Chango's Beads and Two Toned Shoes by William Kennedy

I haven't read a book by William Kennedy since my college years, when I read the 'Ironweed' trilogy (now up to eight books I believe, but that was the early 1980's). Then I was impressed with the sparseness of his writing, and how one place (Albany) could be focused on and yet be generalizable to the experience of being American. This book, three decades later, offers those same qualities. It opens in the 1930's, quickly moves to Havana in the late 1950's (wih both Castro and Hemingway making appearances), but then settles back in Albany (at the time of Robert Kennedy's assasination) for the remainder of the book. It is unusual for a Kennedy book, because it contains some almost mystical qualities--which is appropriate for a book with Latin American roots. The reflections on revolution, race, the Mafia, and familial relationships are all well played out in this latest installment into the Albany series.