United States of Banana

Set at the Statue of Liberty in post-9/11 New York, this novel sends Hamlet, Zarathustra, and Giannina herself on a quest to free the Puerto Rican prisoner Segismundo. It is Braschi’s most directly political work and her first written entirely in English.

Why This One

If you have already read Empire of Dreams and want to see where Braschi’s political thinking leads when given full rein, United States of Banana is the answer. The Associated Press called it “a work of unlimited imagination and fearless language.” It explores the cultural and political situation of nearly fifty million Hispanic Americans, dramatizing the three main options facing Puerto Rico: independence, statehood, and continued colonial status.

The novel mixes dramatic dialogue, prose poetry, and philosophical argument in ways that recall both Samuel Beckett and Gabriel Garcia Marquez. The characters are borrowed from world literature, Shakespeare’s Hamlet and Nietzsche’s Zarathustra among them, but Braschi makes them entirely her own. They argue, perform, and testify in a text that reads like a trial, a carnival, and a declaration of independence all at once.

What to Expect

A politically charged, genre-defying novel that demands active reading. The tone shifts between fury and humor, often within the same paragraph. If Empire of Dreams is Braschi’s love letter to New York, this is her demand that the city, and the country, live up to its promises. Readers who appreciate experimental political fiction will find this deeply rewarding.