Dreaming in Cuban is the first novel written by author Cristina García, and was a finalist for the National Book Award.
The novel's central themes include family relationships, exile, the divisiveness of politics, and memory.
As a young woman living in Havana, Celia Almeida meets and falls in love with a married Spaniard named Gustavo.
After their honeymoon, he leaves her at home with his mother and sister while he goes on long business trips, punishing her out of his jealousy for her past with Gustavo.
When Celia is released, Jorge brings her to a new home on the edge of the ocean in Santa Teresa del Mar.
Lourdes attends the university and falls in love with a man named Rufino Puente, the son of a wealthy family.
Eleven days after the Cuban revolution takes place, Lourdes gives birth to a daughter named Pilar.
One day, she is thrown from her horse while riding frantically to return to the house, and it causes her to lose the child.
The youngest child of Jorge and Celia, Javier, has a talent for science and shares his mother's support of the revolution and El Líder.
As a result of his rebellion against his father, Javier eventually leaves for Czechoslovakia without telling his parents.
When Jorge develops stomach cancer, he travels to New York for treatment, where he spends the last four years of his life.
When Jorge dies, his spirit leaves his body and appears to bid farewell to his wife.
When Celia discovers Felicia's illness, she takes Luz and Milagro to her home, but Ivanito will not leave his mother.
Eventually, Felicia's mental state deteriorates to the point where she tries to kill Ivanito and herself with drugged ice cream.
As a result, Felicia is sent to join a Cuban military brigade and Ivanito is sent to boarding school.
Celia becomes a full devotee of the revolution and El Líder, performing a wide variety of tasks and becoming a local judge of the People's Court.
Pilar, unbeknownst to her mother, paints a punk Statue of Liberty for the unveiling, but when the crowd disapproves, Lourdes defends her daughter's work.
In Cuba, Felicia meets and marries a man named Ernesto Brito, but he dies in a fire soon afterwards.
In the U.S., Jorge's presence begins to fade from the world, and he goes to Lourdes to ask her to go to Cuba and apologize on his behalf and make amends with her mother.
Celia wanders out into the ocean at night after Felicia's burial, and she is found in the aftermath by a newly arrived Lourdes and Pilar.
Family relationships are at the heart of Dreaming in Cuban, which explores how they are twisted by physical separation, politics, and lack of communication.
The friendship that springs up between Ivanito and Pilar suggests that there may be hope for connection within the third generation of the family as well.
Celia acutely feels the absence of her granddaughter in Cuba, and she is saddened by the nomadic existence of her children, but she is powerless to change these things.
Celia is steadfast in her support of the revolution, even to the point of suppressing creative works in her role as a judge.
Ultimately, political inflexibility leads to increasing isolation—Celia is left alone in Cuba, while Lourdes returns home without any greater closeness with her daughter or husband.
The narration of the novel generally moves forward in time, but this is complicated by the frequent appearance of memories and the fact that the novel jumps back and forth between different locations and characters.
First-person narration also appears, usually in connection with the youngest generation of the del Pino family.
Celia's first-person voice is also heard through the appearance of her letters which help to fill in gaps in the family's history.