White Bear"), found in her collection, El cuerpo correcto (The Correct Body, R & R Editoras). This is the talented Puerto Rican writer's hilarious first novel about drag-queen life in the Caribbean. The novel's charismatic protagonist, Martha Divine, once made her living performing at fabulous international gay clubs with girlfriends who dressed up as Bianca Jagger and Margot Hemingway, among others. When she discovers a young, effeminate boy with the voice of an angel singing in the streets of San Juan, she immediately becomes his agent. Taking him to the Dominican Republic to perform at its most elegant hotel and giving him his first waxing from head to toe, she transforms him into the breathtaking and naughty Sirena Selena, capable of seducing the straightest of men. The novel, narrated by both Sirena and Martha, is written in the sassy and charming voice of a Caribbean diva, peppered with occasional Spanglish. It explores the nuanced layers of sexuality and the notion of how makeup and costumes can bring out one's hidden personalities. Recommended for a wide range of bookstores and all public and academic libraries. [The English translation, Sirena Selena, is available from Picador. Ed.] Adriana Lopez, "Criticas" (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved