This reviewer's first taste of the works of Ernesto Mestre-Reed, the surrealistic novel THE SECOND DEATH OF UNICA AVEYANO, was a welcome entry to a list of well-known and highly acclaimed writers of Latin descent. Compared to Gabriel Garcia Marquez and Isabel Allende, Mestre-Reed takes the reader on a journey that is part mystical and part real-life, as we are introduced to the world of Unica Aveyano, a Cuban immigrant who is dying of cancer while her life flashes before her.

The story opens with Unica and her thoughts. Her mind is filled with various places that she has been throughout her life: Cuba, New York and Miami. It is as if she is dreaming, and in her dreams she is filled with memories of her past lives as they become one. The book itself is told in this dreamlike state, where one part of her life melds with another. At first, it is almost as if there is no time differentiation between her years in Cuba and the time she spent in Miami and New York. For her, it seems that time has stopped and everything blends into one.

The news story of Elian Gonzalez has just made the headlines, and his story is woven into Unica's. The Elian story is the grounding force that brings the reader back to the present. As Unica and the rest of the Cuban American population seek out the young Cuban boy who was lost at sea and has now found a new home in America, Unica's story begins to unfold. It is often cryptic, always dreamlike with patches of lucidity, and told with smatterings of Spanish, as Unica has become fluent in English but sometimes her thoughts flow out in her native tongue.

Early in the book, Unica has an adventure as she finds her way to the Atlantic Ocean located not too far from her current home in Miami. She runs naked through the streets followed by a pack of young men who are also wearing as little clothes as is permissible, stopping street traffic all around them. This scene helps lend to the tone of the book, which is rather strange at times, somewhat whimsical, but always coming back to the real world and the present, where Unica is fighting cancer and reminiscing about her past.

The reader learns of the people who had been most important to her in her life. The story of her son Candido is told in flashbacks throughout the book. His life seems as mystical as Unica's trip to the beach. As a young adolescent in Cuba, he spent hours in his little home built around a small hole in the ground outside his parents' house, instructing adults in sex and relationship management. Unica tells tales of sex between these strangers and her son that she herself witnessed covertly, conveying a very disturbing yet erotic feel to Candido's story and giving him the image not of a young boy but that of a grown man in a boy's body. The mystique and legend surrounding her son runs through the length of the novel, as it is slowly revealed what fate befalls him.

It is through these sexual encounters that Candido meets his future wife, Miriam. Unica and Miriam do not get along, yet back in Cuba a different Miriam existed, and it is that Miriam who lives in Unica's dreams of Candido. Also through Unica's flashbacks, the story of Modesto is told, as well as the story of Unica's conception and near "first death." Unica's love of her stepfather Dr. Esmeralda Gloria, who becomes the father she never had, is another big influence in her life. Stories of his courtship with her mother Marcia are told in a funny and fanciful way. And last but not least, the reader meets Patricio, her mysterious grandson and the son of the infamous Candido and Miriam. His story brings the reader back to the present and to Unica's desire to be free of her cancer forever.

At only 259 pages, the author is able to pack in a lifetime of memories and adventures told through random flashbacks that cover several generations living in Cuba and in America. By the end of the novel, the reader will have an understanding of Unica's life and the people and events that helped shape her destiny. This reviewer found THE SECOND DEATH OF UNICA AVEYANO to be a five-star book, a celebration of life on an epic scale, told in a lyrical fashion that only a few authors have been able to do successfully.